TED Community » Arthur Viente

More About Me

I'm passionate about

I enjoy connecting and sharing knowledge across all areas of business and life, and feel education is a life long process; not a scheduled process with assigned degrees - you never stop learning.

An idea worth spreading

I believe growth is restricted to specific areas at specific times; and one of our greatest challenges is understanding that overall growth may be very limited, so finding the opportunities of growth are difficult. I also believe in order for a business to survive long term, it must be move beyond the bottom line performance and find a balance with providing support and stability within a community and society. Profit, although important, too often dominates a business and it's operations, preventing it from maximizing the opportunity.

Talk to me about

I love to discuss business ideas and development. I enjoy even more discussing how to develop and/or maximize existing businesses.

People don't know that I'm good at

I have actively participated in almost every job I manage, and have a practical and functional understanding of the business process.

My TED Story

I have a passion for retail and wholesale business; I grew up on the retail floor and have worked at almost every level of the process - from concept and design, to production and delivery, and all the way to the end user. I believe that too much of what drives business, the personal investment and passion of the people in each business, has been lost to large companies trying to act like passionate people; but only interested in bottom line performance. I've created a business plan to recapture this passion and make it the primary motivator to having a business; while at the same time, teaching people to value of providing a more fulfilling experience at the consumer level. I've applied my experience at multiple companies, across different industries, and found common elements that help drive a successful business. My dream is to find the financial resources to launch a pure model and help individuals understand the true passion in running a business.

Comments

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• A comment on Conversation: Overall business growth is limited; instead, growth is limited to categories that shift based on demand.

  Feb 14 2013: Interesting comment, Grace; and although I agree with part of it, I would challenge the idea that money is the primary problem. Money is a reality we can't escape, so I tend to look at it a little differently, yet not far from what you're stating. I think if we can accept money as a necessity in society, we just need to alter our view as it relates to business and stop building plans that focus on ROI or a profit goal. Instead, a business should evaluate the value it adds in providing either goods or services (or both), along with jobs and stability in a community. The challenge involves a major shift in our current business environment; one where top level management does not view their role as more critical than those that work for them, and compensation is adjusted accordingly. Somewhere along the way, business lost it's moral compass and many executives feel they are truly worth the salaries they earn. In reality, the person at the end of the assembly line offers as much, if not more value than the CEO, as the business would not function without the people that make it run on a day to day basis. And a good leader, a good CEO, builds a business where he/she is no longer needed on a daily basis, and the business almost runs itself. As long as a business is striving for a high return for it's owners or investors, it will never really provide it's full value to society. So, in this regard, I agree with you; but think it has more to do with the motivation and distribution of money, and not money itself. Thanks for sharing your comments.
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  A comment on Conversation: A forum for people to drop their business ideas that others, seeking to start businesses can then develop

  Feb 14 2013: Nice idea, sort of like "open source" business planning. There are sites that do this, but the challenge, as Tanner points out, is protecting the rights and remaining involved. I've worked in the real world for so long and seen too many good ideas absorbed by either a business or someone in a position to exploit the opportunity; often leaving behind the inspiration and passion of the person that created the idea. That being said, if I can find a platform that offers a somewhat protected environment, I'm in, as I have too many ideas and not enough places to share.