When Brent Shafer was named as CEO of Cerner Corp. a year ago, he seemed to have a personality as big as the title he’d assumed. Yet, after a big introduction, Shafer was relatively quiet for months.
But Shafer appears ready to step into the spotlight, recently rolling out what Cerner is billing as a new operating model. The new strategy is one of a handful of developments with big players and big stories that you need to know about.
1. Health care’s next step — Cerner’s new operating model keeps innovation as its focus. What’s changing, however, is the way the company goes from idea to marketable product. “Cerner’s skill set and capabilities allow it to easily morph into a series of new lines of business, by leveraging its existing strengths and core competencies,” said David Gentile, managing partner of Kansas City-based LifeCare Strategic Services LLC.
Want to really dig in? Here’s a link to the deck Cerner presented on the new model.
2. Making their case in Washington — Top executives of Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile US Inc. appeared before a congressional committee to face questions about whether their merger will help or hurt consumers. Sprint Executive Chairman Marcelo Claure and T-Mobile CEO John Legere tried to paint their companies' $26.5 billion merger as one that not only is key to Sprint’s future, but also to U.S. leadership in 5G technology.
They also elaborated on promises that the merger would lead to new jobs at the new T-Mobile.
3. Magic words for entrepreneurs — “There’s four magic words: I need your help,” SoLVE KC CEO Aviva Ajmera said a mentor taught her. Having the courage to ask for help was one of the themes that arose during the Kansas City Business Journal’s Entrepreneur Live event. Ajmera was joined on the panel by Happy Food Co. co-founder Kiersten Firquain, WISE Power Co. CEO Kevin Williams and Victor Hwang, vice president of entrepreneurship at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
We distilled the group’s stories and advice on the topics of raising capital, scaling and mentors. And if you need a little inspiration, here are comments from the panel on the connection between passion and business.
4. A budding business — It’ll be months before Missouri issues the first licenses for companies looking to grow and sell medical marijuana. But Kansas City already has its first clinic where patients can see whether they qualify to use medical cannabis. The Green Clinics opened its first location in the River Market, and CEO Emily Branch plans to open eight locations statewide in the coming months.
The clinic’s physicians aren’t there to rubber stamp requests for medical marijuana, she said, but hundreds of thousands of Missourians will have a legitimate medical need.
On a related note, reporter James Dornbrook asked Kansas City officials about how they’ll handle zoning for new medical marijuana businesses.
5. A boost for the City Center — Somera Road Inc., the new owner of the City Center Square building, plans more than a bit of spiffing up for the 30-story tower at 1100 Main St. It has asked for tax breaks to redevelop the building, which will be renamed Lightwell. The argument for breaks is that it will address the city’s need for Class A office space in Downtown and, by extension, help increase lease rates throughout Downtown.