ALEXANDRIA, Va. – In this week’s 99th episode of Convenience Matters, we sat down with Dr. Oliver Schlake, clinical professor at the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business, to talk about “Strategizing Innovation.”

During the podcast, Schlake encourages business leaders and students to plan for the future with curiosity and a strong strategy. “Planning is way more important than the plan,” he says. “It’s about seeing things beyond your current scope.”

To stay ahead of the competition, store owners don’t have to try to be the next big thing, looking to make a local impact is a simple way to be relevant and top-of-mind with loyal customers. “When we think about disruption, it seems big and global, when there’s so much power at looking at the local—at what is in front of you,” echoes podcast co-host Stephanie Sikorski, of NACS.

Schlake led a well-received 2017 NACS Show education session on a similar topic where he shared two important strategies with attendees—experimentation and rehearsing the future—to help c-stores of all sizes spot trends on the horizon. Schlake reminds retailers that many in the convenience industry were likely not thinking about the foodservice trend 15 years ago. Today, however, almost every convenience retailer is either in or getting into foodservice.

Each week a new Convenience Matters episode is released. Episodes have been downloaded by listeners in more than 91 countries more than 33,000 times.Dr. Oliver Schlake with Convenience Matters podcasts host Stephanie Sikorski and Donovan Woods.