Profile: John Manner
Meet John Manner. Co-Founder at MavenNext.
Name: John Manner
Job: Co-Founder at MavenNext
City: Columbus
Hometown: Mount Vernon
Q: What do you do at MavenNext?
My company, MavenNext, helps customers on their ServiceNow roadmap. We are software, process, and people consultants. Normally our first step (we call them MavenSteps) is to perform an assessment and then provide a detailed roadmap on how to get to where you need to be. Every business is at different levels of maturity with their processes and they lean on us to guide them to the right step.
Q: What’s a problem you're working to solve?
A common problem our clients face is trying to get a handle on their IT Assets and wanting to answer all the questions about them. Who, what, where, when, and how. That ties into a collorary opportunity of helping clients with Integrated Risk Management. What policies and controls need to be applied to those assets? Which asset classes? Everyone has probably heard about the recent Solarwinds hack, clients need to learn their environment now so they can minimize the impact of those breaches. Sounds complex but we make it easy.
Q: What’s a lesson you’ve learned that's shaped your work?
Leaning into change instead of actively (or passively) trying to resist it. You have to be agile and fast in any industry today. The phrase, "This is how we always have done it" is not going to innovate anything.
Q: What’s a trend in technology or innovation that doesn’t get enough attention?
The Carbon Budget. Which is an estimation of when the world has added enough carbon to the environment to increase the global average temperate 1.5 degrees and 2 degrees Celsius. Read about it and the work being done.
Q: What’s one moonshot idea that could help make Ohio a world leader in technology and innovation?
Raise the level and quality of education from Pre-K to college (including trade schools). If you really want to launch Ohio to a "world leader" in anything, the investment needs to be early and large. It wont create a splashy headline like a Hyperloop but the dividends will pay off generationally. Imagine if the level of your children's education wasn't based on where you live and instead everyone was given the same level of opportunity. It would take a "moonshot" effort to do this because at this point you can't take from other schools to give to others, entitlements are strong and we all are driven by them. A rising tide lifts all boats.
Q: What’s a recent book, podcast or news story that you found interesting?
I've been reading a number of books about business lately, but the one I keep referencing is an older book called "The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It" by Michael Gerber. It has its own criticisms, so you can also add those to your consideration. My daily goal is to convert what we do into a system that is consistent for our customers. The book calls it a franchise, but it's really a procedure runbook for everything done in your business. If you don't have it documented it will be done differently and therefore inconsistently. "Management by luck" is what the author calls it.
Another one I like to pick up and skim through is "The Richest Man in Babylon" by George Samuel Clason. The text probably could use some modern rewrites, but the financial tenets are still sound.
Q: What's your favorite place in Ohio?
I need to answer that by seasons. Middle Path at Kenyon College in the autumn. It feels like going home. In the Winter, the December Gallery Hop (Pre or Post Covid) in the Short North in Columbus is basically a living Norman Rockwell painting with a modern flair. Spring time, hiking at BlackHand Gorge is a gem or Franklin Park Conservatory. For Summer, getting to Middle Bass island on Lake Erie to stay cool and for the slower island life.
Q: What makes Ohio special to you?
I've had to travel quite a bit in previous jobs and enjoyed the unique places, but I kept coming back to Ohio. Our families and friends are here. Why would we want to live anywhere else? Most places south of here are too hot for me anyway. Hoping for some major snow this year. Also, my wife and I love taking our two young children to different places each weekend and rediscovering the state. Each weekend we pick a different hike in our "50 Hikes in Ohio" book that we also use as a journal. With more than 5000 miles of trails, we have plenty of time to cover it.
Connect with John on LinkedIn.