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Gary Shapiro, the CES Ninja

The CES, the large technology fair in Las Vegas will close its doors this Friday, January 10. "Human avatars", connected cities, new smartphones and even sextech, the range of discoveries is wide.

Gary Shapiro has chaired CTA, a large association of more than 2,000 technology companies, for almost 30 years. Apple is one of them, like Samsung, or Google. When this American took office, smartphones did not exist and autonomous cars were in their infancy. The tech world has evolved a lot and in the eyes of Thomas Serval, CEO of CareOs interviewed in Las Vegas by Thomas Bourdeau, Gary Shapiro knew how to make CES evolve.

“ Gary Shapiro was an incredible businessman, he transformed a living room where we sold TVs into a living room where we find products related to health, beauty, cars : everything that contains electronics . CES is his baby and he makes him grow well. He is a tireless traveling salesman. He knew how to follow trends and accelerate them. "

He has grown so much, the baby, that now the CES is running out of space. Maybe more for a long time since a new building is under construction. It is all the more difficult to get everyone in as the expansion of the products on display goes beyond the criteria of electronics. Recently, "vegetarian beef" was presented.

Innovation is the key today more than electronics. Gary Shapiro has certainly said recently in the Journal du Net , that you don't necessarily have to be innovative to exhibit but have a product that falls into the defined categories. But pushing the boundaries of the unprecedented is what drives it, as Benjamin Vincent, founder of Ouatch , a specialized media, explains .

" He is always available, especially when you want to innovate with him because he is constantly innovating. This is probably the word that most often drives him. "

Innovative Ninja

You just have to take a look at the titles of the books he has published to be convinced: Ninja Innovation , Ninja Future , on the cover of which Gary Shapiro is presented as a successful author of the New York Times . Gary Shapiro also publishes editorials among others on the Huffpost, the Wall Street Journal or on more specialized sites like Chiefexecutive.net. In 2013, he explained in one of these forums that to succeed CEOs must be innovative Ninjas. " Ninjas," he explains , "simply won by being focused, motivated, trained, and by breaking existing paradigms. "

Gary Shapiro doesn't want to influence only business leaders. The one who relates in his biography on LinkedIn to have been a lawyer and assistant to an elected representative of Congress before taking up his duties at the CTA, continues to evolve in the political sphere.

“ The CTA is an association that lobbies the United States government in particular. He knows all the greats of this world, from Bill Gates to Bill Clinton. "

lobbying

He even appears on the long list of the most influential lobbyists in Washington established by the site The Hill.

But what does it whisper in their ears? No doubt putting innovation before the rest. He criticized for example the establishment of the GDPR, the European data protection regulation. During a visit to Paris, he said that France risked losing ground because the data is a "wealth". A flagship measure of Donald Trump's economic policy does not fail to displease him, underlines Benjamin Vincent.

“ Gary Shapiro is the biggest defender of free trade. Customs barriers are really not his thing. Since the start of the customs sanctions crisis between the United States and China, he has been furious because it has weighed on the exports of the brands he represents. It is very often in Washington to whisper to the Trump administration that it does not have a heavy hand. "

Diplomacy work

Ivanka Trump, the daughter and advisor to the American president, has also entered the CES scene this year. An intervention that caused controversy at his announcement. Some believe that it was not the most appropriate to intervene in a salon dedicated to technology. Anyway, she talked about education and training with a welcoming Gary Shapiro.

" We want to work with you and create jobs with you. Personally, I believe that whoever the president is in the future, he will have to continue the kind of measures you put in place. Its very important. "

Nothing could be more normal in the eyes of Benjamin Vincent for whom Gary Shapiro " must be everyone's friend ". He is "a diplomat even if he does not have the language in his pocket ". Favorable to immigration, he also asked Ivanka Trump a question on this subject.

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