The “Need To Knows” In Order To Succeed In The Cannabis Industry with Daniel Weiss

Charles Wu
Sep 6, 2018 · 5 min read

I had the pleasure of interviewing Daniel Weiss, Director of I.T. at Good Meds, one of the first and largest cannabis cultivation centers in the world, I have a passion for transforming complex challenges into opportunities for new solutions, process improvement, and building business intelligence. For over 7 years, I’ve been helping businesses improve their operational procedures, data efficacy, product and service offerings, company culture, and overall strategic technical direction. I also do consulting on information technology solutions for the cannabis industry.

Tell us a little about yourself, where are you from, whats your background?

My name is Daniel, I’m originally from New Jersey but have spent the past decade or so in the midwest. Started out there in the banking industry right out of college. It became apparent pretty quickly I had a knack for understanding and improving complex systems. Eventually I found myself leading the charge in the Bank’s eCommerce initiatives and now taking those insights to the Cannabis industry.

How did you get involved with the cannabis industry?

I really just tried to get my foot in the door at first, coming on as a sales representative. Once there, I just tried to apply my skill set and provide value to the company in everyway that I could. Six months later I was successful with making the case for a technical director and was put in that role officially.

What exactly do you do in the industry?

I tackle all the technical elements of the business, which is robust. Whether you are talking state inventory tracking, Point of sale, intranet, networking, pc management, or any of the nuanced applications helping with Cannabis production and extraction, the challenge is immense but very rewarding when you find the right solution for any given problem.

So many of our readers and viewers are living in states where medical cannabis is not accessible to them and because of that they are really passionate about seeing cannabis legalized or at least made available for medical access…what was it like for you in the beginning?

While I am lucky to have come into the industry a little later than the initial chaos, I can say every new market has experienced similar dynamics — an initial rush leads to undersupply — a little later on oversaturation leads to market cannibalization. The more sophisticated your I.T. infrastructure is the more protected from employee turnover and systemic risk you are.

What keeps you in the industry when so many others were dropping out?

I think a sense of stewardship — wanting to help establish and reinforce decentralized structures that can work long term for the industry. Porting over established best practices from an industry like Banking — internals controls, audits, physical security — when coupled with technical efficiencies, can go a long way for any business.

What is your mission in your work? Why do you do what you do? Your higher purpose?

I really do believe in leaving things better than when you found them. With that, in any organization there is low hanging fruit, and you would be amazed to see how valuable simply digitizing your existing processes can be. Iteration towards constant improvement and building an organization that takes a community first approach — that would be the higher purpose I think. At that point, you create an entity that is not only profitable but contributing to the common good.

What do you see the benefits of legalization being for the US or global economy?

The country needs a lot right now. Everyday people are barely making it paycheck to paycheck and then the economic leaders of this country still refuse to grant basic rights to us like universal health coverage. Things have to change if this country is going to make it through the challenges we now face. Coming to terms with the irrationality of competition — the logic that would drive someone to pollute, to exploit poverty and illness, to rig the system and violate the public good — that time must end. Allowing uninhibited cannabis commerce on a national scale would allow for an opportunity to promote not only health and tax revenue but I do see it as coming to terms with the years of being lied to by the powers to be. Reason must prevail. This is a safe plant that can heal people and provide jobs. What more justification does Washington need at this point?

You are considered to be one of the leaders in our field, can you share three tips that helped you get here?

Be genuine. Be about others. Be kind.

The industry is a competitive landscape with a lot of players with various interests. Now, as interest continues to heat up from the outside, we run the risk of Cannabis becoming like any other industry. We must resist that urge. I think if you look at other industries, even those who supposedly possess fiduciary responsibilities to their clients, we see mistrust across the board because business leaders have been engaged in dishonest practices (mortgage crisis as an example). Here we have an opportunity to create a decentralized market where anybody can succeed by growing the best medicine. I think by focusing on staying true to that, caring about others’ well-being and ultimately showing kindness, that will help secure leadership in this field for some time to come.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I would say, given the current challenges in the country, there is a holistic solution technology can provide which can fix a lot of issues. If every citizen were given a biometric smartphone, voter fraud goes away overnight. WIth additional technologies blockchain, such a system would be 100% verifiable and might be the most secure voting system in the world. With foreign actors attempting to undermine our democracy, I wish I could help spark a movement in this direction. This would also be the foothold to creating a social safety net responsive to people in real time.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Discontent follows ambition like a shadow.”
-Henry S. Haskins

I think the most current science on happiness is very revealing here as it is a well-known dynamic with hedonic adaptation that discontent is very common in the modern world. I think focusing on how that discontent can be a creative force and a good incentive for change is a better way to look at things than assuming one has to be happy all the time to be ok.

Where can they find you? (do you have a fan page or social media channels you want them to follow?)

I actually have a new site coming soon! www.cannatechnica.com where I will talk much more in depth about how some of these concepts can benefit cannabis industry owners. For now, feel free to check me out on linkedin.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-weiss-638673163/

Watch the full interview below:

Authority Magazine

Leadership Lessons from Authorities in Business, Film, Sports and Tech. Authority Mag is devoted primarily to sharing interesting feature interviews of people who are authorities in their industry. We use interviews to draw out stories that are both empowering and actionable.

Charles Wu

Written by

Authority Magazine

Leadership Lessons from Authorities in Business, Film, Sports and Tech. Authority Mag is devoted primarily to sharing interesting feature interviews of people who are authorities in their industry. We use interviews to draw out stories that are both empowering and actionable.

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