Superstar sports agent J.B. Bernstein could've given the talk he delivered to the lunchtime audience at the Channel Company's Best of Breed Conference to almost any audience.

But the core of Bernstein's message was about coping with change, reinventing business models and overcoming adversity, perfect for the conference and the hundreds of solution providers gathered there to learn best practices for dealing with widespread industry upheaval.

Bernstein created the "Million-Dollar Arm" contest and was portrayed by actor Jon Hamm in the Disney movie with same title.

Like solution providers, Bernstein was faced with a rapidly changing market in 2007. He reached a turning point when a college athlete and pro football prospect tried to extort him for $1 million.

Bernstein couldn't bring himself to cheat, and decided to quite literally change the game. His idea – to find pro baseball-level pitching talent in India by staging a reality television show – was met with almost unanimous skepticism.

In the end, the program brought two young Indian men who had never even heard of baseball into the major leagues. Next year, Bernstein estimates the show, in its third season, will travel to 100 cities and include 500,000 contestants.

"Being first in anything, you're under an unfair microscope, and that's a great lesson. You have to be comfortable with the spotlight, shake off the overblown enthusiasm, and shake off the overblown criticism," Bernstein said.

Like other presenters at the conference, Bernstein stressed the importance of planning, and sticking to one's plan. He also said passion can't be underestimated.

"If you want somebody to care, passion is critical," he said. "It's critical for sales and marketing, and internally. It gives you the ability to lead people to what you see."

Creativity, the ability to overcome adversity, and ethics were also among Bernstein's top characteristics of good business.

"Industry is about relationships," Bernstein said. "If people think you're willing to cheat, they're not going to want to do business with you."

Being honest doesn't make it easy to run a business, though. Bernstein's idea for Million-Dollar Arm was shot down by all but one pro baseball team owner, but Bernstein stuck with it.
"When you have a new idea," he said, "you're an idiot until it works."