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#SE2103 – Wrapping Up Inaugural Successful Entrepreneurship Series

It is time to celebrate! Yes…the first Successful Entrepreneurship series has come to a close and there are lots to get excited about. Sixteen weeks…eighteen speakers including the Governor! Yes, Governor Haley joined us to talk entrepreneurship and business in South Carolina.

A core group of entrepreneurs, led by Leighton Cubbage, formed a series of entrepreneurs teaching aspiring entrepreneurs. Each week a new topic all hosted at Greenville Technical College.

So here is a quick recap:
– 200 people applied
– 75 accepted into the 16 week program
– 16 Week Program
– 18 Speakers
– Averaged 68 attendees each week
– Collected roughly 674 food items for donation
– 69 Members elected to participate in the Secret Facebook Group
– 1129 Unique Visitors to Successful-Entrepreneurship.com
– Uploaded videos have been watch 210 times.

Here is the list of all the speakers:
Leighton Cubbage, Joe Erwin, Dan Waldschmidt, Bob Hughes, Rick Davis, Cy Burgess, Katherine Smoak Davis, Bobby Rettew, Dave Wyman, Ruben Montalvo, Curtis Harper, Kevin Hendricks, Ray Lattimore, Art Seaver, Matt Dunbar, Steve Mudge, Randy Dobbs, and Governor Nikki Haley

We sent a final survey to all the attendees, so I thought I would share a few of the responses!

1) Who was your favorite speaker? (Tell us why!)

I am not able to pick a favorite. I felt that every speaker was unique and gave an inspirational approach to entrepreneurship. I was very thankful to be a part of this group.

2) Did you connect with someone special? (Share the experience!)

The connections that I have made with those in the class have been most special to me. More than just networking but real connection. Getting to know them without any real expectations has been a true blessing.

3) Share one thing you took away from these events?

Almost all of the speaker talked about the importance of SERVICE and giving instead of getting! This truly blessed me.

4) Did you meet a new business opportunity? (Tell us more!)

I have contacted a classmate and plan to help him buy investment properties.

5) What was your favorite quote from all the events?

“Shut up, go to work, and put it in the pipeline!” & “Timid people have skinny children.”

6) What made you attend week after week?

The content really kept my anticipation HIGH each week! Different topics, differnet experiences, dynamic speakers. the FRIGGING GOVERNOR!!!!!!! need i say more.

7) How can we make Successful Entrepreneurship better?

I think it is spectacular you support share the knowledge… not everyone gets it. Your all role models and it was a pleasure to experience it. I would do it again.

 

Integrating creativity/passion into a leadership style. [Leadership Summit 2011 – Part 7]

Here is the question that was posed during the 2011 Leadership Summit last week at Clemson At The Falls.

What are the biggest myths and/or mistakes leaders make in how they interpret and integrate creativity/passion into their leadership styles? What do most leaders often get right? Wrong?

A good leader knows how to find the creativity and passion in his/her group(s) of people, and help them unlock their god given natural talents to lead. My mentor Leighton Cubbage talks about this concept of providing a team to tap into their greatest potential. I also think about the idea surrounding how the Dalai Lama embraces this mentality, stating “there goes my people, I am following.”

I have worked for a few large organizations across the country, and leadership has mistaken passion/creativity as a threatening attribute. Whether it is insecurity or maybe they considered a person’s passion a liability.  But, what if leadership spent time trying to fully understand where this passion originated inside a person. What if an organization’s leader learned to channel that passion/creativity, capitalizing that energy to benefit not only the organization…but the person who is craving to be a part of the team.

IMHO…leaders must learn to listen and recognize that they do not have all the answers. John Maxwell tells a story in his book “Everyone Communicates Few Connect” how a new leader (CEO) broke away from his corner office and put his desk right in the middle of the whole business. He allowed people to connect with him, share ideas, and allow the freedom of expression to thrive. He listened to his people and allowed his people to share. Once again…it is about language and the ability to communicate. I love the interview above as John Maxwell talks about the premise of his book.

I was also fortunate enough to work with a very smart leader, Mike Riordan. He wanted to start a blog to share his thoughts as a leader in health care and as the CEO of one of the largest health systems in the Southeast. His blog allowed him to connect not only with the outside world, but the employees of Greenville Hospital System. From topics of heath care reform, big budget decisions, to the new academic center in the Greenville, the employees of Greenville Hospital System began reading and connecting. Yes, he may have a corner office, but this tool allowed him to open his doors and engage in conversation with all walks of people right inside the walls of Greenville Hospital System.

It is more than communication…it is connecting. But…communication tools can provide the opportunity for leadership to share their passions and creatively connect with like minded individuals.

Leadership…is Entrepreneurship a learned skill?

I was talking with one of mentors on the phone yesterday, I always get a week full of go-go juice after one of our chats. I was sharing with him something my class at Clemson had done that was very interesting. Their task was to find local examples of Hybrid Entrepreneurs in the area, and write a case study. To my surprise, they choose Serrus Capital Partners. They wrote a short case study and presented it to the rest of the class. It was fun seeing my students talk about one of my mentors.

As I was explaining this to Leighton, you could tell that not only was he humbled…but was having a hard time being put in the spot light. You see, a good leader likes to focus on their team and remove the focus from themselves. Leighton has built many companies, had many successes and many challenges…but at the end of the day, he gets up and keeps on swinging the bat. Why…because he is not afraid of “failure” or “challenges.” He looks at it as just another part of the process to achieve what he has set out to do. That is why he has continued to be successful to this day.

I am still trying to think through whether entrepreneurship is a learned skill, an ethic built into us, a language, or a passion. But Leighton said something yesterday that made me think just a bit…we as entrepreneurs succeed because we are surrounded by people who love us. At first, I thought that was just a simple feel good statement…but I sat back and thought about it for a bit. It makes perfect sense.

Entrepreneurs’ success is dependent upon the people around us and their support. Now, we will have plenty of people around us that find it in their best interest for us to “fail.” But the one’s who really love us…support us; they listen to our successes, they listen to our failures, and they encourage us to just swing that bat again.

On Wednesday, I was visiting my Grandfather who is 80. He is in the hospital again and is getting weaker by the day. My pop is another one of my mentors. He is an entrepreneur himself. He did not want to sit and talk about him, but wanted to hear about me? He wanted to know about business, who I had met, had I signed any new contracts, was I happy, and what scared me. This frail man who spent his whole life enjoying the successes of the “American Dream” of an “Entrepreneurial Experience,” was more interested in hearing from me. I still had so much to learn from him. In some way I think he wanted to feel like he was out an about chasing another deal and hanging out with his customers.

My grandfather believed in the customer.  He was not a serial entrepreneur, he was a real estate man. He did not spend all of his time focusing on the properties, he spent his time getting to know his customers. He listened and he responded. He put the customer first. In his time away from the customer, he spent walking through tons on properties, memorizing each one. He was jealous of my iPad.

Leadership and Entrepreneurship is an undefined space. What I mean, each person has their own opinions. But that is what makes it so great, how we come to learn to become leaders and entrepreneurs…it is all about the people that love us!

By the way, both Leighton and my grandfather are real-estate men…interesting.

Here is a quote from my daily motivational that I thought I would share from Nancy Eichstadt of LMI. It is funny how this little motivational found it’s way into my In-Box this morning. Enjoy…

THE FUTURE IS A BIG ADVENTURE

Sooner or later, those who win are those who think they can.
The cards you’re dealt in life are less important
than the way you play them.
Every day you face a new deck and new cards.

Carve out a niche for yourself in your imagined future.
Begin immediately to think and feel yourself as successful.
To achieve your goal in life, you need to project your end result.

Focus on your future, not your past.
Prepare for your future, don’t live in the past.
Relish your good memories and use any bad ones as lessons in life.

Think of the elation, the satisfaction,
the joy you’ll feel when you’ve achieved your objective.
Carry these ecstatic feelings with you every day
and they will bring your desired goals into view.

Success is waiting for you.