Leadership Assignment

1. I believe I possess vision, adaptability and personal growth, talent development. I have always been a person that has the vision for everyone to be successful. I came from humble beginnings and I have always dreamed of having a business that is a vehicle for people to become better from my sacrifices. As a leader, I give my all to my team and I forget completely about me it becomes us and we. I believe in the talents of others and their personal growth I help to grow them as much as I can because I want to have a legacy that speaks to me as a teacher as well as a leader.
2. I see an opportunity in deep thinking and communication expert. I think I do both fairly well but they need improvement. I think my vision hampers me in deep thinking because I have to learn to live in the moment rather than be thinking of the future. My communication tends to be very wordy because of my experiences as a writer. I have to be more concise in the way speak because in giving instructions they have to be clear.
3. The actions or steps I will take for my growth in communication and deep thinking are:

· I will join a Toastmaster’s International club for public speaking to ensure clear, concise and confident speech.

· I will make a conscious effort to slow down while I am speaking.

· I will use the process mapping techniques to exercise my going deep skills.

Liz Blondy- A Dog-Gon Good Opportunity

    Liz Blondy from K-9 to 5 is an entrepreneur that has a very interesting to say the least business. Doggy-Day Care is definitely a niche’ business that interests a segment of a large market of dog owners that would be interested in her business. I definitely believe that her business is a testament to exploiting a niche’ in the market and finding opportunity. Blondy’s research into the market after she heard about the opportunity from a friend that was taking their dogs to Farmington Hills for doggy day care. She  read as many books on dogs and consulted people that owned Doggy-day care business,”You can never know enough about your industry”,says Blondy. Her research and determination  to become a business is what fascinated me most because she wasn’t a dog person and had no experience in the field.  She saved and strategically placed herself to have the capital to start her business. Even though she financed 30,000 on credit cards which was in essence a big mistake which could be at a standard 18% finance charge could be end up being a very large mistake. But overall her business idea could very well be successful down the line because hey she is just 2 years in. 

Lisa Toenniges- Opportunistic Entreprenuer

 

“As an Entrepreneur you have to look FORWARD”!!

- Lisa Toenniges of The Innovative Learning Group

Entrepreneurs know opportunity when they see it. And Lisa Toenniges is no exception to the rule. The Innovative Learning Group was started in between the closing of her former company where she worked for 10 years . “I had no time to think”, said Toenniges, opportunities come and go and as an entrepreneur you have to be ready to pounce on it when it comes. Entrepreneurs see a need and fill that need with their expertise to change the marketplace. She immediately acted by setting up meetings with clients to discuss their business with the her company insuring a smooth transition. By bootstrapping her idea she was able to capitalize on the market that already existed with her former company thus helping her a built in customer base from the start. She started in her basement with six people from her previous company. Toenniges understood that her employees were the most important asset and their expertise was the key to her success.

Sacrifices are key to taking advantage of opportunities (i.e. financially or time) because it is essential to stepping out on belief that your endeavor will be successful. This is best displayed in after 3 years of existence having a 3 million dollar business that has very low overhead and is growing “steadily and profitably”.

Lisa Toenniges inspired me because as a leader she possesses traits that would inspire others to follow into a startup that was crafted in her basement. I definitely could see myself where Toenniges is due to her vision of what is important to her. I don’t think that becoming a large faceless corporation that loses focus on the comradery of the office in a common goal to be successful is not her focus. Her focus is in her leadership and growth of the people in her office that believed in her when it didn’t look like a great idea to do so. Toenniges’ vision is to stay profitable and close to her business model rather than repeat the mistakes of her former company is what matters most. Could you say it is playing it safe…maybe but 3 million in gross profit after 3 years is pretty good. I wouldn’t complain to much if that’s playing it safe.

Michael Melfi-Defining Culture,Style and City Living

Michael Melfi knows exactly what he wants and how he wants it. Visionaries are always in first place when creating something completely original and cutting edge. Six Degrees magazine is a pocket-sized 192-page publication dedicated to fashion, entertainment, and the young professional lifestyle. Six Degrees is based around the idea of “six degrees of separation” which is the perfect for a communication forum.
Six Degrees magazine is stylish, sleek and innovative. The marketing is very direct to its target market. Just as many other lifestyle magazines Vogue, GQ, and Vanity Fair, Six Degrees’ know what products are associated with their market’s lifestyle. The most important thing to magazines are advertising which is cleverly focused by Melfi and his team. Connecting products and services like Patron, Sweet Georgia Brown, Skin Deep Cosmetic Surgery, and Mercedes Benz are all products that are associated with the young stylish professional. The unique selling proposition of Six Degrees is that the magazine is on a local level in three markets and is in plans of expansion according to Melfi. This gives every market its own guide to what’s hot in their city.
Michael Melfi is a passionate businessman that holds true to all of the principles of how successful people interact with others. The most important of the things Melfi mentioned was his thought on mentors. “If I don’t know something, I network to gain access to that person and have them become my mentor.” Melfi gave me perspective on how to market Soulstice to my potential customers that will patronize my establishment. Melfi is apart of the new generation of entrepreneurs that we will become apart of that moves the city of Detroit to its future.

 

Dave Bing-Classy Leadership

I

In the cut-throat world of business you rarely find people that are truly good people. And no one optimizes that statement more than Dave Bing or “BUDDA BING” as they called him in his playing days. Dave Bing’s past still describes his future which is classy confidence with excellencDave Bing’s psyche (i.e. Watermark and the Community Redevelopment Projects ) but with hind sight 20/20, Bing could’ve known that working in the off-season for banks a would lead to this. Being one of the most successful Business-man in America, a multi-millionaire, 61 million a year in sales, a Hall of Fame basketball player, awards and accolades for three men. But as entrepreneurs we see all of our success before it happens and more.

As entrepreneurs, sacrifices are never in vain even if the profit that we seek may not come when we want it. But it’s not about the money rather than the lesson during the struggle that makes a CHAMPION. In 1980, when Bing Steel was losing money and he started dipping into his daughter’s college funds to fund the business or even at the age of 5 when he had a unfortunate eye injury that threatened his sight. The loses were making him probably question whether or not this was a good idea along with the naysayers but champions never quit. And in every facet of Bing’s has proven that he is a champion. Champions make a difference because they have won before and know what it takes to win again. And it will take Champions to rebuild this city and with leadership like his I am sure that as a champion myself I hope to just like BUDDA.

This is my homework for Gizmo’s

“Here it is”

Christopher R.Cook

John Ferchill-”You Don’t Have to Like Me”

“We are relentless in getting project done on time and on budget”- John Ferchill

 

 

    As a future leader, I always examine other leaders to examine their style and how they interact with others. John Ferchill is no exception to the rule of a lead by example kind of guy. I examine confidence or even arrongance most would get confused because they can closely mimick each other. And Ferchill definitely treads the line very close. “We don’t care we know John will go get us another deal.” And when I heard that statement it changed my mind about this man. Faith in a leader helps your employees work harder for you and they trust you to make great decisions. And his confidence comes from his unbridled faith in his abilities and of his people. It’s so powerful. I guess I psycho-analyze people that are successful because to possess greatness in a room full of mediocrity you will go misunderstood more than not.

Passion, Purpose and Drive are rarely words in the average person’s lexicon. Because those words describe a person that is willing to give it all us to make what they want done happen. And the fact that he has done it his way like Ole’ Blue Eyes is the icing on the cake and adds to his confidence/arrogance. 250 million a year, enough said. Ferchill is the embodiment of how a leader should lead, from the front, loyal and always means what he says and does what he says. You can subtract any great businessman/women’s name there instead of Ferchill’s because they are shared qualities of great leaders. And we got a chance to share space with a man that has done what and been where we all want to go. And for that he is great in his own right because he has made manifest of the gifts he has been given and is not done using them.

 

Funny ,Arrogant and a lil’ Crazy but they one thing you can’t call him is BROKE. And even though he made be a lil’ Crazy but aren’t most Geniuses.