Is Microsoft doomed to fail? Does the LinkedInIPO signal a new bubble? Is Google the model of success? Silicon Valley entrepreneur, writer, and professor, Steve Blanks, makes a number of bold assertions about the state of tech-based businesses in this Business Insider article.
For more information about Steve Blanks, visit his website.
Entrepreneurs want to start and grow businesses, to hire employees, and to provide valuable services to their customers. This article, About Taxes and Entrepreneurship, from the Policy Forum Blog discusses how the federal budget and taxation can impact entrepreneurs as they try to create successful businesses.
In Hurricane Irene and Walmart’s Staff Meteorologist, from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Eileen Norcross discusses economist Steven Horwitz’s assertion that the private sector was able to handle Hurricane Katrina more adeptly and more quickly than FEMA.
The article link’s to the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship’s interview of Horwitz on this very issue.
In “Teaching Capitalism in the Last Days of the USSR,” Steve Mariotti discusses his experience teaching capitalism and business to students in the final days of the USSR as it was changing to Russia.
Mariotti is a Kaizen interviewee and the founder of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). Before NFTE, Mariotti was a successful entrepreneur and a teacher in some of New York’s most challenging schools. Because of his innovative methods for teaching business concepts, Mariotti was named Teacher of the Year for New York State in 1988.
John Allison is the retired CEO and Chairman of the Branch Banking & Trust Corporation, based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Under Mr. Allison’s leadership from 1989 to 2009, BB&T grew from $4.5 billion to over $152 billion in assets to become the tenth largest financial institution headquartered in the USA. Almost more impressively, while many top banks failed outright or received large bailouts during the recent financial crisis, BB&T remained healthy and profitable. Mr. Allison is currently Distinguished Professor of Practice in the Business School at Wake Forest University.
Kaizen: Where did you grow up?
Allison: I grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina but I moved between the 10th and 11th grades to Chapel Hill, and graduated from high school in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Kaizen: When you were young, did you think you would become a banker?
Allison: Not at all. I was interested in economics in high school but not in banking, per se.
Kaizen: What were your early career dreams when you were a kid?
Allison: I thought I would work for a railroad and maybe be a railroad engineer.
In our latest issue of Kaizen we feature an interview with John Allison, former CEO of BB&T Corporation. Under Allison’s guidance, BB&T has become one of the top financial services companies in the world. He was nominated by MorningStar as one of the best CEOs in 2008.
Also featured in Kaizen are student essay contest winners Jennifer Harolle, Alyssa Baggio, Derek Garcia, the Walhout Prize in Philosophy winner, Nathaniel Branch, and guest speaker Dr. David Henderson.
A PDF version of Kaizen is available here. We will soon post separately the full interview with Mr. John Allison.
If you would like to receive a complimentary issue of the print version of Kaizen, please email your name and postal address to CEE [at] Rockford.edu.
Rockford College students can see the new Atlas Shrugged movie on Saturday, May 7 at 7:15 PM for free, courtesy of the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship. We are only covering the tickets, not concessions or transportation.
The film is playing at Wildwood Theaters in Janesville, Wisconsin.
Please arrive by 7:00. Look for Professor Stephen Hicks or Professor Shawn Klein.
Click here to see the theater’s location and to get directions.
McGill Original Films, a local video production company, created a short video about the recent Extreme Entrepreneurship event at Rock Valley College. CEE’s Executive Director, Dr. Stephen Hicks, was on a discussion panel at the event, and makes an appearance in the video below.
Jack Stack is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of SRC Holdings Corporation, an award-winning, employee-owned organization based in Springfield, Missouri. Springfield Remanufacturing Corporation and its 22 subsidiaries provide a wide range of products and services, including engine remanufacturing, packing and distribution, business consulting and banking. SRC employs 1,600 people and generates annual revenues of about $400 million.
Kaizen: Where did you grow up?
Stack: I was born in Chicago in 1948. My father bought a house in Elmhurst, Illinois, and I lived in Elmhurst from the time that I was about three years old to about 30. Then I was transferred to Springfield, Missouri, where I’ve spent the last 31 years of my life.
Kaizen: It sounds like you were a wild card as a youth—you were kicked out of college and seminary and fired from a job at General Motors?
The Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship is sponsoring two essay contests for Rockford College students this semester.
Introduction to Philosophy students were given the topic (Due April 14): What is independence, and is it a good thing? [Contest flyer pdf]
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Business and Economic Ethics students were given the topic (Due April 18): What essential character traits and business skills lead individuals and organizations to succeed? [Contest flyer pdf]
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The winners will receive cash prizes and be featured in upcoming issues of Kaizen.
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