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?

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Professor Donna Matias of the University of San Diego School of Law describes some of the regulatory obstacles that entrepreneurs — especially those with low income —face:

Norm Augustine believes that America is falling behind other countries like China and India in technological innovation. This is because our culture portrays engineers and scientists as nerds rather than venerating them, because our educational system deemphasizes science and math, and because we don’t invest enough in long-term basic research. “Despite what many Americans believe,” he writes, “our nation does not possess an innate knack for greatness.  Greatness must be worked for and won by each new generation.”

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Read our Kaizen interview with Judy Estrin, in which she covers similar themes.

The Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship has invited three interesting guest speakers to Rockford College this semester:

William Kline: David Hume and Ethics

March 17

Dr. William Kline is Assistant Professor of Liberal Studies at University of Illinois, Springfield. He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. He has published in the Journal of Value Inquiry and the Journal of Business Ethics.

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Jeffrey P. Orduno: Property Rights and the Law

March 30

Jeffrey Orduno is an associate in the law firm of McGreevy Williams. He is a Rockford College alum and received his JD from John Marshall Law School. His practice includes business litigation and transactions, as well as matters related to land use and construction.

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Douglas B. Rasmussen: Aristotle and Contemporary Ethics

April  23 & 26

Dr. Douglas Rasmussen is professor of philosophy at St. John’s University in New York. He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy at Marquette University. Dr. Rasmussen has authored numerous articles in a variety of journals and is coauthor (with Douglas J. Den Uyl) of Norms of Liberty: A Perfectionist Basis for Non-Perfectionist Politics (2005).

All who are interested may attend. We hope to see you there!

Also, view the PDF of our flyer.

Locations and exact times forthcoming.

For more information, contact CEE [at] Rockford.edu

Good read: College Crunch lists 25 Skills and Classes Necessary to Become a Great Entrepreneur.

The Foreign Policy Research Institute’s program Teaching Innovation features some great resources for teaching the history of innovation, such as papers, lessons, and event audio and video. It includes a fascinating survey of the Top 25 Innovations in History, by Lawrence Husick who is a senior fellow at FPRI.