Ground School Journal (8 Leadership Skills)

After assessing my leadership skills, I recognize four skills that I am strong at. These four strengths are:

 

·          Vision

I have been able to create a personal vision and then in turn inspire other people to believe in my vision. I also have the passion and focus to help make my visions come into fruition.

 

 

·          Presence

I maintain a professional demeanor and display confidence with humility.  I lead by example and sacrifice whatever is needed to get the job done. I believe that leaving my job and going after my dream of entrepreneurship, shows courage and the ability seize opportunities.

 

·          Adaptability

I am flexible and adapt to change well. I have always been able to work with diverse groups. Teaching has prepared me with the ability to change communication styles quickly depending on the audience.

 

·          Personal Growth

I am constantly looking for ways to improve myself. I listen to feedback and look for ways to incorporate it my life. I recognize my personal strengths, as well as my personal weaknesses. Accountability is something that I am currently working to improve for myself as well as holding others accountable.

 

 

I believe that these four skills will help in the constant development of Launch Learning Group.  The opportunities lie in the ability to react to change that will occur constantly in our business, and the ability to see a vision, and create a path to accomplish that vision.

Michael Melfi: The Six Degrees’ Experiential Experience

Imagine a limo picking you up from your house and driving you to an exotic location, flooding you with gifts, and topping it off with a demo of the latest up-to-date product at no cost to you. This is where marketing has gone according to Michael Melfi, C.E.O. of Six Degrees magazine.

Michael Melfi started Six Degrees magazine three and a half years ago, and it is blossoming into a major magazine operation. As a former lawyer and graduate of Wayne State Law School, Michael used his experience working in contracts to help spearhead his magazine. His magazine is pocket-size and consists of sixty percent editorials and forty percent adds. The magazines are free of charge and are placed in the hottest stores, restaurants, clubs, and lofts. The magazine is currently in Three cities; Detroit, Miami, and Atlanta, and intends to expand into other markets in the future.

“Respond to everyone timely, and you will have humility and integrity,” according to Michael Melfi these three things; responsiveness, humility and integrity is what every business owner needs to have in order to remain successful. Ironically, Michael sees his company as being in the advertisement business rather than the magazine business. He has to convince companies that his product will consciously persuade people to into the lifestyle of their product. His biggest obstacle has been measuring how many eyes are actually viewing his magazine on a monthly basis. He has hired an outside company to come in and measure this.

Michael has proven himself to be a very successful entrepreneur. He believes that there are six skills that every future entrepreneur should have:

·         Write at every chance you get

·         You are selling or getting sold

·         The clients are always right

·         Go with your gut feelings

·         Keep your team members happy

·         Know your assets and resources

The Distinguished Gentleman

            “Am I going to be able to compete, that is my biggest fear,” this is something that you would never imagine going through the head of Dave Bing. In our class, Dave Bing discussed the moments in his life where he doubted if he had the wherewithal to achieve greatness. This is from a man who is a NCAA All American, NBA Hall of Famer, and C.E.O. of Bing Group which currently has a yearly revenue of $600 million.             Dave Bing discussed to our class the three things that is needed to become a successful entrepreneur.  Access to capital, it is crucial to make sure that the you have a enough capital to sustain your business. Mr. Bing reiterated that when he started Bing Steel, he did not make a profit for the first six months and had to dip into his daughters retirement fund.                         A solid business plan, make sure that the business plan is solid and looks professional. Dave Bing worked as a bank manager, a mortgage banker, car dealership, and steel plant during his NBA career. This was unusual to most NBA stars, but he told us that he knew he would not be a ball player forever, and needed something to do when his career was over. He honed his business skills with these summer jobs and they ultimately gave him the skills to break away and start his own business.             Surround yourself with good people, this was one of the most important of the three. He made sure that he surrounded himself with a wide range of talented people who shared his values. In business, you are only as good as your worst employee.             The most impressive thing about Dave Bing is not the sports accolades, his steel business, or his real estate developments, it is the way people talk about the class and leadership that he exerts. He was able to ignore all of the negative in his life and excel as a man.