Reflective thinking and writing #2 – me, myself and Matt Maday

Reflective thinking and writing – me, myself and Matt Maday

During my summer seminar at Kendall College I met a lot of entrepreneurs. One entrepreneur who impressed me most is Matt Maday. I get in touch with Matt Maday at the entrepreneurship event on July 16, 2014 at Kendall College. Matt Maday is CEO and CO-Founder of the digital agency, Oncall Interactive. I was surprised about the clients his company has. Here it is worth mentioning the clients: McDonalds, Chicago Tribune, Nike, Microsoft, hp, TAG Heuer, Harley-Davidson and Toyota.[1] Matt Maday invented a patent-pending sweepstakes deployment and analytics platform and BRANDflex, a first-of-its-kind brand management platform to support the companies mentioned above. These aspects show already the ability of strategically thinking, invention and power of volition to me. The Oncall value statement underlines the innovative way of thinking of Matt Maday:

Stand out, celebrate original ideas and experiences
which impact the world around us.[2]

I am of the opinion that the participative leadership style matches Matt Maday best. On the one side he offers guidance to his group members, but on the other side he also allows insights from other members. This describes the behaviour of Matt Maday. He is anxious to be effective, critical and efficient. The participative leadership style is the most effective one and I am sure that he knows that fact. He as CEO, appreciates the input of his employees, but it is important for him to have the final say.

To arrange Matt Maday in the six different styles of leadership from Daniel Goleman it is inalienable to know that Matt Maday connects the characteristics visionary thinking, innovation, team work and individual thinking. Because of this, it is difficult to put him into one category of leadership styles. Nevertheless I think the visionary leadership style fits Matt Maday best. His whole life Matt Maday pursuits one vision. His aim is to launch his own business and have responsibility for people. He dreams big and thinks big. He wants to develop something that improves the life of businesses.

Exactly with this point Matt Maday impresses me. I love to follow a combination of innovative and visional leadership. My aim is to launch my own business and create value for others. In my opinion the best way to achieve this is with team work. On the one hand I like to act energetically and motivate others, but on the other hand I like to combine this with some rules and expects others should observe. All in all, I want to attain from Matt Maday the humbleness he transmits to others. Matt Maday achieved many things through building up Oncall Interactive with innovative ideas. These are reasons why Matt Maday impressed and inspired me.

A good leader should have wide knowledge compared to his staff. Without that a leader cannot be accepted. There are certain other qualities that make a good leader. The first thing for me is honesty. Honest and ethical behaviour must be a key value. If you implement this, your team will follow suit. A good leader has to communicate in a clear and directive way. He should also has a sense of humour, be confidential and creative. Another key element a good leader should contain is the ability to inspire.[3]

Matt Maday did not change the type of leader I inspire to be, but he adds more aspects I would like to think about more. His ability of motivation and willingness to lunch his own business give new input and also some kind of motivation to reach my own business to me. To sum up, the meeting with a person like Matt Maday helped me in reinforcing the type of leader I want to be in my further life.

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[1] http://www.oncallinteractive.com/clients/

[2] http://www.oncallinteractive.com/culture/

[3] http://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyaprive/2012/12/19/top-10-qualities-that-make-a-great-leader/

Picture Matt Maday: http://cdn1.localjobnetwork.com/assets/images/authors/pic_Matthew_Maday.jpg

Picture Leader: http://www.youreffectiveleadership.com/images/picture.png

Video Matt Maday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO2Wu5iRqCM

Video Forbes Tips Leaders under 30: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY6K4VaaXEw

Marcs Blog #2

In this blog I write about the entrepreneur Perry Watson III, who is the president of Lexus of Mishawaka. Although I did not hear him speak in person, because he was represented by his son Rob Watson, I was most impressed by Perry Watson. In my eyes Perry Watson has some different leadership skills. In particular I have seen the traditional and participative leadership style. In my opinion this leadership style is very effective. Due to the fact Perry Watson is an entrepreneur in car dealership business you need high skills in leadership. Furthermore he needs to be an advisor for his team that he can support his team in kind of motivation, knowledge or personal support. Another point it is that he has to open to criticism because of innovations and new ideas. Rob Watson told us that for his father Customer Relationship is one of the most important things in business. Everytime Perry Watson tries to have the best relationship to his clients. In most times he is ready to put the relationship to his customers over his own interests. He lives this positive way every day in his company and with its customers. Thus he creates a positive atmosphere and culture in his company.  

In my opinion it is very difficult to have leadership skills like Perry Watson. When he decided to open a new car dealership of a new brand he had to take so many risks. I would be proud to wear one day as much risk as Perry. In addition to that Perry hold an Bachelor and Master degree. I like his way of education, because I am a candidate for a Master of Science as well. And after my education in university I want to get experiences in professionals before I will range my own business one day.

His philosophy about motivation and the enthusiasm with which he pursues his goals impressed me the most. Perry embodies a perfect leader. Because a leader should be open to new ideas, able to deal well with criticism, have interpersonal skills and be able to motivate his staff.

All in all the event was a great experience. I was impressed by Perry Watson pursued his career plan. However, I could not identify 100 % with one of these entrepreneurs because I have other specific ideas of leadership. In addition I am not so much interested in the fields where the entrepreneurs operate. But in general when Rob talked about his father he inspired me by the way of daily motivation. It has convinced me that in Perry Watson’s opinion each has his own fortune. Also I would like to solve problems in the future with such positive motivation.

It was fascinating for me to hear Rob talking about his father !!!

Dwight Koop - Inspiring leader in the business world

My reflective blog #2

For my second reflective blog on blogger.com I decided to write about Dwight Koop, COO and Co-founder for CohesiveFT. CohesiveFT watches and helps the cloud market to grow from just a concept to reality. With huge experience in networking, enterprise IT as well as financial services technology CohesiveFT has the expertise to serve their clients.

For my second reflective blog on blogger.com I decided to write about Dwight Koop, COO and Co-founder for CohesiveFT. CohesiveFT watches and helps the cloud market to grow from just a concept to reality. With huge experience in networking, enterprise IT as well as financial services technology CohesiveFT has the expertise to serve their clients. I decided to write my blog about Dwight Koop, because it seems like he gained a lot of experience in the global finance and entrepreneurial market. He was the global head of data center operations and security for Swiss Banks capital markets and O’Connor and Associates. This is quite impressive.

Furthermore he was one of the founders of the Chicago Board Options Exchange as well as an EVP during its early and significant growth years.

Moreover he gained a lot of experience in several Mergers and Acquisitions. During his engagement as a COO of Bedouin, Inc, he was amongst others in charge for the acquisition of Starbase.

As a leader he also worked together with some well known people in their businesses. Just to name a few I would like to refer to Eric Hughes, the noted cryptographer, as well as Bram Cohen as one of the founders of BitTorrent.

Besides all these activities Dwight Koop is a managing member of Leporidae Holdings LLC, what is a private asset management company.

When it comes to the characteristics I see in Dwight Koop and I would like to attain from him the first thing coming into my mind are his natural and honest authority. He gives the audience the feeling that he has a huge knowledge pool and knows exactly what he is talking about. He reached a lot in his business life and with CohesiveFT he is right now building up and establishing a new successful and innovative company. When he is referring about his projects and ideas he did not look like he was bragging about anything of that even for a second. Definitely this is one of the attitudes which are essentiell for an outstanding leader and entrepreneur. 

Dwight Koop also impressed and inspired me by the different kinds of businesses he worked in. He started his career at a Swiss Bank and moved his business to a more technological Start-Up Scene. Regarding to this shift for me it is also a important for a entrepreneur because a good leader needs to have superior and great knowledge compared to his employees working for him. Otherwise a leader wouldn't be accepted in his team and all decisions will always be questioned. 

To sum it up it is to say that Dwight Koop did not change but strengthen my opinion of a leader i inspire to be in my further life. I guess he is comparable to several worldwide known leader as for example Richard Branson. His experiences come from different kinds of industries and they are both successful in known businesses as well as in new segments. In the end meeting a person like Dwight Koop in real life inspired me for my further career and showed me that looking for new opportunities is always an outstanding possibility to realize potential gains in the market. 

Sources:

http://www.cohesiveft.com

Several material from our classes

How I learned to value my business

How I learned to value my business

Believe in yourself. You know how every time you try to accomplish something that seems impossible most of the advice you will get is believe in yourself. This advice does usually mean I am sorry I can’t help you or it does mean I do not believe that you will have a chance.

If there is one word I would use to describe Lee Greene, the owner of Faithful Foods it would be self-confidence. 

LEE GREENE Owner, Faithful to Foods, Inc. and Scrumptious Pantry.  Lee is the founder of Scrumptious Pantry, a brand for packaged heirloom foods from the Midwest and beyond. The unique branding concept, which highlights the farmers on the front label, creates a new level of transparency in grocery retailing. Before launching Scrumptious Pantry, Lee was the Managing Director of a biodynamic vineyard in Tuscany. As a consultant for integrated marketing strategies at one of the leading German communication agencies she has worked for international cooperation such as Henkel and Wal-Mart. Lee holds a Master’s Degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of Cologne/Germany, and an MBA from SDA Bocconi School of Management, Milan/Italy.

When I met her on the panel I had a lot of question and most of them concerned supply chain and how to find suppliers that would work with me.

 

It is also connecting to which characteristics a good leader should have. I guess, a good leader must have the following skills: Rewarding, Interested in Feedback, Consistent and Organized. Rewarding is very important. A good leader will observe all the efforts of his employees and will be rewarding it. He must also be very interested in feedback, because feedback is always a gift. Employees are more productive and more satisfied while getting feedback. Consistent is also important. If there is a lack of this consistence customers are forced to buy competitors’ products and services.[1] At the end a leader must be organized. Leaders can save a lot of time and costs while being well organized. 

My assumption has always been that I would have to go out there on my knees in order to get a supplier to support me in the beginning because my purchasing numbers will be low. She told me something I won't forget: " If they do not want to work with you and do not believe in you or your idea than don't work with them" and " If they come crawling back looking for your business once you grow, smack them down because if they didn't want your business before they do not get it now that you made it" 

I believe someone who is developing a business idea and from there on the company will need a portion of this self-understanding. Knowing that what you do is the right thing to do and trust in your self is what inspires other people. As a leader within your company it is therefore imminent that one has the same trust in ones person in order to inspire your employees.

How a leader can inspire your own style of leadership

In my second blog post I would like to talk about Paul Hardej. Paul Hardej is one of the founders and right now the CTO of FarmedHere. Before starting FarmedHere Paul Hardej has studied Interior Design and Architecture and also worked in this area with great success so that he earned awards for some of this real estate projects.

FarmedHere is a Chicago based company which does vertical farming. This means that they have a huge production hall where they use aquaponic indoor growing in order to grow their goods like basil more efficient and the most local as possible. 

Due to his background in architecture Paul Hardej had the abilities to construct and design the whole production line which was needed for the aquaponic farming. In addition to that he also designed the special lightning technology that is use by FarmedHere. 

Unfortunately we only had a few minutes to talk to Paul, but even this short space of time gave me the chance to get a little insight in his style of leadership and running a business. From the beginning on he tries to get our point of view by asking us several questions e.g. if we like the farm or if we can imagine that such a business model will be successful in Germany as well. This behavior shows that he wants to get insights from outside, which makes him kind of a participative leader. A participative leader always tries to connect with his employees or other stakeholders in order to improve the business.

In case of characteristics it gets harder to describe a person just by talking to him about 5 minutes. But what comes to my mind if i try to answers this question is that Paul really seems modest even he built up a great company and has been successful in architecture before as well. This is something that really impressed me because in my opinion you can only be successful if you stay hungry. And staying hungry can only be achieved if you are modest and always aiming for a higher goal. Another point that impresses me was his good overview about the whole business. Besides of questions concerning the construction of the production line or architecture he was also able to answer financial questions without any problem. 

This point is something really important that i connect with a good leader. Because in my opinion a good leader needs to be like a lighthouse. A high point that sets the direction for the whole group. I think this can only be reached if you really know what you are doing and why you are doing this. Because if e.g. an employee gets the impression that you are not convinced of the project you're working on he or she will be feared because if the leader himself don't believe in the success who else should believe this. 

In the end I can't say that Paul Hardej is kind of a leader that inspires me. There are several other leaders that really inspire me and help me finding my own style of leadership. But meeting Paul was a really great experience that gave me new insights in a totally new business.

Sources: http://vfua.org/speaker/paul-hardej-chief-technology-officer-vertical-farming/, http://farmedhere.com/

Do what you gotta do and do not compromise it

How I learned to value my business

If there is one word I would use to describe Lee Greene, the owner of Faithful Foods it would be self confidence. 

LEE GREENE Owner, Faithful to Foods, Inc. and Scrumptious Pantry.  Lee is the founder of Scrumptious Pantry, a brand for packaged heirloom foods from the Midwest and beyond. The unique branding concept, which highlights the farmers on the front label, creates a new level of transparency in grocery retailing. Before launching Scrumptious Pantry, Lee was the Managing Director of a biodynamic vineyard in Tuscany. As a consultant for integrated marketing strategies at one of the leading German communication agencies she has worked for international cooperation such as Henkel and Wal-Mart. Lee holds a Master’s Degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of Cologne/Germany, and an MBA from SDA Bocconi School of Management, Milan/Italy.

When I met her on the panel I had a lot of question and most of them concerned supply chain and how to find suppliers that would work with me.

My assumption has always been that I would have to go out there on my knees in order to get a supplier to support me in the beginning because my purchasing numbers will be low. She told me something I won't forget: " If they do not want to work with you and do not believe in you or your idea than don't work with them" and " If they come crawling back looking for your business once you grow, smack them down because if they didn't want your business before they do not get it now that you made it"

I believe someone who is developing a business idea and from there on the company will need a portion of this self understanding. Knowing that what you do is the right thing to do and trust in your self is what inspires other people. As a leader within your company it is therefore imminent that one has the same trust in ones person in order to inspire your employees.

 

6.  How does this connect with the characteristics of a good leader?

7.  How does this change the type of leaders you inspire to be?

 

LEE GREENE Owner, Faithful to Foods, Inc. and Scrumptious Pantry.  Lee is the founder of Scrumptious Pantry, a brand for packaged heirloom foods from the Midwest and beyond. The unique branding concept, which highlights the farmers on the front label, creates a new level of transparency in grocery retailing. Before launching Scrumptious Pantry, Lee was the Managing Director of a biodynamic vineyard in Tuscany. As a consultant for integrated marketing strategies at one of the leading German communication agencies she has worked for international cooperation such as Henkel and Wal-Mart. Lee holds a Master’s Degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of Cologne/Germany, and an MBA from SDA Bocconi School of Management, Milan/Italy.

the reunion

Reflective Blog II

My second blog is about an entrepreneur that I have met in Chicago during my Summer School at Kendall College. It is going to be all about Dwight Koop, the cofounder and COO of CohesiveFT and his leadership skills. I have spent some time with him when he visited the College for a panel on July 16^th.

“We help enterprise use cloud infrastructure”: CohesiveFT is one of the original cloud networking companies. It is a Chicago-based growth-stage business that helps enterprise organizations to run production systems in the cloud since 2008. The main product is called “VNS3” (network routing and security solution). Over 700 customers extend networks to create clouds.

CohesiveFT is a pioneer in this market and offer more networking software than all the competitors if you would combine them. The team around Dwight is experienced in everything concerning software and networking.

I guess, Dwight is a democratic/ participative leader. The democratic leadership style is a very open and productive style of running a team. These leaders motivate their employees to participate in the business’ processes. Everyone has the possibility to spend his or her ideas and start a discussion about it. This style is needed in dynamic and rapidly changing environments where new ideas are needed more than anything else. In these fast moving organizations, every option for improvement has to be considered. I think that CohesiveFT as a cloud networking (IT-based) necessarily requires leaders like Dwight to be successful.

I was inspired of Dwight’s speech about his job and his life as an entrepreneur. He encourages his employees to come up with new things to think about. Of course, he as the COO of CohesiveFT has to make the last decisions but his employees all feel responsible for their tasks and the business.

He also was the COO of many businesses (e.g. Bedouin Inc., Signet Assurance) and thus I believe he knows what he is talking about. Dwight said that it is important to have a special attitude in order to become a successful entrepreneur and business owner. You have to be inspired of your business idea and like to work hard to realize it.

I am not sure yet if I would really like to become such a busy businessman but I think that the democratic leadership style is the best way to lead employees (it does not matter if you are the COO or just the chief of four employees). I do not believe that I have changed my mind regarding my preferred leadership skills because I knew before that the participative open style works out well. But I believe that by watching and talking to people like Dwight helps everybody to train and improve his or her leading behavior.

http://www.cohesiveft.com/

https://twitter.com/cohesiveft

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxt5wJyjDEo