Entrepreneurs in Chicago

Reflective Blog II

I chose Lee Greene as an entrepreneur to write about. She is the founder of the business “Scrumptious Pantry”. Scrumptious Pantry is a food brand that highlights historic varietals, growing regions, and the taste of a sense of place. She had the idea when she worked with small quality farmers and winemakers in Italy. Back home she founded Scrumptious Pantry in the States.

What type of leadership I saw her display during the panel?

The psychologist Kurt Lewin describes three different types of leadership in the 1930s. They are Authoritarian Leadership (Autocratic), Delegative (Laissez-Faire) Leadership and Participative Leadership (Democratic). Lee Greene has the Participative Leadership (Democratic). That means that the leader allows the other team member to participate and to say their opinion and ideas. They work with the other team members together and not just tell them what to do. This increases effectivity and quality of the group performance because the members of the group feel more engaged in the process and creativity is encouraged and rewarded. The team members are not on equal terms with the leader. The leader has the say and takes the final decision. The way she interacted with the other speaker and how she spoke about her business idea gave me the impression that she definitely belongs to participative Leadership. 

Also, she is a visionary. When she founded her business nobody understood her idea. Even after several years the people have difficulties to understand her at the beginning. But she never gave up. She saw the potential and worked even harder so that the people get the difference between Scrumptious Pantry and other companies. During the panel she explained that new ideas have to be a little difficult to explain otherwise it is nothing new to the already existing products and business models. These point underline that she is a visionary

What characteristics I observed that I aspire to have? Did she make an impression on me? How did she inspire me?

During the panel I observed her calmness combined with the will to take risk of failing. When she talked about her business and the problems she had at the beginning she didn’t seem to be troubled. She knows exactly how risky it is to be an entrepreneur and believes so much in her idea and the success that the risks are acceptable. She is a realistic person with visionary ideas and has to strength to choose the more risky and difficult path instead of just working for a company. That made an impression on me and inspired me to work for me ideas to fulfill them.

How does this connect with the characteristics of a great leader?

A great leader needs to be realistic. He has to know the chances and threats of economy together with their risk / probability. Also, he needs to have a vision what he wants to achieve. With this vision he can evaluate the chances and threats of the economy and decide his next steps towards his aim.

How did this influence or change the type of leader I aspire to be?

This experience of the panel influenced me. It confirms the belief that the Participative Leadership is the best way to achieve a goal. There is a high motivation and comfort within the group and quality of group performance is high, too. Participative Leaders are people you want to talk to and work with together. They encourage team members to share thoughts, to participate and acknowledge the work and personality of the team members.

(sources: http://www.abesmarket.com/store/scrumptiouspantry/, http://goodfoodfestivals.com/blog/chicago/the-scrumptious-pantry-reviving-americas-heirlooms/, http://scrumptiouspantry.com/)