During this past week our class was able to Skype with Norm twice and learn many important lessons. As I was sitting there listening to him speak, I thought of how I could apply the lessons he shared with us to one of our class businesses, The Taste of Sauk. The first lesson was delegation. As project manager it can be quite hard to decide who can do what and if they will be good at it. He gave us the idea that instead of assigning people based off of what we think, ask for volunteers and see where they feel they best fit. A leader must understand the skills and abilities of those they are delegating. The next lesson was about priorities; I recently heard a quote that says, “Instead of saying ‘I don’t have time’, try saying ‘it’s not a priority’ and see how that feels.” When you apply this quote to a real-life situation, things change quickly. The last two lessons that Norm spoke about were focus and multitasking (which I think go hand in hand). It’s pretty obvious that in order to accomplish a task successfully, we must focus; however, many times we don’t focus on one specific thing. We try to juggle multiples tasks and end up not performing our best for any of them. Writing about this brings up a valuable lesson that I learned while reading The One Thing by Gary Keller. He says that it is possible to multitask, but it is NEVER possible to multitask successfully. Everyone gets the same 24 hours 7 days a week - how will you use yours?

02/04/2018

In one of my previous journals, I mentioned how it is essential to be able to critique others without criticizing them. This week I was able to apply this lesson to one of our class discussions. Kallie and I, the project managers for the Taste or Sauk, heard talk that Sam had worries that our business would not be successful. We decided to bring it up as a class and have a discussion about it. All of my peers were able to get what they wanted to say off of their chest and critique each other without deeply hurting anyone’s feelings. The conversation went relatively well because it ended in laughter! “Being positive in a negative situation is not naive, it’s leadership.” In my eyes, it’s extremely important to have discussions like these because without them we would be ignoring the potential setbacks we could face.

Another discussion later in the week brought up the point that having people like Sam is a key factor in having a successful business. It’s okay to have someone who thinks negatively about a plan and voice their opinion because you’re able to take what they said and problem solve it before it becomes a “real life” problem.

Our Taste of Sauk “team” is made of up individuals who want to see the business succeed. They all work to the best of their ability to problem solve and think outside of the box as new “roadblocks” arise; it may sound cliche, but it’s 110% true. As of right now, I can not guarantee that the Taste of Sauk will be a success, but I can guarantee that our strong, motivated team will give whatever effort it takes to make it be successful. As project manager I am learning that it’s not always about being in charge and talking, but rather listening to what EVERYONE has to say.

12/03/2017

I love to talk. I always have been a talker, and I always will be. This week, I had the opportunity to speak with many new people that I have never met before. On Wednesday, our class met up with the Sauk Valley leadership program. After speaking to two of the lovely women there, I discovered that their class is much like ours. It was such a good feeling to TRULY be listened to by older individuals because it made me feel more important. Being able to carry on a conversation without rambling is just one of the important skills that CEO has helped me acquire. Like stated before, I LOVE to talk, and when I found out that we were going to get the chance to speak at Breakfast Before Business (BBB), my heart jumped. At first, I was unsure that BBB was going to run smoothly because I felt that simple tasks were not being completed as fast as they should have been. We rehearsed what we were going to say two or three times, and this is when I found out that other people were not afraid to talk either; however, this time, I mean in a critical way. My peers were easily able to critique each other on their responses, including myself. I thought that this was awesome because critiquing others is not something that can just be ignored; it must be done, and it must be done nicely. In the "real" world, you have to be able to take constructive criticism, because you are not able to see yourself from someone else's point of view. "The best critique is a better solution." BBB ended up being a great success, and I am overjoyed with how our class was able to speak clearly in front of business professionals. From the lessons on communication, public speaking, and leadership skills, I can easily say CEO has already found a place in my heart and will stay there forever.

10/22/2017

Jason Roe, the owner of Culvers in Rock Falls, Princeton, and co-owner in Dixon, filled my brain with many words of wisdom when he came to speak to us. One of the first things he touched on was to have intent and purpose with your life. I can relate this to my CEO business because if I do not have a purpose for what I come up with, I will not be as motivated. He also said that we must love what we do, and not always do what we love. When he said this, the gears in my brain started turning and it gave me a different outlook on some things. My whole life I have been told to do what I love, but what happens if I am not good at what I love? If I went that route in life, I might not be successful, but if I love what I do, everyday will be filled with success. Jason also asked us what good is the enemy of great means, and then he gave us an example of MySpace and Facebook. The two social media sites are essentially the same, but they have their differences. Facebook took a chance and attempted to out due MySpace and ended up being successful at it. After Jason talked to us about this, Issac and I both looked at each other from across the room because we have been facing this same problem. Our group for the Moore Tires project had an idea all planned out, and about a week after we were set on the idea Issac messaged out group and said that it is almost the me exact thing that last years class did. At first we decided that we needed to come up with another idea, but after hearing Jason talk about outdoing your competition, I think out group is gong to stick with it. 

10/01/2017