Decades ago, the most successful people took pride in the size of their Rolodex, a simple wheel with alphabetical slots was specially designed to hold index cards containing people’s contact information that could be inserted or removed. The Rolodex was a status symbol that showed the size of their network. Although every person in a network was not necessarily a job opportunity or potential client, each was an entry point to meeting other people.
Our own Big Idea Center Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Jeanine McCreary shares what she believes it takes to be a leader and tackles the age-old argument of whether leaders are made or born?
As a certified mediator, I have seen my share of conflict and I like it! Conflict leads to resolution, growth, and innovation. In every team of goal-oriented individuals, it’s not every day that things run smoothly. Thanks to their diverse backgrounds, viewpoints, and perspectives, team conflicts are typical and will inevitably crop up. They will creep in, causing disharmony and confusion, sometimes even throwing the whole project into jeopardy.
From an aspiration to pursue one’s passion to someone wanting to become his or her own boss, various reasons drive people to start businesses. However, not every business startup ends up being successful; a significant percentage of them collapse even before seeing the second year. The 2017 Economic Report by the National Association of Small Business shows that 20% of small businesses started in the United States in the year 2014 didn’t make to 2016. Nevertheless, that’s not to mean that you’ll be part of the failure percentage if you go ahead and pursue your business dream.
