Heart, Smarts, Guts, and Luck: Traits for Success in Business

What are the defining traits crucial for a leader to build a business?  According to the research conducted by venture capitalist Anthony Tjan and his co-authors Richard Harrington and Tsun-Yan Hsieh,  heart, smarts, guts and luck are the attributes that all successful business leaders share. Tjian shares these insights and others on the Monday morning edition of Economic Perspectives at 7:30 a.m. CT on KAZI 88.7 FM.  Listen live online at kazifm.org.

Tony Tjan with music legend Quincy Jones

Anthony K. Tjan (Tony) is the co-author of Heart, Smarts, Guts, and Luck: What It Takes to Be an Entrepreneur and Build a Great Business.  Tjan is Managing Partner of Cue Ball, a venture capital firm based in Boston. Most recently, Tony was Senior Partner at The Parthenon Group, a leading strategic advisory firm where he continues as its Vice Chairman. He spent seven years as a special strategic advisor to The Thomson Corporation, and its then CEO, Richard Harrington (now his Partner at Cue Ball). At Thomson, he played a key role working alongside the CEO on its transformational growth strategy. In 1996, Tony founded and was CEO of the Internet services firm ZEFER, a pioneer in early commercial web initiatives. Tony started his career with McKinsey & Company and holds his AB and MBA degrees from Harvard University. He was also a Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Tony sits on several boards, is a contributor to Harvard Business Review, and is on the Editorial Advisory Board of MIT Tech Review.

Financial Fitness Seminar Targets African American Families in November

The National Association of Black Accountants (NABA) Austin Cen-Tex Chapter’s First Annual Financial Fitness Seminar is being held Saturday, November 5, 2011, 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. at Huston-Tillotson University.  The Financial Fitness Seminar will feature a wide variety of free workshops that will provide will help families achieve better results in managing their personal finances and starting a business.

The recent economic downturn has left a number of families struggling to survive, especially in the Black community.  According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Black unemployment is 16 percent, nearly twice as high as it was in December of 2008 when the “Great Recession” began.  A recent analysis of government data by the Pew Research Center revealed that median wealth of Black households in 2009 was only $5,677 while that of white households was $113,149.

Roger Davis

Roger Davis, president of NABA’s Austin Cen-Tex chapter  says that sponsoring the seminar  provides opportunities for members to fulfill their civic responsibilities.”It promotes public confidence in our members and their services,” explains Davis. Davis also thanked Charles Schwab for being the title sponsor of the Financial Fitness Seminar.

The Financial Fitness Seminar is in line with NABA’s commitment to improving  financial education in the African American and other communities by providing basic financial tools that allow individuals to establish realistic goals and work towards achieving them.  Experienced professionals will deliver the training workshops which will include:

• Taking Charge of Your Finances
• Budgeting, Checking, and Savings
• Registering for Camps/College/Grants/Scholarships
• Car Buying / Credit
• Home Buying / Credit
• Youth Small Business
• Adult Small Business
• 401K, Pensions, Investments
• Estates, Trusts, Wills
• Tax Update

A number of non-profit organizations will assist with the training including BiG Austin, Economic Growth Business Incubator, Foundation Communities, and Frameworks.

Juanita Stephens

NABA member Juanita Stephens who is teaching the workshop on 401K, Pensions, Investments says a financial planner’s job is not to make you rich, but to keep you from being poor.

“We are living in a time of have’s and have nots.  Which one do you want to be,”  explains Stephens, an investment advisor  for Austin’s Wealth Specialists.

Working with NABA member Regina Shelton, a student at St. Edwards University, the Austin Cen-Tex chapter developed a training track for youth instead of focusing exclusively on adults.

“For our communities to be strong, current adults and future adults must prepare themselves for a ever changing and uncertain economy to our families and businesses to thrive and survive going forward,” says Davis.

For more information and registration contact Hopeton Hay at hopeton@econpers.com.

Collapse of Housing Market, Capturing New Markets, Overcoming Barriers to Career Success Focus of June 27 Economic Perspectives

 7 a.m. (Special edition of EP)

Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rossner, authors of Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Greed, Ambition, and Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon – Morgenson, a Pulitzer prize winning New York Times business reporter and Rossner, a housing expert, trace the collapse of the housing market to the aggressive underwriting and greed of Fannie Mae executives.

 

 

 

5:30 p.m. – 6 p.m.

Stephen Wunker, author of Capturing New Markets: How Smart Companies Create Opportunities Others Don’t –  Wunker, a former strategy consultant and veteran of numerous start-ups including the first mobile internet device marketed outside of Japan, shares the key strategies for assessing new markets, shaping their formation, and profiting from their expansion.

 

Thomas DeLong, author of Flying Without a Net: Turn Fear of Change into Fuel for Success – DeLong, a professor of management practice at the Harvard Business School, illuminates the behaviors and strategies for overcoming them that high achieving professionals engage in that can stall or wreck their careers

Listen live online at kazifm.org.  If you would like to be automatically notified by email when new posts are added to the Economic Perspectives Blog go to econpers.com and click on subscribe at the very top of the web page.

How to “Rent” Ideas As Entrepreneur Focus of Economic Perspectives

In response to a “jobless recovery,” millions of Americans are getting in touch with their inner entrepreneur, choosing to create their own luck. Too often, the path to business success for individuals is scattered with obstacles: the need for funding and the challenges of building supply, manufacturing, and distribution chains, just to name a few. However, thanks to such trends as “open innovation,” in which companies outsource new product development and other key functions, it is easier than ever for innovators to bring their ideas to market.

Few people today understand this better than Stephen Key, who has successfully licensed products in the toy, beverage, and pharmaceutical industries, among others, that have generated billions of dollars in revenue worldwide. In One Simple Idea: Turn Your Dreams into a Licensing Goldmine While Letting Others Do the Work  Key provides a step-by-step guide on how anyone can invert the relationship between corporations and individuals by getting them to work for you. Key is the June 6 guest on Economic Perspectives, 5:30 p.m. central time on KAZI 88.7 FM.  Listen live online at kazifm.org. Key will also be conducting a free webinar on the principles of his book at 8 p.m. eastern time, 7 p.m. central time June 6 also.  To register for his webinar click here.

Central to Key’s blueprint for aspiring inventors and entrepreneurs is for them to use their creativity to produce income by “renting” their ideas to interested businesses. Taking readers through all phases of product innovation and development, Key explains the entrepreneurial system he has used to generate wealth without fronting and raising capital or becoming involved in time-consuming product development tasks.

Key’s mission is to foster the spirit and practice of invention while educating, empowering, and inspiring independent and professional innovators. One Simple Idea’s unique, user-friendly handbook to patenting and licensing advances this goal by explaining to readers how to:

• Be your own boss without formally opening a business or quitting your day job;
• Protect your idea without spending time and money on a patent;
• Develop a strategy that fits perfectly into your business plan;
• Present your invention to companies and negotiating the best deal;
• Select appropriate manufacturers and finding optimal markets with expansive opportunities;
• Witness your product go to market without footing a dime in expenses.

Anyone who has ever daydreamed of an outrageous new product or brainstormed a sure-fire way to improve a service that already exists has the innovation gene. In One Simple Idea, Key delivers the direction, know-how, and motivation to help you present and profit from your idea(s!).

The Challenges Facing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Focus of April 25 Economic Perspectives

Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, co-author of Guaranteed to Fail: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Debacle of Mortgage Finance will be a guest on Economic Perspectives today at 5:30 p.m. central time. Stacy Dukes-Rhone, executive director of BiGAustin, will also be a guest and will discuss BiG Idea Day which is on April 29. Listen live online at kazifm.org.

Guaranteed to Fail opines how “poorly designed government guarantees” for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac led to the debacle of mortgage finance in the United States, weighs different reform proposals, and provides recommendations. This book unravels the dizzyingly immense, highly interconnected businesses of Fannie and Freddie. It proposes a model of reform that emphasizes public-private partnership, one that can serve as a blueprint for better organizing and managing government-sponsored enterprises like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In doing so, Guaranteed to Fail strikes a cautionary note about excessive government intervention in markets.

Interview with President of Capital City African American Chamber of Commerce

If you missed my live interview on Economic Perspectives last week with Clarence Goins, the new President of the Capital City African American Chamber of Commerce and board Chairman Juanita Stephens you can listen now by clicking here: Clarence Goins-Juanita Stephens Interview.

March 9 Workshop Helps African American Businesses Grow

Attend a presentation to help grow your business, African American Entrepreneurship: Learning from the Past, Building for the Future, at the RISE Conference in Austin at the Bob Bullock Museum on March 10, 4 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. This session provides  both a historic look at the development of Black-owned businesses, and the contemporary programs and resources that can help grow Black businesses today and in the future.  Click here to register. The presenters are Dr. Juliet E. K. Walker and Hopeton Hay.

Hopeton Hay

Some of the programs covered at the session will include:

• Taking advantage of government procurement programs targeting minority and women-owned businesses
• Selling to Corporate America: Utilizing minority supplier development councils

Dr. Walker is Director of the Center for Black Business History, Entrepreneurship, and Technology at The University of Texas at Austin and author of The History of Black Business in America.  Hopeton is Manager of the University of Texas System Historically Underutilized Business Technical Assistance Program. He  is also chairman of the Texas NAACP Economic Development Committee and author of the report, The Economic Conditions of African Americans in the State of Texas.

Youth Entrepreneurship Showcase March 10

The St. Michael’s Catholic Academy Entrepreneurship Center is hosting our first-ever youth entrepreneurship panel and showcase during RISE Austin 2011! Everyone is invited to attend this celebration of youth business owners. Following the panel, everyone is invited to attend the youth business showcase. You will be able to view the amazing work and creativity of the budding entrepreneurs.

Who: Middle and High School Students (private, public and homeschooled)

Day: Thursday, March 10th

Time:  6:30 – 8:30PM (6:30-7:30pm Panel with Question & Answer and 7:30-8:30 Youth Business Showcase)

Location: St. Michael’s Catholic Academy, 3000 Barton Creek Blvd, Austin, TX 78735

For more information contact Sonia Gaillard at 512-328-2323.

Average Receipts of Black Firms Far Behind All Firms

As reported in one of my previous posts, the number of Black-owned businesses is growing at a much faster rate than all businesses.  What wasn’t discussed was how far behind Black firms are in average receipts.  Average receipts for Black businesses was $72,000 according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau 2007 Survey of Business Owners compared to $490,000 for all businesses classifiable by race.

What especially concerns me is the lack of growth in the average receipts of Black-owned businesses since the last report on 2002.  Average receipts for Black firms was $74,000 in 2002.  What is scarier is this doesn’t even take inflation into account.  Factoring in inflation, average receipts for firms in 2002 in 2007 dollars was approximately $85,000.

So what should be done to increase average receipts for Black firms?  Please share your comments, thoughts, ideas..

Invisible Capital: How Unseen Forces Shape Entrepreneurial Opportunity

Chris Rabb , author of Invisible Capital: How Unseen Forces Shape Entrepreneurial Opportunity, is the guest on the Economic Perspectives, Monday, December 20, 5:30 p.m. – 6 p.m. on KAZI 88.7 FM.  Listen live online at kazifm.org.

Invisible capital is not any one thing. It’s a complex set of factors: our skills, knowledge, networks, resources, and experiences. These can create significant advantages, even if they are not consciously exploited. Rabb details how people can evaluate the components of their own invisible capital and develop a plan to build on strengths and mitigate weaknesses. He draws on his extensive experience as an entrepreneur, his tenure on Capitol Hill and the White House Conference on Small Business, his experience managing an urban business incubator, and his involvement with numerous family-owned businesses.

Chris Rabb is a consultant, writer, and public speaker focusing on the intersection of social identity, media, civic engagement and entrepreneurship. He is a fellow at Demos, a non-partisan public policy research and advocacy organization based in New York City. He is also a visiting researcher at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. In 2001, Chris was awarded an American Marshall Memorial Fellowship by the German Marshall Fund of the U.S.