“Creating an Entrepreneurial Culture At Work and in Our Community:” Presentation Panel
When employees feel they have a stake in the business they work in, they become more productive, engaged and motivated. When a community supports the growth of budding entrepreneurs and their business, the whole community wins from exciting new products and services and a stronger economy. This event will feature presenters from two different organizations who will each speak to a different facet of entrepreneurialism. One company will focus on how to build an entrepreneurial culture in a business and the other how to build a supportive entrepreneurial culture in a community. You’ll learn tips you can use in your own business and also some of the exciting things our region is doing to support early stage start-up companies!
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Presentation: …Building an Entrepreneurial Culture AT WORK
Kevin Bozung and Beth Bozung , Principals, Safety Net
If you want to create a greater sense of employee ownership, empowerment and fun in your work environment while increasing productivity and profitability, you’ll find some great ideas in this presentation. Beth and Kevin Bozung will be sharing their early journey and lessons learned in the process of creating a work environment that releases an entrepreneurial spirit in their employees and gives them a stake in the business. Safety Net has been implementing systems and principles over the past year where management opens the financial books so team members know where the business stands and how their job impacts company success. They’ve also implemented company-wide scoreboards and regular employee huddles keep employees involved in how the business is doing. They’ve based a lot of their practices around the now classic book by Jack Stack and Bo Burlingham called the “Great Game of Business.” They’ve also been working with ZingTrain of Zingerman’s who serve as consultants and trainers to help companies like Safety Net implement principles and practices that promote an entrepreneurial culture.
Presenters:
Kevin Bozung and Beth Holmes-Bozung are the principals of Safety Net, a company they co-founded in 2003 to bring enterprise-grade information technology standards to small and midsize businesses in Michigan. Over the past 15 years they turned this idea into a flourishing business with 32 professionals serving over one hundred clients between offices in Traverse City and Farmington Hills. Fundamental to the company’s culture and success is a core value of taking care of each other (Safety Net colleagues and families) who, in turn, take outstanding care of clients. Beth and Kevin share the responsibility of strategy and management of the firm. Safety Net introduced the fully outsourced IT department model to Traverse City businesses followed by a first to offer managed (cyber) security. In addition, Safety Net rolled out Naveego, a data management software platform which spun off as its own company in late 2014 and now serves Fortune 500 companies nationwide.
Kevin’s extensive knowledge of IT management and security and his practical, no-nonsense approach have earned him the trust of dozens of Northwest Michigan’s prominent business leaders. Beth passionately works to create a phenomenal place for people to work, and serves the community in a variety of organizations. She is currently Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for the Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce.
Together, they are leading Safety Net through transformational change, having implemented Open Book Management in 2017-2018, growing a leadership team, and finding new ways to innovate in a fast-changing industry.
Book Description:
The Great Game of Business, Jack Stack and Bo Burlingham
In this book, the authors share how implementing the principles from what they now call the “Great Game of Business” helped increase the stock value of one of their companies by 292,000% since 1983. The book came out of the authors own struggle to save their company and preserve jobs. The book describes a business operating system that “gives everyone in the company a voice in how it’s run and a stake in the financial outcome—good or bad,” says author Jack Stack, CEO of SRC Holdings, a 450 million dollar company. In many businesses, there is a struggle between focusing on financial results and creating an environment where employees feel empowered, engaged and motivated to work as a team. The Great Game of Business explains how you can do both. In what is now called “Open Book Management”, Stack talks about how to make key financial information available to your employees and teach them financial literacy. This is important because Stack gives employees a stake in the business through employee owned stock options and constantly creates opportunities for them to keep up with what is happening in the business so they know how to participate in critical decisions affecting the business including how what they’re doing in their current job impacts the business. INC. Magazine has Stack the “smartest strategist in America” and named him one of twenty-five entrepreneurs selected to represent the 25 years INC. has been published. His track record speaks for itself.
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Presentation: …”Creating an Entrepreneurial Culture IN OUR COMMUNITY”
Andy Cole, Executive Director, 20Fathoms
Presentation Description:
We’re living in a time when the conditions are ripe to support new business start-ups. The economy is great and the number of entrepreneurs are increasing. Traverse City is no exception. In June of 2018, 20 Fathoms opened its doors as a non-profit incubator for the technology sector. The organization was born out of the desire to attract and grow early stage technology businesses, support entrepreneurs and innovators with a variety of resources and attract and grow talent for our region as well. In his presentation, Andy will share why an entrepreneurial mindset is important for our community and how we can foster (and attract) entrepreneurship and innovative thinking. He’ll also take you behind the scenes at 20 Fathoms and share how their core values encourage and reinforce a culture of innovation. You’ll also hear about several of the success stories that have already come out of this effort and how they’ve utilized some principles from Eric Reiss’s book “The Lean Start-Up”
Presenter:
Andy Cole currently serves as the Executive Director of 20Fathoms, a tech hub and start-up incubator in downtown Traverse City. Before launching 20Fathoms, Andy had worked in roles focusing on business development, operations, strategy, teaching, and coaching. He also founded two businesses that specialized in events and programming geared toward rapid innovation for corporations, universities, and community members.
A Traverse City native, Andy began his career as an engineer working with wind turbines for Vestas Wind Systems, and his experience in technology broadened to include researching innovations in aerospace with Google, non-emissive fuels with the EPA, and military-focused technology with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and Technology. While at Babson College’s MBA program – the #1 program for entrepreneurship – Andy served as President of the Entrepreneurship Club and received the college’s top honor for leading the most effective consulting team at Babson. Andy holds an MBA from Babson College, a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan, and a BA in Liberal Arts from Kalamazoo College.
Book Description: The Lean Start-Up by Eric Ries
If you think this book is only for new start-up businesses and entrepreneurs, think again. Whether you’re starting a new business or want to implement new and innovative ideas into your existing business (intrapreneurial), you’ll get a lot of great information in this book. It’s no secret that a large number of start-ups fail – some stats say as high as 50% within the first 5 years. New products and services introduced by existing companies can also fail to succeed for many of the same reasons. The premise of the book is that you can significantly increase your chances of success by taking a rational and systematic approach for innovating and running your business. The author states that typical business practices just don’t work in these types of situations, yet that’s the tact many companies take. The approach suggested by the authors is based on a lot of the same principles of the lean manufacturing process made famous by Toyota. Being agile and able to respond quickly to needed changes is a key since most start-ups and new ideas take a lot of tinkering and probably several pivots to “get it right.” The book uses a variety of case studies (mainly from the technology sector) to illustrate its principles and many of them come from the author’s own experience as a technology entrepreneur. However, these principles can apply to almost any business. If you want to learn how to innovate with less waste, this book will be an invaluable resource.
Schedule
11:00am – Doors Open // Sponsor Expo // Networking
11:20-11:45 – Lunch Buffet Open Networking Continues
11:45-12:50 – Welcome, Featured Presentation
12:50-1PM – Q & A and Wrap-up
NOTE: No Refunds on orders, but you can make attendee substitutions if you create an Eventbrite account.
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