Congratulations to our Spring 2020 Failure Competition Winner: Padmavathi Ganduri

Congrats to Padmavathi and thank you to all who entered and voted.

Failure Finalist 3: Bivil Thomas

You can hear his Failure story by clicking here. Don’t forget to vote for the winner Friday. Poll will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Failure Finalist 2: Padmavathi Ganduri

You can hear her Failure story by clicking here. Don’t forget to vote for the winner Friday. Poll will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

 

 

Failure Finalist 1: Amaireny Lantigua Takes A Risk

Hear Amaireny tell her story by clicking here. Vote for our winner this Friday. Poll opens at 8 a.m. and closes at 5 p.m.

Lessons from a Pandemic

If you want to get a sense of how our faculty are using the pandemic as a teachable moment, I give you a recent email from Cameron Ford to his entrepreneurship students..…

If you’ve been watching the news (how can you avoid it!), you’ve likely heard the debates about when we should “open” the economy, and whether states or the federal government has authority over these decisions.

Based on what you should have learned in this class, you should recognize that THIS IS THE WRONG DEBATE. Perhaps the most important thing you should take away from this class is that IT’S NOT ABOUT (or up to) YOU.  IT’S ABOUT MAKING THINGS BETTER FOR OTHERS. 

The discussion should be around how to redesign experiences so people can consume products/services they want AND stay safe until the crisis is resolved (most likely by large scale vaccinations). Based on poll results released this week,  it’s unlikely that people will forgo social distancing and rush out to salons, bars, and stadiums just because they are available.  Consumer frustrations are different now than they were in January, and legitimate concerns about getting or spreading COVID-19 are likely to influence preferences and behavior for a long time. POLITICAL LEADERS CAN’T “OPEN” THE ECONOMY – ONLY CONSUMERS CAN “OPEN” THE ECONOMY.

Changing preferences will require new experiences and value propositions. There will probably be a wave of obsolescence and innovation after this crisis passes in a year or two, similar to the innovation and prosperity that followed WWI and WWII (the 1920’s and 1950’s).

Entrepreneurial problems solvers are doing this already all around us. Examples include distance learning, no-contact deliveries, one-way aisles in grocery stores, tele-medicine, drive-through only services, Plexiglas barriers, remote workouts and music lessons, etc. Could hair stylists coach people through virtual haircuts? Could bars create outdoor venues serving cocktails in untouched glasses with bouncers to maintain social distancing (this was in the BIG IDEA competition)? Could some sports be conducted with appropriate social distancing for TV audiences (e.g., golf? tennis? track & field? figure skating? bowling? etc.). Who knows? But designing or redesigning customer experiences using currently available resources, creative thinking, and critical thinking  should be at the forefront of our collective efforts to survive and thrive.

One of the first things I told you this semester is that entrepreneurship is a social responsibility. Entrepreneurs introduce innovations to society that make things better. Political processes can’t do this, but YOU can and YOU will if you find a problem that compels you and go on a quest to make things better. LET THE NEEDS OF OTHERS GUIDE YOU AND YOU’LL ALWAYS BE VALUED.

Good stuff, Cameron.

A Tradition Continues

Long before I became Dean and in large part due to the efforts of the Dean’s Advisory Board, the last opportunity students have had to distinguish themselves before graduation is to compete in The Great Capstone Case Competition. The competition involves a problem provided by a company to students in our capstone course. Students are then put into teams, research the company and the problem, provide an analysis and make a recommendation. In essence we crowd source a solution. The top four teams get to present to a team of executives from the company. Everybody wins in this event. The sponsoring company comes away with great ideas. The students get a chance to see what it’s like to present in front of a group of seasoned professionals. Sometimes the company even offers the winners a job.

Thanks to Monty Garrett and our amazing partners at Verizon, who have sponsored this event multiple times and the innovative spirit of Professor Lay, Covid 19 is not cancelling this event. Instead it has gone virtual. The semi finals and final rounds will be this Friday. As always, I will provide some words of wisdom and encouragement just before the finalist are announced.

In a semester where everyone has had to be innovative and adapt to change, a virtual case competition is the perfect culminating event. It will most certainly make a great story for the finalists who can recount their ingenuity and resilience in achieving their goal to perspective employers and friends for years to come. It would have made our late friend, Bob Case class of 1970 enormously proud. And it will underscore what we all already know, that in the face of adversity, Knights simply Charge On!

Good luck to all the teams. See you on Friday.

Coronavirus v College

We live in interesting times. Everybody has questions. We try to give students some answers. Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn9LJMz7b8k .

It was a tough week

I lost two of my role models in one week. The first was my childhood hero, Al Kaline. The second was my friend and mentor, Bob Case. They had a lot in common. Al Kaline was a special talent. He never played a day in the minors. He is still the youngest player ever to win the batting title at age 20. He was a perennial All Star star, a World Series champion and first ballot Hall of Famer. Bob Case was a special leader. He was in the first graduating class of FTU, a star at Sears during its heyday and a member of the UCF College of Business Hall of Fame. He was the first recipient of our lifetime achievement award.

But what separates them from others is their lifetime commitment to the women and institutions they loved. Al Kaline was a part of the Tigers for 67 years and husband to Madge for more than 50. He loved the Tigers and the city of Detroit. He is known as Mr. Tiger. He was humble, approachable and always believed in doing the right thing. The city of Detroit and Tiger fans everywhere loved him back.

Bob gave this same devotion to UCF and his wife, Jan, of more than 50 years. He loved the college and the university. He sponsored the case competition, ran the Executive Development Center for a while, served as a judge at many college competitions, mentored several of us, helped create the Integrated Business program and beamed as a sponsor of every Hall of Fame induction ceremony since I’ve been dean. If the college had a name, it would be Bob. He was the epitome of a UCF grad: humble, grateful, always willing to lend a hand.

It is unfortunate that the pandemic prevents both of these extraordinary men from having the celebration of their lives that they deserve. Mr. Illitch, the owner of the Tigers has promised a memorial befitting of Mr. Tiger when conditions permit. We plan to do the same for Bob. We miss him and are eternally grateful that he chose to spend so much of his extraordinary life with us. The college won’t be the same without him. But we will remember the lessons he taught us and take good care of his alma mater in the way he would want. Charge On, Bob.

Failure Competition 2020 is Here!

Everyone fails. It is part of life. Rather than pretend it won’t happen, you should count on it and know what you will do to recover from it. Getting comfortable with failure is a key step in becoming a better risk–taker and successful leader. That is why we celebrate failure and persistence in the college. So, we’re inviting UCF Students to enter our Failure Competition for a chance to win $500 and a letter of recommendation from the Dean.

Entering is simple:

• Write an account of a failure you have experienced in the past. Your failure story has to focus on a time you stepped out of your comfort zone to experience something new: the farther the better. Tell us why this was such a stretch for you, the failure that resulted and what you learned from the experience that would be of interest to others. It needs to be genuine, people can spot a fish story a mile way.
• Post your submission by 5 p.m., Monday, April 13, in response to Dean Jarley’s blog here: https://pauljarley.wordpress.com/2020/04/07/failure-competition-2020-is-here/
• Include your class standing ( e.g., freshman, senior, graduate student) and your field of study. Current Capstone students should also include their section number and name of the instructor.
• The Failure Competition is open to any UCF student. The only requirement is that you currently be enrolled at UCF.
• Need inspiration or guidance to tell your story? Search the Dean’s Blog for previous submissions and winners: https://pauljarley.wordpress.com/

A panel of college staff will choose no more than three finalists, who will be announced April 15.

FINALISTS
Finalists will be asked to submit a short video based on their essays. Videos must be submitted by 5 p.m., Monday, April 20.

WINNERS ANNOUNCED
Starting Tuesday, April 21, Dean Jarley will feature one video each day on his blog and readers will vote Friday, April 24.

The winner will receive a $500 prize along with a letter of recommendation from the Dean. Second place will get $300 and third place $200. These monies are awarded through our financial aid office.

Good Luck!

People Don’t Know What They Want

A few days ago, my son Tyler sent me a link to a Noel Gallagher interview. We are both big Oasis fans and appreciate both Noel and Liam’s solo careers. (You can see the interview by clicking here, but be warned that it’s a little salty.) I particularly like Noel because he knows how to turn a phrase that will stick in your head. As I’ve written before, I appreciate that ability and have tried to cultivate that same quality in my own work.

About two-thirds of the way through the interview, Noel gets asked a question about how fans want to influence content. Noel pauses and then says, “Well, I guess my fans would want me to write stuff that sounds like Oasis. … But people don’t really know what they want until you give it to them… people didn’t know they wanted Oasis until we gave it to them…I don’t think at all about what fans want when I create my music. If I did, I would just have stayed in Oasis and made lots of money.”

Noel is rich. He doesn’t have to care what people think. That said, he’s right, people don’t know what they want until you give it to them. It’s a wonderful insight into the mind of a creative type. I think this type of mindset and creative ability is going to be of huge value in the next year or so. My guess is people are going to be more open to new things, especially if it helps them adapt to uncertain environments. It’s a big bet on yourself, but the rewards could be huge.

For me, it’s also a good example of how having broad interests can pay off. Who would have thought that a business school dean could learn something from a rock and roll star. Then again, lessons often come from unexpected sources. Now, if someone could just tell me what a wonderwall is…