Six Rings

I call Bill Steiger the Nick Saban of sales programs because all his students do is win national championships. Last weekend he made it official as the UCF Professional Sales Program team won its sixth, taking the title at the National Shore Sales Competition, which was virtually hosted by Salisbury University.

Angie Mele placed second in the individual competition, and Laura Rivero was fourth. UCF was the only team with two students in the finals. Great job coaching the team by Stefanie Mayfield Garcia.

The next challenge for Bill is to tie Phil Jackson’s 11 rings (an excellent book on managing high achieving people by the way) although the record shows not very many college coaches make the transition to coaching the pros, and I’m not sure there is a sales competition for seasoned sales professionals. Hmmm…maybe we should invent one?

Return of the Joust

Of all the things that got postponed a year ago, the biggest casualty for us, was the Joust. We had just shut everything down and hadn’t yet figured out how to do events virtually. If entrepreneurship is about anything, it is about learning to deal with adversity and pivot. True to form, the Joust has recreated itself as a virtual event. The first round will take place this Thursday from 3 to 5 pm.

The Joust is the brain child of Cameron Ford who runs our Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. It is open to students from across campus. Students from outside of business compete regularly in the Shark-tank like event. Several have taken home the top prize over the years. Aside from encouraging students to get out of their comfort zones and put their idea to the test, my favorite part of the Joust is seeing what our students think could be viable business ventures. It says at least as much about them as it does about the needs of the consumers they hope to satisfy with their product or service. I will be especially interested to see how the Pandemic has shaped their ideas.

Special thanks to our presenting sponsor Echelon. It’s only appropriate that one of our own entrepreneurs– Lou Lentine class of 1993 and CEO of the Echelon has stepped up to support this event. He has picked up the mantle from Steve Felkowitz, former CEO of Atico and class of 1973 who was the long time presenting sponsor of this event. Winners from round 1 will compete in the finals from 3 to 5 pm on April 8th. You can watch the finals by clicking here.

Insight is born from Experience

I have been writing this blog for more than a dozen years. Today was the first time I didn’t have a post ready to go Sunday night. I’ve been struggling for topics lately. I see the blog as an opportunity for me to provide students with insights and observations into their experience, to help them see what they are experiencing from a different perspective and to give them some advice on how to get the most out of their time in the College so that they can go on to success in life.

A year into the Pandemic and remote instruction, it has been harder for me to see what students are experiencing, give them my take on what is going on and help them recover or take advantage of what they are going through. Frankly, most days have seemed like Groundhog Day… doing the same things over and over again without much sense of moving things forward: activity and accomplishment are two different things.

So here’s an offer: If you think you have an insight based on your experience over this last year that would be of value to others, send it along to me by replying to this post. The blog has a moderated discussion feature, so others won’t see it until I read it. If my team thinks our readers would be interested in hearing from you, I will ask your permission to post it as a guest blog.

The One Question Every Interviewer Should Ask a UCF Business Student

Although my blog is typically targeted at students and how they can get the best out of the experience in the College, I have come to appreciate that many of my readers are UCF alumni and corporate partners who have an interest in how we are preparing students for success after graduation.

Earlier this week, Lonny forwarded to me an email from a marketing student who had just completed a job interview. She noted that she was shocked when the woman interviewing her asked about GEB points, what she had done with them and what she had learned from the experience. She went on to tell Lonny: “Luckily, your class had prepared me to answer all of her questions.”

That interviewer’s question is genius. For those of you who do not know, students in the college are required to take a set of professional development courses. Those courses help students decide what they want to do in their careers, sharpen their focus, create an action plan, develop networking skills, connect them to people who can help them achieve their goals and prepare them to succeed on the job. Our ultimate goal is to have students leave the college having thought very seriously about what they want to do with a professional job (or graduate school acceptance) in hand. Because these classes are about “doing,” students accumulate points for successfully completing activities from a long menu of options to determine their final grade. As you might guess, there are two very different approaches students take to completing these courses: (1) Those who take this seriously, have a plan and use the many professional development opportunities we provide in the college to get ahead, and (2) those who procrastinate, believe they already know everything, treat it as a burden and cynically comply (sometimes after multiple attempts to complete the courses). The interviewer’s question is designed to determine which type of student they have in front of them.

If you want to understand whether you have a UCF College of Business student who takes their professional development seriously, is both a self-starter and coachable and is likely to give you 100 percent on the job, ask this interviewer’s question. It will tell you a great deal.

The First Rule of Business

The first rule of business is keeping your word. The second rule is showing up. Sometimes these are the same, like when you make an appointment with someone and ghost them.

Two Fridays ago we held the Spring Semester version of the Invitational, a place where we match firms and students interested in internships and employment. Because it was virtual, we matched specific employers with specific students at specific times. Some students didn’t show up to their appointments. They told a prospective employer that meeting with them just wasn’t a priority. They also kept another student from having that opportunity. I’m sure the no-showers were thinking that they didn’t really want to work for that company and that some better opportunity will come along.

Professional networks are much smaller than these students think and word tends to get around. First, the OPD staff, GEB instructors and members of the Office of Outreach and Engagement know you didn’t show up. These three groups literally meet with hundreds of employers each year. Their opinions matter to prospective employers. How likely do you think it is that they will recommend someone who no-showed for another opportunity? Second, people move around. That person who got stood up could move to another company and be the interviewer for that “better opportunity” the no-shower seeks. They’re probably not getting that interview.

Getting a job in the profession of your choice is hard right now. Reputations can be damaged in seconds and can take years to repair. Don’t start your career with a reputation for not showing up. It will cost you big time.