Bill Emerson became the Chief Executive Officer of Quicken Loans in 2002 after working for the company for nearly ten years. He originally started at Rock Financial as a mortgage broker and held multiple leadership positions. His role now as the CEO is to oversee the daily management and operations of Quicken Loans.
Emerson’s leadership philosophy is simple: Leadership is doing the right thing and having people follow you; it starts with the belief system of having realistic goals that mean something to you. As the CEO of a multi-million dollar company, Emerson’s leadership not only governs the day-to-day operations but keeps up the overall morale. He is always encouraging team members (employees) to generate new ideas by fostering innovative thinking and curiosity. Even though it is not in his job description, Emerson handwrites individual birthday and anniversary cards for all 4,500 team members.
Lastly, Bill Emerson chooses to have his office on the “floor,” which is where all of the mortgage bankers make their sales calls. He believes that the “floor” is the heart and soul of the company- a place where he should be close to. His door is always open and anyone in the company can make an appointment to meet with him.
The Semaphore Enterntainment Group (SEG) started the mixed martial art sport known as the Ultimate Fighter Championship (UFC) and marketed it as a human cockfight, which initially triggered a lot of spark. However, the sport was banned in a few states and many others quickly followed- this drove the company nearly bankrupt. Dana White and a few other investors decided to take a risk in the failing business by purchasing it from SEG in 2001. Many thought that it was a poor investment decision, but these guys felt that they could turn their $2 million dollar purchase around. Their original plan was to air a few Pay-Per-Views, make a few quick bucks, and flip the company- that, of course, was not the case.
The first major business decision White made was to alter the UFC’s marketing strategy. “Human cockfights” were obviously not popular amongst legislatures so instead, he marketed the company as a sport with amazing athletes. One of their biggest challenges was to change the perception the press created for the UFC since its early beginnings. “They always say as long as you’re getting press, whether it’s good or bad, it’s a positive thing. I’ve never agreed with that. I think that too much bad press can kill you,” said White. Therefor, White took the approach of going back to the press as the “knight in shining armor” by stating that they are the good guys that are going to change the sport around.
White spent most of their initial earnings on throwing promotional events, thousands of billboards in downtown areas, and small acquisitions. At one point, he and his investors found themselves $44 million in debt. However, this did not stop them from continuing their venture, which is now worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The mixed martial arts industry as a whole has grown enormously and there’s nothing in the way of Dana ambition to grow the UFC.
http://www.entrepreneur.com/ufc/index.html
http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=LearnUFC.History
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ufc
This 11.6 millimeter device that includes a 3.5-inch 480 x 320 touchscreen display with multi-touch support and a proximity sensor to turn off the screen when it’s close to your face, 2 megapixel cam, 4GB or 8 GB of storage, Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR and A2DP, WiFi that automatically engages when in range, and quad-band GSM radio with EDGE is scheduled to be released in stores on June 29, 2007 at six o’clock p.m. in AT&T and Apple stores. The iPhone has perhaps been one of the latest technological devices with the most recent buzz. There have also been rumors that Apple is going to hold onto many of its units in order to keep the demand high, which of course keeps the prices high as well.
So what exactly should the “first-movers” be aware of when rushing to the store to purchase this $500 product? First of all, unlike typical Cingular/AT&T products, there will only be a 14-day return policy on the iPhones (deferring to Apple’s policy) opposed to the 30-day return policy. Early adopters can purchase this device with some ease because Apple announced that new software updates will be regularly released after identifying glitches (and yes, there will be a number of kinks discovered in this new product). Lastly, the battery seems to be the biggest of worries for potential iPhone consumers. Early on in January, (false) rumors spread that the phones talk time may only last up to forty minutes after extensive use of the phones other features such as web browsing, picture sharing, and movies. However, it is uncertain how long the battery will actually last because of its multiple functions.
Potentially, the iPhone can replace all Blackberrys, PDAs, digital cameras, and MP3 players due to its all-in-one capability. It seems as though that the technologically savvy, in particular, will appreciate this touch-screen product.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_26/c4040006.htm#ZZZ5J94SW2F?campaign_id=rss_daily
http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/09/the-apple-iphone/
http://www.ipodbatteryfaq.com/#22
Like many entrepreneurs, Todd Stern began his first business at the age of eight years old raking leaves and shoveling snow in the neighborhood. He shared the story of him buying his grandmother lunch for the first time: “I was eating lunch with my grandmother and decided to pay for it. My grandmother asked me why I am paying because I was only eight, but I told her that I’m an entrepreneur.” As Todd got older, he started working in local restaurants because he knew that was the kind of business he would one day like to venture. It took years of dish washing, busing, and waitering until he developed the credentials to become the general manager of various high end restaurants.
Eventually, Todd decided to leave his comfortable lifestyle in order to take a risk- a Detroit based restaurant called Small Plates. For five years he took no salary and even found himself homeless for a few months. Luckily, he had his catering van that left him some room to lodge when money was tight. After five years of quality customer service and with only 2000 square feet and a seating capacity of seventy people, this Spanish tapas restaurant has been able to gross over $1.5 million dollars by 2006. Since its humble beginnings, there has even been national and international recognition about this one-of-a-kind restaurant in Detroit due to its friendly atmosphere and exquisite cuisine.
Furthermore, Todd plans to expand his restaurant to the suburbs of Detroit starting with Royal Oak and eventually to other major U.S. cities. This particular site will be in the former Mongolian BBQ location with the potential of producing four times the amount of revenue as the Detroit site. Todd’s greatest advice was perhaps this: “It’s about giving back. If you give back to your community, it will certainly give back to you.”
The Detroit News holds an annual event to recognize select Michigan citizens for their efforts of enriching the city’s culture, economy, and future developments. Amongst the twelve honorable Michiganians, Dan Gilbert, the founder of Quicken Loans and the majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers was one of them. The award ceremony was held in Downtown Detroit last Monday at Seldom Blues, a riverfront restaurant located in the Renaissance Center. Gilbert was uncertain if he would be able to make it to the event due to his son’s baseball game; he had Ross Sanders, the Executive Director of Bizdom U, on standby to accept the award on his behalf. Luckily, Gilbert made it to the restaurant just in time to present the evening crowd his acceptance speech.
As Gilbert described the goals one of his latest ventures, Bizdom U, the audience applauded at the words “in Detroit.” On stage receiving the plaque, Gilbert boldly stated, “These entrepreneurs will be provided with the knowledge and capital funding to start new business here in Detroit.” He also talked about the creation of wealth and Detroit’s need to understand the concept rather than depending on our old “muscle-intensive” economy.
Other award recipients included multiple Grammy winner Anita Baker and one of Detroit’s premier designers, Dominic Pangborn. Pangborn was also a guest speaker of Bizdom U.
USA Today recently reported that U.S. airlines arrived late more often in the first four months of this year (2007) than in any other year since the government has been tracking these numbers thirteen years ago. According to the Department of Transportation, only 72% of domestic flights amongst the top twenty largest airlines arrived on time in these first four months. US Airways performed the worst with a 68% “on-time” rate. The problem lies in the fact that there are too many travelers, approximately 209 million, and not enough space to mobilize these people efficiently-there is a great need for more runways, taxiways, and gates.
So what exactly are possible solutions to this problem? First and foremost, federal regulators say that there needs to be at least four new airports built in the next twenty to thirty years. In fact, in the past forty years, there have only been two new additional major airports: Dallas Fort Worth and Denver International. Secondly, these commercial airlines could benefit from advanced global satellite positioning systems to track aircraft, which would cost approximately $15-20 billion. Better tracking will enable airplanes to maneuver in and out of airports more efficiently. Money could also be invested in increasing the number of runways on existing airports, especially in major hubs. A lot of time is wasted waiting taxiing on runways waiting for other planes to take off. In addition, Congress should offer tax incentives to spur the development and production of small private aircraft carriers, which would decrease the amount of traffic in large airports.
Air travel is a $1.2 trillion dollar industry in the U.S. and in order to support its constant growth, actions need to take place in terms of improving air travel. Airlines also need to refocus their attention on focusing on the customers rather than trying to cram as many people in one cabin as possible.
Many small businesses in Michigan are heavily affected by free trade and globalization due to the increase in competition. Laurie Schmald Moncrieff, owner of Schmald Tool & Die in Burton, Mich. has already invested in the latest machining and quality-control equipment. However, her sales dropped from $4.5 million in 2005 to $3.5 million last year. Moncrieff is hesitant to expand her business abroad because she doesn’t have the budget for a large marketing campaign; she wants help from the federal government. “We need to focus on the effect free-trade agreements have on small business,” Moncrieff says, hoping for trade restrictions and regulations that would give her business a boost. “They say ours is a service economy,” she adds, “but manufacturing is what grew this country, and I don’t think you can base a viable economy on service alone.”
Moncrieff is right. Manufacturing is what developed this proud country, but manufacturing is no longer what it used to be and she needs to accept that. Instead of crying for help to the government, Moncrieff needs to think of new ways to be more innovative. From the consumer point of view, the beauty of free trade is that it drives companies to compete for lower prices and better products. The governments role in regulating businesses is important, but it shouldn’t be a excuse for entrepreneurs to lack in their creative drive.
