My Ideal Leader

Tony Hsien has helped shape my view of leadership.  I first found out about what he does last year in a business ethics class and his model of leadership has stuck with me.  Most of you may know him as the CEO of Zappos.  I admire his leadership style because he realizes the importance and value of the people that he leads.  He wants all of his employees to be happy and creates a work culture that supports his idea. 

Tony has been extremely successful by starting businesses of his own.  In 1996 he started an advertising network called LinkExchange, which has over 400,000 members and 5 million ads rotated daily.  Microsoft bought his company for $265 million dollars.  Most people would take that money and never work another day in their lives, not Tony.

He then was approached to work for Zappos and became CEO.  He centers his business around great customer service by providing free 24/7 shipping.  He also understands that when employees are generally happy they are more productive.  He has created a work culture that supports fun and individuality; the employees have toys, decorations and noisemakers.  Along with a fun work environment, employees also receive free food, medical benefits and even a life coach available at work. 

What I admire Tony Hsien for most is that he does not see himself as better than or “over” other employees.   He does not have an executive office, but a cubicle in the middle of the office where he can be easily reached and join in on the fun.  I think it is so important for leaders to be able to understand and appreciate what their “followers” do.  I find that a relatable and approachable leader is most effective and Tony embodies those ideas.  In the corporate world it is so easy for upper management to let their position get to their heads.  I admire how Tony can stay above that and just do what makes him, and others, happy.

 

Most of my information comes from a 20/20 documentary, here is the link if you want to learn more!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfp9LHFIXfI

 

 

 

 

How am I a social entrepreneur?

"Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?"

Henry David Thoreau

This quote from Thoreau illustrates how I strive to live my life.  I always find myself looking at every side of a situation and identifying the motives or reasons.  I believe that people are genuinely good and I try to understand why they are the way they are.  It can be hard to do because emotions or beliefs get in the way.  I have learned to set these things aside and I feel that I can see more clearly.  

We are all busy.  It is so easy to get caught up in what is going on in your own life and to quickly pass unfair judgments onto people or situations.  Whenever I make a bad decision I can rationalize it by telling myself that I had a bad day.  When someone else makes a bad decision it is easy to attribute that decision their character or label them as a bad person.  If we could look though their eyes at that moment I am positive that their questionable decision would make sense.  You never know what someone has going on behind the scenes that they aren’t showing on the outside.  Everyone has a story.

I believe that I am a social entrepreneur in the way that I view every situation from all sides.  I do my best to show this thinking to people around me.  I have more of a lead by example style of leadership.  So if conflicts arise I typically play the devil’s advocate, which can be frustrating to hear.  For example, if a friend is upset with someone for ditching them on plans they get frustrated and angry.  I bring up the other side of the situation.  Maybe they had too much going on, or they were having personal troubles and didn’t want to be around people.  I find that this often brings down tension and creates peace.  I think that thinking this way can have an effect on how we treat the people around us.  The world could become a better place if we all became more sensitive to what is going on in others' lives.

The Cleveland Clinic recently made a video that portrays this idea very well.  Check it out if you have a moment!

http://epatientdave.com/2013/03/13/empathy-new-video-from-cleveland-clinic/

About me!

Hello! My name is Nicole Douglas.  I am a junior at THE Ohio State University studying Business Administration with a Marketing specialization. 

Where to start?  I grew up in Dublin, Ohio and have lived in Columbus my entire life.  Since I have always been a Buckeye, Ohio State was an easy decision for me.  I knew that OSU is an exceptional school with outstanding traditions but I was not prepared to fall in love with the university.  Coming to OSU has changed my life and is the best thing that could have ever happened to me.

I am a part of the cheerleading team here at Ohio State.  The experience has been nothing short of extraordinary.  We cheer at football and basketball games and university functions.  I have had so much fun working with and getting to know my teammates and the university.  I love being able to experience OSU traditions firsthand.  I am typically pretty busy with cheerleading in the fall and winter but I still find time for other activities.  I am also a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.  My sorority is special to me because my mother and grandmother were both Thetas at Ohio State.  They have a lot of fun walking through the house with me and showing me their rooms and telling stories from when they were in school.  Having Theta in common has brought us closer as a family.  

  

I have just started getting into the grind of my major classes and I really enjoy them so far!  The professors in Fisher are very helpful and enthusiastic which creates a great learning environment.  This is the first time I can actually say I enjoy my classes.

This summer I had an incredible experience as a marketing intern at Cardinal Health.  I worked for the Retail Independent Marketing Team, whose main customers are independent pharmacists.  My team helps plan the annual Retail Business Conference for independent pharmacy owners and I was lucky to be a part of this group.  I assisted in the creation and was the main consultant of the mobile event app for RBC.  Now I know this isn’t exactly a marketer’s field but I loved working with the mobile app.  I added and organized all of the information into the mobile app through a third party company and tested the features on multiple devices.  It was a difficult project that presented a ton of challenges that we found ways to work through.  I also worked with our sponsors.  RBC has about $400,000 in sponsorships that needed to be managed.  I was responsible for keeping track of these sponsorships and assuring that they were being fulfilled.  I ordered and collected the artwork for the sponsors and allocated the art to the appropriate people in order to have the pieces created.  I got to see all of my work come to life at the Retail Business Conference in Seattle early this August.  We worked there for about a week making sure the conference ran as smoothly as possible.  All of the sponsorship pieces and signage that I put into production were at the conference; about 2,500 customers downloaded and utilized the mobile app.  As an intern it is rare to see your work affect anyone and I was amazed that my hard work actually contributed to something.  Although the days were long, it was an unbelievable experience.  I only worked at Cardinal Health for 12 weeks and I can say that I became an entirely new person after my experience there.  It is amazing what can happen in a summer.

I am not entirely sure what I want to do with marketing yet.  I know that I am not the creative type, so I will not be developing advertisements.  I guess it’s helpful to know what you don’t want to do.  I am starting to consider sales a little more because I know that I can talk up something if I am passionate about it.  That is the trick.  I can’t go out and sell things like staplers or Cut-Co knives.  I want to sell something that can and will improve my customer’s life.  I can’t lie and push a product I don’t believe in.  I am a very honest person and I feel that I can be most effective when trying to sell something I wholeheartedly believe in.  I can talk to someone for hours about Ohio State or Cardinal Health and all these organizations have to offer and that is because I am passionate about them.

Wow I apologize about the length of this post.  This is me in a nutshell!