Special Speakers on Campus

This has been a special year in the College of Business in terms of guest speakers. Unfortunately I missed the presentation by Muhammad Yunus (www.se-21.com) on March 1. Yunus won a 2006 Nobel Peace Prize "for his pioneering concept of banking without collateral for the poorest of the poor" (http://news.illinois.edu/ii/10/0218/briefs.html). I heard from others, however, that his speech was inspiring.

Most recently, I was able to hear a presentation by Jerry Colangelo, Chairman of the Phoenix Suns and USA Basketball. Jerry is a 1962 graduate of the University of Illinois and stood out as a basketball player for the Fighting Illini during his time here. This presentation was part of the V. Dale Cozad Lecture in Entrepreneurship series - an annual lecture that brings in a high-profile graduate of the University of Illinois.

I have to say that his stories were fascinating as a pioneering individual in a number of storied sports franchises. Being a Bulls fan, I found it particularly interesting that he was involved in bringing the first NBA franchise to Chicago. In fact, Jerry is primarily responsible for naming the team the Bulls, since the early team, not having their own arena, played in a pavilion that had previously been used for cattle and horse shows.

From Chicago, he eventually started the Phoenix Suns franchise, a team with which he has been involved for years. He was able to purchase the team in 1987 for $44 million, and he eventually sold the team for $400 million in 2004. Shortly after the USA men's basketball team came up short of the gold medal in 2004, Colangelo was asked to take over USA basketball. He personally sat down with every player who would be on the team and explained clearly his expectations. In particular, he wanted every individual to know that they needed to treat their opponents with respect and that they represented USA baskeball as part of the team, not as an individual. Colangelo said it was one of his proudest moments when the USA basketball team brought home gold in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

What stuck out to me the most during Colangelo's presentation is his attitude toward failure. He believes that sports gave him the ability and confidence to try again after failure. He said he was never afraid to fail, because after a loss in basketball, he was always able to get back up and try again. He knew it would be exactly the same in other aspects of his life. In the end, he found more success than failure because of his relentless effort.

Although most of his presentation was focused on the world of sports, I think any business student could relate to his comments about failure and success. As of late, I've seen a number of students discouraged by the job market. Certainly an MBA is an enormous investment of time and money, and everyone wants to see immediate returns for their efforts. I don't know if Colangelo stated this directly, but I observed it through his stories: opportunities don't always present themselves to you, so at times, you just create your own opportunities through bold effort. I hope that those in attendance were able to take away this same message.

Coming up on April 30, the Illinois MBA has arranged panel speakers to discuss the topic "One Crisis . . . Many Solutions: A Unique Look at the Global Financial Landscape." The speakers for this event include Dr. Carlos Braga, Vice President and Corporate Secretary at the World Bank, and Michael Heisley, the CEO of the Heico Company, and majority owner of the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies.

Dr. Braga's responsibilities include, but are not limited to, providing low-income countries with better growth diagnostics as well as debt management policy advice. Braga is also a 1984 graduate of the University of Illinois where he earned his PhD in Economics. Heisley's company is an investment group that specializes in buying interests in underperforming companies and turning them around. Heico owns and operates approximately 40 business worldwide. I think this will prove to be an interesting event, and better yet, anyone is welcome to attend if they RSVP by Monday, April 23, to https://illinois.edu/fb/auth/7091715.