kstires

by Scott McLain

It has been my experience that nothing goes according to plan. For example, I never planned to attend Baylor University. While it pains me to admit it, I planned to attend Texas A&M. I only ended up at Baylor after visiting a friend who was a student.

I had planned on being a physician and enrolled with Chemistry as my major. After a few classes, however, my plan went awry as it quickly became apparent that the only chemistry I was learning was with my future wife, Dana Tinkle, BA ’84. I met her by happenstance during Baylor’s Welcome Week.

I never planned to be a business major. I never planned on getting an MBA. I never planned on working for Price Waterhouse. I never planned on working for a bank that failed. The list could go on and on. The plan that seemed most inconceivable at the time has ironically become my current reality. I am a Texan living in Oklahoma and working in the fast food industry. But, despite the fact that it was never part of any plan, it could not have worked out any better.

My career at Sonic began in 1996 after I turned down their first offer to become treasurer. It just wasn’t part of the plan. No self-respecting Texan ever considers moving to Oklahoma. Moreover, I had no desire to tell my friends that I was selling burgers, tater tots and limeades for a living. Most of them were successful investment bankers, lawyers, accountants, and consultants. Thankfully, Sonic was persistent. As my wife and I continued to pray about the opportunity, it became clear that it was the right place for us.

When I joined Sonic, the company operated fewer than 1,500 drive-ins in 27 states producing approximately $880 million in system-wide sales. Today, we are a truly national brand with system-wide sales approaching $4 billion and more than 3,500 drive-ins operating in 42 states. My wife and I have found Oklahoma to be a terrific place to live and raise our family. Oklahomans have a can-do spirit and an authenticity that’s hard to match. It now comes as no surprise to me that Oklahoma was the birthplace of Sonic Drive-Ins.

Most people think the secret to our success at Sonic is largely about cherry limeades, tater tots, extra-long cheese coneys, and skating carhops. There is no doubt that pursuing strategies that focus on differentiating our products and the way they are served has fueled our success. Yet, in my view, the fundamental reason for Sonic’s success is a culture that champions opportunity and entrepreneurship.

From the beginning in 1953, we have been dedicated to a simple but powerful philosophy. Sonic will succeed as a company by allowing the management of individual drive-ins the chance to pursue their dreams and the opportunity for unlimited financial rewards. Most Sonic Drive-Ins have some form of “partnership” arrangement whereby the manager has a direct interest in the financial performance of the drive-in with no limit to the amount of income they can earn.

Our founder, Troy Smith, built Sonic on this simple and powerful principle. He believed that an owner would take better care of customers and the facilities than an employee. So, we work hard to create an “ownership” mentality. Today, Sonic managers refer to their store as “my Drive-In.” We want our partners to be involved in the community. We want our customers to think of Sonic as a local business with local “ownership” instead of thinking of us as a national chain.

We want our managers to earn compensation well above the industry average. In fact, one of our most successful franchisees has a goal for his store-level partners to earn $100,000 per year. That is double the industry average. The good news is he has almost achieved this goal. And the more successful his partners are, the more successful he is as well.

Our largest franchisee doesn’t think he is even in the fast food business. Instead, his belief is that his business is to find good, hard-working people and give them the opportunity to succeed. That philosophy helps attract talented people who are motivated to succeed, and in turn, help others succeed. It also provides a deeper sense of purpose that transcends the profit motive and creates deep engagement with the business. Our brand is full of folks that started as carhops or grill people who today find themselves as store managers with an ownership position. They did it through old-fashioned hard work mixed with a healthy dose of common sense. It is the American dream personified and it is a joy to see it play out every day across all our drive-ins.

Our ownership mentality also feeds another core value at Sonic – an entrepreneurial spirit. That notion manifests itself in many places, even with our customers. They can create their own drinks from over 168,000 different possibilities. We want our customers to be in control and to have the ability to have distinctive food and beverages the way they want it. They have a say each time they drive in to their Sonic. And listening to what they have to say is the key to great customer service.

Listening is also the key to great leadership. As I was given the opportunity to assume greater responsibilities at Sonic, I felt increasing personal responsibility to find the next engine for growth and then create a master strategic plan that would pave the way to greatness. I thought my two greatest management assets were my brain (to conceive the plan) and my mouth (to articulate the plan).

Over time, I learned through trial and error that my conception of management and leadership was totally wrong-headed. My two greatest assets were not my Baylor-trained brain and my mouth but instead the two things on the side of my head known as ears. Most, if not all, of the great ideas that have propelled the Sonic brand forward have not come from our corporate office. They have come from our drive-in operators. Two great examples were adding ice cream to our menu and our half price drink initiative known as “Happy Hour.” What I have learned is that it is the everyday insights of those folks closest to the customer that will tell us much more about what will work than all the expensive consumer research and data analysis that we also do.

Leading in an entrepreneurial culture is much easier and very liberating in my view. Rather than driving a grand plan for success from corporate headquarters, we know that someone at a Sonic Drive-In is already doing something new that is resonating with our customers. Our job as leaders is to make sure we listen to the field, cull the best ideas out there and then marshal our collective resources behind the best ones. Then we help bring them to life so that everyone can benefit. In my view, good leaders quickly realize that they do not have a monopoly on the truth and that those closest to the customer generally have the best ideas.

My journey as a leader and our journey as a company has been full of unexpected twists and turns – many successes but also failures. We do create both short-term and long-term plans for our business but nothing ever goes exactly according to plan. Economic and consumer forces are notoriously difficult to predict. Instead our success, both as a company and as individuals, is largely a result of what we do when the plan doesn’t work. How quickly we adapt and take advantage of changing conditions is the real recipe for success.

In Sonic parlance, we like to think of it as turning lemons into a lemon-berry slush.

Scott McLain is president of Sonic Corp., parent company of the nation’s largest chain of drive-in restaurants. McLain joined Sonic in April 1996 as treasurer and was named chief financial officer in August 1997. He was promoted to executive vice president in January 2004; named president of Sonic Industries, the company’s franchising subsidiary, in November 2004; and began his current position in May 2008.

McLain earned a BBA in Accounting and Marketing from Baylor, earned an MBA in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin, and is a certified public accountant.

 

 

Baylor Business Review, Fall 2010

by Chad Shanks and Ryan Pierce

Drew Greenway sits in a building in the middle of the woods.

Amidst this isolation, a flurry of red and green lights blink as he adjusts levels on a five-foot long soundboard, turning his head toward the speakers suspended from the guitar-lined walls.

He puts the finishing touches on “Drifting,” a song about his wife’s search for purpose, satisfied in the knowledge that it will soon be available on iTunes.

Greenway, a 26-year-old George W. Truett Theological Seminary student, is an artist on Uproar Records, Baylor University’s student-run record label. He came to Waco to further his career as a worship pastor, but after auditioning on a whim, he is now on the cusp of having his music commercially available to the world.

Greenway is one of five Uproar artists to take the 30-minute drive north of Waco to Back at the Ranch Recording Studio, built from the ground up on McLennan Community College professor Brian Konzelman’s wooded riverside property. Konzelman not only lends his studio but his talents as well, by producing Uproar’s albums with the students. Although the studio’s exterior is rustic, its state-of-the-art interior is producing music that is bringing Baylor national recognition.

The Genesis of Uproar

Uproar Records grew out of the Baylor Recording Artist Network (BRAN), a Student Activities-sponsored organization that released CDs of Baylor artists. BRAN sought marketing advice from professor Kirk Wakefield, director of Baylor’s Music & Entertainment Marketing (M&E) program. Wakefield then recruited professor Charles Fifield, a former financial consultant for EMI Records, and students Ben Rodgers and Ryan Weaver. Their combined vision became Uproar Records, a partnership between the M&E program and Student Activities.

The M&E track for Marketing majors is a highly selective degree program in the Hankamer School of Business. Originating in 2005 with an emphasis on theater, the major began as a collaboration with Baylor’s theater department and the business school, but broadened when Wakefield cultivated major contacts in the music world.

Any student can participate in Uproar through the Uproar Music & Entertainment Marketing Club, but Uproar’s officers are all M&E majors – students serious about careers in the music industry.

Growth and Expansion

Garrett Burnett spent his senior year as Uproar’s label president and project manager. He and the other seniors on Uproar’s 2009-2010 leadership team have been part of the label from its inception.

Burnett, who interned at a Nashville record label, wants Uproar to provide students a realistic experience, and he structured the Uproar leadership team so each member handles a specific aspect of the label’s business, from production and distribution to finances and public relations.

“There’s no other way for Baylor students to get more hands-on experience,” Burnett said. “This is not something you can learn in a textbook.”

At the start of the fall 2009 semester, Burnett and the Uproar team held auditions for new artists. Out of 48 hopefuls, five were signed to one-year contracts and began writing and recording for the label’s second compilation CD, unveiled last April at a release party at Waco’s University Baptist Church.

“Our first compilation CD featured 12 artists doing one song each. For the second CD, we only used five so we could be more detailed and hands-on with our artists,” Burnett said.

Though the label is based at a Christian university, it is not strictly a Christian music label, Burnett said. Last year’s artists represented a variety of musical styles and genres, from singer-songwriters like Michelle Piland and the harmonious duo of Brian Beaver and Jacob Hooter, to the melodic pop of rock quartet, Zoo Studio.

Two weeks after the release party, Uproar hosted the first Uproar Records Music Festival at Diadeloso, the university-wide holiday known for its live music. In years past, Student Activities brought in outside artists for the campus event, but last spring, the Uproar team took on the responsibility. Each Uproar artist performed at the festival, and the officers planned the entire show, including booking the other bands, such as 2010 Austin Music Awards’ “best new band,” Speak, and the headliner, pop star Colbie Caillat.

“It was great getting to bring musicians to campus,” Burnett said. “We got experience booking and running a festival and gave our artists a chance to interact with established artists.”

In addition, Uproar officers and artists went to Nashville in May to play for record executives, such as CEO of EMI Christian Music Group, Bill Hearn, and Dusty Wells of Word Entertainment (both are members of Uproar’s board of directors, a group comprised of music, theater and film executives). While the trip was primarily a networking opportunity, attending students also received class credit for the two-week trip, which featured class sessions taught by record label executives.

“The relationships we’re building are essential,” Burnett said. “Baylor students are known in Nashville as being hard workers with more of a business foundation [than other schools]. Baylor has a good name in Nashville.”

Finding Success

Though Uproar Records is in its infancy, its officers, artists and faculty sponsors have worked tirelessly to solidify the label’s reputation. In its short existence, the label has produced its fair share of success stories.

Label co-founder Ben Rodgers credits the Uproar experience with preparing him for his current career as an artist manager at Centricity Music in Nashville.

“From artists, to business school students, to engineers and professors, you had the whole gamut of people to deal with and each of them has totally different personality styles,” Rodgers said. “I learned how to read people and talk to them in a way that communicated clearly and addressed their needs directly.”

Uproar’s previous public relations officer, Natalie Reese, monitored the artists’ MySpace and Facebook pages, crafted publicity materials and cultivated relationships in Nashville. Her experience with social networking at Uproar propelled her to an internship at Nashville’s Vector Management, where her bosses were impressed with the quality of her work and subsequently offered her a job.

Singer-songwriter Jillian Edwards appeared on Uproar’s first compilation CD and was slated to appear on their second before leaving to tour with the Robbie Seay Band, a popular Christian rock group. She has also been featured on the soundtrack for the Christian film To Save a Life and her first solo album, Galaxies and Such, is available on iTunes and Amazon. Edwards credits her Uproar experience with helping boost her burgeoning career.

“Uproar has connected me with other musicians at Baylor, and in doing so has expanded my network of people who love, play and write music,” Edwards said “Through Uproar’s program, I have recorded songs I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to otherwise.”

In addition, current Uproar artists are getting opportunities to play before large audiences. David Dulcie, for instance, recently opened for country band High Valley.

Facing the Future

Though Uproar Records has experienced some moderate success, Burnett wants to build nationwide credibility and see it become self-sustaining and profitable. Currently, it receives financial assistance from Student Activities. Any money generated from compilation CDs and live shows so far have only recouped costs.

“Even though we’re not profit-driven, [Uproar] is still a realistic experience,” Burnett said. “It’s been a unique advantage to be creative on such a small budget, and I hope that Uproar can become self-sustaining, but for now we’re focused more on creating a learning environment.”

But a profitable student-run record label is possible, Burnett said. The label has new revenue streams from digital downloads on iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Napster, and Lala, and its artists just finished a summer tour. They are also considering producing individual artist EPs to accompany the annual compilation.

With the start of the fall 2010 semester, three months after Burnett’s graduation, Uproar’s presidency transfers to Houston senior Taylor Ashcraft, who spent the previous academic year planning the Uproar Records Music Festival and the summer interning at Columbia Records’ marketing department.

She credits her experience planning Uproar’s Diadeloso festival as securing the highly competitive internship.

“In internship interviews, they want to know what hands-on experience you have,” Ashcraft said. “After working with Uproar, I was able to tell them I’ve helped directly market artists and plan a music festival.”

Ashcraft accompanied the artists to Nashville in May and presented her plans for the year to Uproar’s board of directors – plans that include acquiring new revenue via grants and fundraisers and training artists in every aspect of the music business.

Ashcraft will also oversee the auditioning and signing of new Uproar artists to join their returning artists, who must audition again to earn a spot on the roster.

“My main goal is to position our artists to have the tools to get a record deal when they graduate,” Ashcraft said.

Uproar’s Ultimate Effect

Drew Greenway reviews the arrangement to the song he recorded the previous night – a self-described “catchy love song” titled “City Lights.”

He mixes the instruments played by musicians recruited from his church and balances the backing vocals of his wife, Paige.

His year as an Uproar artist has brought him a long way from his Arkansas home, where he spent hours in his room as a 12-year-old trying to play Smashing Pumpkins songs. He now has several gigs under his belt and once sang the National Anthem at a Baylor basketball game.

“I used to think getting started in music was more organic – that if the music is good, you’ll get picked up – but Uproar has helped spur me on, encouraged me and introduced me to people in the industry,” Greenway said. “It’s given me exposure I’d never get otherwise.”

www.uproarrecords.com

www.ranchstudio.com

 

 

Baylor Business Review, Fall 2010

by Barbara Elmore

Before a student successfully finishes Business 1301, a foundations course for freshmen and transfer students, he or she will have recited a 17-word code of behavior more than 25 times.

The student will have heard and read the code in almost two dozen different languages – including Amharic, Croatian and Vietnamese – to name just a few. He also would have seen the code on every test he took.

And although he might not think his behavior changed as a result of repeating the words daily, the student will likely never forget them or their significance.

The 17 words make up the Baylor University Honor Code, and they are striking in their brevity and simplicity: Baylor University students, staff, and faculty shall act in academic matters with the utmost honesty and integrity.

“It’s a one-sentence honor code, which in itself is extremely good,” said Management professor Blaine McCormick of the length. He teaches Business 1301, “Business, the Economy, and World Affairs,” and has lectured on the honor code for years in this course that emphasizes decision-making.

However, he has modified the way he teaches it in remarkable ways over the years, giving the honor code brand status with students who have gone through his classes.

When McCormick first started quizzing students on the honor code, only about 50 percent could identify it on a multiple-choice test. That lack of knowledge about such a short and important message embarrassed him. He lectured harder on its contents.

Still, only about 70 percent of his test-takers spotted the correct version on tests.

So McCormick changed his methods. He knew that employees of an international organization headquartered in Waco recited their “code of values” before every meeting, “and it’s long – a page long,” he said. He also thought about other recitations that children grow up knowing by heart.

“Can you say the Pledge of Allegiance? Can you say the Lord’s Prayer? Most likely, yes,” McCormick said. “These really important things we ought to be saying again and again. So I wondered if we said the honor code before every class, would students begin to internalize it and remember it?”

He decided to test his theory and recognition of the code on his tests finally made it to 100 percent.

Although some of McCormick’s students were surprised to discover that the class recites the code every day, they recognize the significance of doing so. Continuous recitation “makes the thought of the honor code more prevalent,” said junior Accounting major Samantha Stephenson, a course leader for McCormick. Although she considered herself an ethical person before arriving at Baylor, she sees the impact that familiarity with the code of behavior has had on her and other Baylor students.

“Reciting it, knowing it and living it are different for me than for students who don’t recite it every day,” she said.

The recitation makes it an ever-present part of her educational career, and thus, her life.

“I will be put into a situation as an accountant where I will have to make ethical decisions,” Stephenson said. “I know that I have the foundation to make the right ethical decision. The relevance and presence of the honor code and the ethical culture of Baylor are really going to impact my career as a professional.”

That was McCormick’s goal. “Going to college is one of the most demanding jobs in America,” McCormick said. “Once I started thinking about student life as a job, I realized there is a code of ethics at work, so I asked, ‘What applies here – where our core business is academic ethics?'”

Many organizations set the tone for employee behavior with clear codes of ethics that apply to everyone, from CEO to the newest hire, he noted.

“My hope is that students choose organizations that will remind them of how it was at the business school,” McCormick said. “It is harder to behave honorably when the environment does not support that.”

On the second day of Business 1301, McCormick spends the entire class talking about the honor code. “It sounds kind of dull, but you would be surprised how interested students are when they understand how it affects them,” he said. After the first test on the code, he finds “persistent blind spots” to review.

“For example, students continually misunderstand that the faculty controls the sanction or punishment for violations of the code,” McCormick said. “It is not controlled by an administrator or the dean’s office. It’s between the student and the professor, and they’d better take it seriously.”

He also wants students to grasp the whole process so that they can protect their rights. “They have a right to tell their side of the story,” he said. “I help them understand where their rights are because to be accused of dishonorable behavior is very nerve-wracking.”

His expansion of honor code recognition and understanding did not stop at daily recitations in English. Baylor is a multicultural campus, and McCormick’s classes reflect that. One day, about six weeks into the class, he asked a Chinese student to recite the code in Chinese. “And the whole class clapped afterwards,” McCormick said. “It was a great moment.”

He realized that he and his students had stumbled onto something important. Soon, he had students recite the code in Spanish.

“The whole class erupted,” he said. “So I started calling for other languages in the room. There are close to 20 now.” Students have recited the honor code in German, French, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Croatian, Serbian, Italian, Afrikaans, Amharic, Arabic, and Tagalog, as well as sign language.

“It’s an amazing part of class,” McCormick said. “Sometimes the students give a commentary on the words. It teaches you something about the language they are speaking when they say, ‘I could not find an exact word for this.'”

To allow McCormick and students to read along, he and his course leaders transfer the translations to a big screen. Even those not fluent in the languages can pick out certain words – “integrity” and “Baylor,” for example.

For junior Accounting major Scott Neumann, another course leader, reading the code in different languages “symbolizes that the honor code and integrity matter in all aspects of life, no matter where you are from or what culture you live in.”

Neumann, like Stephenson, knew before taking Business 1301 that he was an honest and ethical person, but realized later that the daily code recitation makes a person more conscious of it, and shows how “little decisions during the day can affect your overall ethical behavior.”

As course leaders, he and Stephenson helped McCormick maintain academic integrity in the class, and the code was an aid there, too.

“A lot of students want real-world application in their classes,” Neumann said. “It doesn’t get much more real world than that – for your decisions to be watched in everyday life.”

McCormick is developing even more plans for showcasing the honor code. Next, he wants to have “celebrity readers,” well-known figures in the Baylor community, reciting the code on video.

Meanwhile, his usage of the code has gone well beyond the way others use it in their classes, said Linda Cates, director of the Baylor Office of Academic Integrity.

“I don’t know of any who use it to the extent that he does,” Cates said. “There are many other professors who mention the honor code and have a statement about it in their syllabi, but I don’t know of any who teach it and use it as Blaine does.”

www.baylor.edu/honorcode

 

 

Baylor Business Review, Fall 2010

by Franci Rogers

Many business professionals would pay a high price to get advice on everything from investing to the economy from one of the richest men in the world, Warren Buffett. For 26 Baylor students who had the opportunity this past February, it was priceless.

The group of 11 undergraduate Management Information Systems (MIS) majors and 15 graduate students traveled to Buffett’s hometown of Omaha, Neb., for an exclusive question-and-answer session for college students. Baylor was among seven schools invited to the event, which also included business schools from Creighton University, Duke University, New York University, Ohio State University, University of Texas, and Western Ontario University. And Baylor was one of only three that allowed undergraduates to make the trip.

“I was so excited to go,” said Jacquel Haywood, a senior Finance and MIS major. “I told everybody about it and counted down the weeks. I felt like that was a completely unique experience and something I may never have the chance to do again.”

Haywood was chosen to go on the trip because she is part of the MIS Leadership Team, a group of upper-level students who apply to the program. Team members are selected based on their contributions to the major and service hours. They also meet as a class and earn three credit hours as a business elective. Undergraduates not on the leadership team who wished to go on the Omaha trip were selected using service-based criteria.

Hope Koch, associate professor of Information Systems, had been working on the trip since 2007. She recognized that, like nearly all information systems programs, Baylor’s was struggling with low enrollment.

“There just wasn’t enough information out there about the major,” Koch said. “It’s unfortunate, because even in a difficult economy, MIS majors are seeing average starting salaries around $52,000 and there are lots of jobs out there. And universities were shutting down [MIS] departments because there weren’t enough students to justify keeping them.”

That’s when the idea of the leadership team was developed.

“The students on the team do so much to promote the major to other students,” Koch said. “They do a tremendous amount of work with events and peer-to-peer mentoring, and passing along information to freshmen business students who might consider MIS as a major. This trip was a reward for a job well-done.”

A little luck, along with the intervention of a CEO of a Buffett-owned company, and Baylor’s bid to get a session with Buffett was approved. ConocoPhillips helped with the final hurdle, by assisting with the funding for the trip. The funding allowed Baylor to offer the trip at little-to-no cost to the students.

Jessica Potter, a senior MIS major, has been on the leadership team for two years. When she learned that the Omaha trip had come to fruition, she was thrilled.

“In November we found out that we were chosen to go, and I was so excited,” she said. “I mean, who gets to go to Nebraska to meet Warren Buffett? It was unreal!”

But instead of simply celebrating, Potter and her teammates went to work. They began working with the graduate programs office to make travel arrangements and publicize the trip. They created a group on the social networking site Facebook, and posted links to articles and videos about the multi-billionaire. And they submitted and voted on the questions they would most like to ask Buffett during the Q & A session.

The Q & A session was the highlight of the trip for most of the students, and the relaxed atmosphere and intimate setting came as a surprise to many.

“I thought it would be held in a huge auditorium with a stage, but it wasn’t,” said senior MIS major Marc Link. “It was in a large conference room with round tables, and Mr. Buffett walked around the tables as he talked. There were only about 150 people there, so it was very different than I expected.”

Link was also surprised by Buffett’s demeanor.

“You expect someone with that much wealth and power to be at least a little arrogant,” he said. “But he was one of the most down-to-earth people I’ve ever met. I was surprised by that and by his sincerity.”

Even after doing background research, Wes Reneau, a senior MIS major, said he was surprised by how Buffett interacted with the students.

“I’d watched the videos and read the articles, so I had this idea of what he was like, but it’s still kind of intimidating to meet such a wealthy, successful man who’s known all around the world,” Reneau said. “But he made everyone feel relaxed. He was lively and so funny. It took the intimidation factor out of it, and we felt right at home with him.”

Haywood was also put at ease by Buffett’s humor.

“When we got there, I was ready for ‘strictly business.,'” Haywood said. “We were all dressed professionally and had a serious attitude, but when he walked in, I wasn’t sure it was him. I was expecting an entourage, but he was alone. He started making jokes, and I was thinking, ‘Am I supposed to laugh?’ He was funny, and he made us completely comfortable. He just kind of melted all that nervousness away.”

In the midst of the jokes and anecdotes, Buffet answered questions and gave students advice about their futures. Everyone came away with at least one thing they said they would carry with them.

For Link, the most valuable thing about the trip was the comfort Buffett gave to students about to graduate and enter the workforce.

“He has a lot of faith in this economy,” Link said. “He has faith in capitalism and the American system, and he was very optimistic. He had facts to back up why he felt this way, and it made it easy for me to be optimistic, too.”

Haywood said the thing she will never forget is the unique way Buffett inspired the students to be happy with who they are.

Buffett explained his “ovarian lottery” theory. He asked students to imagine an opportunity before they were born: a large barrel filled with 6.5 billion tickets, each representing a single birth outcome, including race, gender and the country of birth.

“He asked us if we had the opportunity, would we draw out 100 tickets and choose one to switch with our own,” Haywood said.

Only about 50 tickets would be of above average intelligence. Fewer still would have supportive parents. Less than 5 percent would be born in the United States, Buffett explained. He believes that as a white, American male, he hit the “ovarian lottery,” and that it’s the responsibility of the 1 percent who drew “good tickets” to give back to those who weren’t as lucky.

“I could have been born somewhere else, without the opportunities I’ve had,” Haywood said. “That hit me hard. It helped me to be comfortable in my own skin.”

And lessons like that, Koch believes, could only really be learned by her students making this trip. Buffett has already extended an invitation for the group to return next year-a huge honor considering the long waiting list of schools.

“I’m so thankful they got to do this, to meet Mr. Buffett and experience his positive attitude,” Koch said. “It elevated their perceptions of who they are. It was wonderful to see.”

 

 

Baylor Business Review, Fall 2010

by Nincy Mathew

In 2008, Nancy Richards, CEO and founder of First Preston Management, Inc. and Baylor University graduate, hosted a dinner in Hankamer’s Blume Conference Center for 400 students, faculty and community members, all who had a strong desire to begin a business organization for women.

The dinner, coincidentally, served as the kickoff event for the newly chartered Baylor Business Women organization, which has grown tremendously since beginning in 2008.

Baylor Business Women (BBW) boasts a membership of 150 and is open to both women and men, undergraduate and graduate members who are looking for an opportunity to serve, an outlet for discussion, and the support system from students who have similar goals and needs.

“Baylor Business Women provides a forum for professionals to share their struggles and stories, creating a place to have dialogue, share common goals and build their own network,” said faculty advisor Debra Burleson.

Advisors often attend monthly meetings and BBW events, but they take a backseat. BBW is a student-led and student-driven organization. From the organization’s logo to electing board members, the students fulfill their own expectations. BBW’s 10-member board and committees provide a calendar full of events that include social events, seminars and service events.

BBW also hosts a vast group of speakers who provide insight on the expectations of successful business professionals with topics such as balancing work and life at home. Recent speakers include Jacquelyn Cox, president of the Baylor Women’s Network of Houston, and Michael Franzese, former mob boss and now motivational speaker.

The group has even adopted a philanthropy, the Prison Entrepreneurship Program (PEP). PEP is a nonprofit organization with a program developed to teach inmates the skills needed to run a legitimate business upon their release.

BBW travels to Cleveland Prison, about two hours from Houston, Texas, twice a year and hosts etiquette night.

“Baylor Business Women members teach etiquette in a social setting,” said former BBW chaplain Rachel Koester.

But the night is more than placement settings.

“The inmates are learning how to interact with people again after so long,” Koester said. “The night is to help them get comfortable, break down barriers and show them how to impress someone, like their wife who they haven’t seen for years.”

Working with PEP has helped the students break down their own barriers and see others in a new light.

“Since God forgives us for everything, we should forgive them,” Koester said. “I’ve never met more polite men than the men I meet at Cleveland Prison. It’s changed my whole outlook on life.”

The group is not all work and no play. They also find time to take Zumba classes together, go bowling and have teas between mentors and mentees. BBW sees the importance in getting to know one another.

Part of what keeps BBW strong is the dynamic leadership. In order to even serve on the board, candidates are nominated to sit on a board interview with the Dean, a faculty advisor and the current president, said 2009-2010 BBW president Lane Irwin.

“There is an advantage to serving as an officer,” Irwin said. “Taking on a leadership position helps you apply what you learn in class and gives you the opportunity to have actual conversations with business leaders.”

“I saw Baylor Business Women as an opportunity to further develop my skills and knowledge of the business world,” said 2008-2009 BBW president Danielle Rucker. “Baylor Business Women is not just a business organization; it is an organization with a profound love for God and for helping others grow in their faith and education. Becoming an officer for Baylor Business Women was an absolute must for me.”

“There’s a certain energy unique to the organization,” Burleson said. And it is that energy that will lead the Baylor Business Women for years to come.

www.baylor.edu/business/women

 

 

Baylor Business Review, Fall 2010

by Kristin Todd Stires

“Each one of us should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” -1 Peter 4:10

Through a literal interpretation, Baylor Accounting students, along with faculty and supporters, brought this verse to life by traveling to Kampala, Uganda, for the department’s second annual mission trip.

Jason MacGregor, assistant professor of Accounting, served as a faculty advisor on the trip, which is a collaborative effort among the Baylor Accounting Department, Uganda Christian University (UCU), Baylor Missions, and Compassion International, a nonprofit organization that provides holistic child development for children living in poverty in 25 third-world countries.

“I think this mission trip coming from the business school raises a question: Does faith matter to business students?” MacGregor said. “Within the university setting, the school is focused on business, finances, etc. And our students are going to grapple with that. How can they live out their faith and integrate business skills in a meaningful way?”

The mission trip, which is student-led with faculty support, was established in 2009 and is made possible by alumni and corporate donations-Ernst & Young, KPMG, Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and ConocoPhillips were among the companies providing financial and training support for this year’s trip.

John Rogers, Baylor Accounting alumnus and senior manager, assurance services for Ernst & Young, helped with the inception and coordination of the mission trip.

“I really struggled with my decision to enter into the world of public accounting because I knew God was calling me to do something more,” Rogers said. “This trip is important because it allows students to realize that they can actually contribute to God’s kingdom by using their accounting skills. We don’t have to quit our jobs and go to seminary to be useful to God. He can use us right where we are.”

The Baylor group spent the majority of the trip working with UCU, which was established in 1997 as the first Christian university in Uganda. Its mission is parallel to Baylor’s-placing an emphasis on the integration of faith and learning. Baylor students hosted various events at UCU and developed relationships with students in Compassion’s Leadership Development Program (LDP), which consists of graduates of Compassion’s Child Sponsorship Program who are now provided a university education at UCU.

Jane Baldwin, director of Graduate Accounting Programs, and David Hurtt, associate professor of Accounting, also served as faculty advisors on the trip. Hurtt said the Baylor and UCU student interaction was priceless.

“I think one of the most important parts of the trip was the cross-cultural exchange with the UCU students; the students were fully integrated within our team,” Hurtt said.

Crystal Feldbush, a senior Accounting major, described the trip as a mutual learning experience for the Baylor and UCU students.

“I decided to go on the trip because I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to use my business knowledge to glorify God and serve the people of Africa-little did I know how much of a blessing they would be to me and the things I would learn from them,” Feldbush said.

Baylor students hosted a four-day oil and gas conference at UCU, which featured a slew of international speakers and experts from Tullow Oil, Uganda’s Ministry of Energy, Ernst & Young, and Deloitte.

Ethics and fraud seminars were also held with guest speakers and student-led discussions. Baylor students helped UCU students with presentation skills throughout a UCU student case competition that was judged by Baylor graduate students and faculty.

“The things we take for granted at Baylor, or even in the states, such as presentation skills, writing resumes or interviewing skills, is knowledge so beneficial to the students in Uganda, and they can’t wait to learn more,” Feldbush said.

Baylor and UCU students worked in teams to help local, small business owners establish sustainable business frameworks through consulting, strategy and budgeting help.

 

“After discussions with the business owners, we were able to give them some practical implementations to further the success of the business,” Feldbush said. “To corporate America, it may seem like basic knowledge, but to the business owner in Africa, our advice was like a treasured gem.”

With half of Uganda’s population living below the international poverty line, sustainable business operations prove extremely important to the alleviation of poverty. The students on next year’s mission trip will be able to evaluate and monitor the progress of businesses that received consultations.

“Last year, we bought a sewing machine for some women who are in poverty,” MacGregor said. “We met with them again this year, and saw how their business was doing and how they are taking our advice on the strategies that we offered. That is a real impact.”

For the second consecutive year, the Baylor group held a pastors conference and distributed 300 Bibles provided by a donor. They also worked with members of the Pastors Discipleship Network, a new program created by Compassion International.

“Specifically, we worked with wives of pastors in the Discipleship Network to train them with the skills needed to establish businesses and distribute inventory online to support the churches,” MacGregor said.

Students also organized two sports camps and visited and played with children in Compassion’s program.

“I thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Compassion site and playing with the sponsored children,” Feldbush said. “What an eye-opening experience and a fun time-the kids overflow with love and radiate joy.”

MacGregor said he hopes to continue to find and create opportunities to leverage accounting students’ business skills through the mission trip. He would also like to expand outreach by establishing an alumni mission trip.

“This generation has more freedom to go out and change the world as opposed to 10 years ago, 20 years ago, etc.,” MacGregor said. “The desire to help others has always been there, but I feel like there’s more of an increased awareness now. We are trying to create a mindset of business as a mission through use of support organizations, like Compassion.”

Melissa Riehl, donor services director at Compassion International, agreed Baylor’s partnership with Compassion is significant.

“As a Baylor alum and former faculty member, it’s a dream come true to be working in partnership with Baylor,” Riehl said. “We were ultimately connected by another alum and Compassion supporter who also believed that Compassion could offer students an opportunity to both learn about global poverty and actively take part in the solution.”

By continuing the annual trip, the group is establishing an infrastructure that will benefit the people of Uganda for years to come.

“Change takes more than our two-week trip,” Hurtt said. “It’s an ongoing process.”

Baylor accounting students will also continue to benefit from the experience-transforming from students into business professionals with a global outlook.

“The trip alters your perspective on certain things,” Feldbush said. “The accounting students are given the opportunity to learn, grow, and be exposed to an entirely different culture they wouldn’t have experienced otherwise.”

If you are interested in being part of the team for the 2011 trip, contact Jason MacGregor at jason_macgregor@baylor.edu. Learn more about Compassion International’s Leadership Development Program by contacting Melissa Riehl at mriehl@us.ci.org.

 

 

Baylor Business Review, Fall 2010