Winter 2013 — Leadership in Unexpected Places
A Youth-Driven Model of Leadership — February 11, 2013
John Weiss, The Neutral Zone
Teens running their own record label? Publishing and marketing books by professional poets? Helping to drive policy changes at the State level on bullying? Raising money and providing grants to other teen initiatives? Making up the critical mass of an organization's Board of Directors? Teens? Really?
The Neutral Zone, Ann Arbor's own teen center, serves as a nationally recognized model in which youth decision-making and involvement permeate multiple levels of programming, organization, and governance. Come engage with John Weiss, Neutral Zone's Executive Director since 2005, to consider their "youth-driven" model and discuss how this approach fits into the positive deviance framework and what makes Neutral Zone a thriving organization.
John Weiss is the executive director of Neutral Zone. He oversees the operations, finances and program initiatives by leading staff, developing and implementing plans, acting as liaison to the board as well as leading the budgeting and financing process.
About the Speaker
Co-sponsored by the Nonprofit and Public Management Center
Positively Lean: A Path to Efficiency and Energization? — March 18, 2013
Wally Hopp, University of Michigan
The field of Operations Management is primarily concerned with the delivery of goods and services to customers. A ubiquitous goal is efficiency, achieved through waste reduction, often under the banner of Lean. As a system for highlighting and solving problems, Lean can be described as an approach for eliminating negative deviance in the form of undesirable behaviors. In contrast, Positive Business seeks to enhance positive deviance through capability building and nurturing of a thriving organizational culture. This distinction presents a fundamental question: are Lean and Positive Business useful complements or incompatible substitutes?
In this talk, I will offer examples from industry that illustrate conflicts between Lean and Positive Business, as well as examples that suggest possible synergies. I will also try to provide a framework for integrating the two perspectives by examining the core concepts of Lean through a Positive lens. I will then throw the matter to the wisdom of the audience for discussion and debate. My hope is that you will pick up a few tidbits about Lean and that we all (or at least I) will find some new insights into Positive Business.
About the Speaker
The Joy Factory: Creating an intentionally joyful culture of performance and value — April 22, 2013
Rich Sheridan, Menlo Innovations
NOTE: This session has a special, off-site location!!!
Menlo Innovations, located in Ann Arbor, is nationally known for its innovative work practices. In this "out of the box" Positive Links session, we will visit Menlo to experience their work culture firsthand, and tour the facility. Menlo CEO Rich Sheridan will welcome us, and participate in the tours. Menlo Innovations is located at 505 East Liberty, LL500, Ann Arbor, MI 48104, about five minutes' walk from the Diag, and just a few doors down from the Michigan Theater. We will convene there at 11:30 a.m. for remarks from Rich Sheridan, and then break up into groups for tours.
Rich Sheridan bio:
From kid programmer in 1971 to Forbes cover story in 2003, Richard Sheridan (U-M Honors Program undergraduate from LS&A with a BS in Computer and Communication Science '80, MS Computer Information Control Engineering '82) has never shied from challenges and opportunities, nor the limelight. While his focus has always been around technology, his passion is actually process, teamwork, and organizational design, with one inordinately popular goal: the business value of joy! Sheridan is an avid reader and historian, and his software design and development team at Menlo Innovations didn't invent a new culture, but copied an old one: Edison's Menlo Park New Jersey lab. Henry Ford's recreation of the Menlo Park Lab in Greenfield Village was a childhood inspiration!
Some call it agile, some call it lean . . . Sheridan and his team call it joyful. And it produces results ... business and otherwise. Five Inc. Magazine Revenue Growth Awards, invitations to the White House, speaking engagements around the nation, numerous articles and culture awards, and so much interest they are doing a tour a day of the Menlo Software Factory™. In 2012, well over 2,000 people from around the world toured Menlo just for a chance to see the joyful culture established there. Sheridan was recently enlisted by Portfolio at Penguin to write a book about all he has learned about the effect of a culture focused on Joy. Rich is writing in his "spare time."
Menlo Innovations bio:
Custom software crafted by Menlo Innovations for its clients is designed for everyday people by Menlo's High-Tech Anthropologists®, built to last by Menlo's world-class software development team, and managed by a set of professional project managers listed among the nation's 50 Most Prolific by the Project Management Institute. CEO Rich Sheridan and Menlo have won numerous awards and honors, and he and his team regularly are invited to present nationally and internationally, sharing the secrets of the Menlo Software Factory™ with all who wish to learn how to build a Learning Organization that can keep pace with today's advances in software and design.
Awards and honors for both Menlo Innovations and Rich Sheridan include:
- Inc.'s Top Small Company Workplace Winner 2011 (including cover story, June 2011)
- Inc.'s 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America (Inc. Magazine 2006)
- Inc.'s 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America (Inc. Magazine 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012)
- Ann Arbor Ambassador of the Year (2012 Ann Arbor Convention and Visitors Bureau)
- Ann Arbor Executive of The Year (2012 Ann Arbor.com's Deal of the Year)
- Fast Track Award (Washtenaw Development Council) (five-time winner)
- Top Small Workplaces - Finalist (Wall Street Journal & Winning Workplaces)
- Emerging Leader (Automation Alley)
- Cool Places to Work (Crain's)
- Alfred P. Sloan Award for Workplace Flexibility (When Work Works) (six-time winner)
- WORK/SPACES award for Creativity (Ann Arbor Business Review)
- Entrepreneur of the Year - Finalist (Ernst & Young)
- 101 Best & Brightest Companies to Work For - Elite Winner
- Leaders and Innovators (Lawrence Technical University)
- 50 Most Prolific Leaders in Project Management (Project Management Magazine)
- World's Most Democratic Organizations - WorldBlu (two-time winner)
- IAESTE (International Association Engineering Students for Technical Education) Employer of the Year
Menlo Website
Fixing the Energy Crisis in the American Workplace: Living the Twelve Natural Laws of Business — May 13, 2013
Ari Weinzweig, Zingerman's Community of Businesses
Ari Weinzweig, Co-Owner and Founding Partner of Ann Arbor's own internationally renowned Zingerman's, will touch on topics from his books, Building a Great Business and Being a Better Leader.
NOTE: Ari's books will be available for sale after his talk.
About the Speaker
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