Co-founders, HU JD/MBA Alum Omar Hashmi and Darius Graham Esq., showcased District Innovation's Social Entrepreneurs

Darius Graham and HU JD/MBA Alum Omar Hashmi c/o'09 are the co-founders of the DC Social Innovation Project. The DC Social Innovation Project identifies and invests in creative new ideas that tackle pressing social issues in Washington, DC. Through two programs, DCSIP provides funding and resources to help individuals and community groups launch projects and social ventures in order to improve their communities. The Community Lab grants program provides $3,000 grants to small or early-stage non-profits in DC to launch innovative new programs. The Bright Idea Challenge, enlists 18-35 year olds in the DC area to propose creative social ventures that address a local issue, and the best idea receives up to $10,000 in funding and other pro bono services to help them launch their venture.

On Tuesday November 29, 2011,the Social Innovation Project presented District Innovation: A Showcase of Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation in DC. The District Innovation event showcased the recipients of their Community Lab micro-grants program and the finalists of the Bright Idea Challenge venture competition.

Community Micro-grants Program Recipients:
Dreaming Out Loud, recently launched Aya Community Markets to provide fresh, healthy food and economic opportunities to residents of Ward 7
Moms on the Move, a healthy living workshop series for single mothers in Anacostia
I Saw!, pioneering experiental learning programs that puts students in the role of historians to teach them about history
Press Pass Mentors, pairing professional journalists with low-income high school juniors and seniors to help them become great writers, equipping students with the communication skills necessary to succeed in college and beyond

The Bright Idea Challenge Venture Competition 14 Finalists:
Anacostia Produce Auction, Co-op for DC,Dance 4 Peace, Everybody Eats, Food for Life, Grey DC, Manna, Re-Nuble, Splash Entertainment, Stock, Three Part Harmony Farm, and Young Doctors Project of Southeast

Contribute, Partner or Volunteer.
Make a tax-deductible contribution to the DC Social Innovation Project. Help identify and invest in creative, new ideas tackling pressing social issues in DC. Partner with the DC Social Innovation Project. Volunteer your skills to improve the community? Learn more about the DC Social Innovation Project by info@dcsocialinnovation.org.

Follow Twitter: @dcsocialinnov

The Founders:
Darius Graham, Co-founder
Darius received a B.A. summa cum laude from Florida A&M University and a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley - School of Law. Prior to working for DCSIP, Darius was an associate in the corporate restructuring practice group at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. See Board of Directors

Omar Hashmi, Co-founder
Omar received a B.S. from California State University, Fresno and a J.D./M.B.A. from Howard University. Omar is currently an associate in the corporate practice group at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. See Board of Directors

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Source: dcsocialinnovation.org

Steve Jobs explains the Rules of Success

During the second day of the 2011 National Black MBA Conference and Expo in Atlanta, Steve Jobs lost his battle with pancreatic cancer. In his many quotes pondering death and the art of innovation and creativity, he always captured the very essence of a purpose driven life. Those traites have made him a heroic figure, but his determination, strategic business acumen and creativity has immortilized him to Rock Star status. The following are two quotes from him published in Fortune magazine.

“We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it.” – Fortune

“In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. It’s interior decorating. It’s the fabric of the curtains of the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a human-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service.” – Fortune

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I have watched Steve Jobs 2005 Stanford commencement speech many times over the years. Like Oprah's famous 2007 Howard University commencement speech, it inspires me, and after a some sulking, gives me comfort when I've fallen flat on my face. The Bloomberg Television Game Changers: Steve Jobs documentary, takes you on the the journey of the evolution of a legend. That legend died today. The following captures his journey:







When Jobs was ousted from Apple, he struggled, and according to Venture Capitalist, Michael Mortz, was faced with a period full of adversity. Michael said "When people come back from adverstity, if they can return from adversity, they come back harder, sharper, and far more geared for the battle." Frankly, Steve Jobs came back with a host of lessons learned which he applied to his next efforts that transformed the way way we communicate. His early death has soltified his eternal iconic status. As such, he is a hero to some, case study to others and Rock Star to most. Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)will forever be revered as one of the change agents of the 21st century.
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Commentary is the opinion of Stacie Rowell HUMBA c/o '98.
Source: Videos - Steve Jobs documentary aired on bloombergTV on 10/14/10.(posted on Computertwit's Youtube's channel)

Minnesota Corporations are looking for you at the 2011 National Black MBA Conference

Minnesota Boulevard companies share advice to National Black MBA Conference Attendees that are interested in their companies.

The list of Minnesota Companies include: Ameriprise, General Mills, Target, SuperValu, Schwans, and UnitedHealth Group.

Below is a little advice from a few companies brought to you by Minnesota Boulevard.



Source: MNBLD

How to Become an Investor Magnet

Martin Soorjoo from Investor Pitch Clinic, shares his thoughts on how to become an investor magnet. He wrote the following:

This is the true story of ‘Ryan’ (not his real name). A serial entrepreneur with no qualifications and a very limited understanding of financials or launching a startup. Ryan, however, is an entrepreneur with a deep understanding of people, who consistently and easily raises hundreds of thousands of dollars from very savvy, experienced investors.

I first came across Ryan six years ago when he approached me to help him create some pitch materials. He explained that he had persuaded 2 investors (both bankers) to invest $500K in his IDEA (no prototype, company or team) but that one of the investors had asked to see details of his business model and financial projections.
Initially, I was sceptical as to whether the potential investors had, in fact, actually committed or had simply expressed an interest in learning more about Ryan’s idea.

Sensing my scepticism, Ryan called one of the bankers on his cell phone, explained I was helping him put together the information that had been requested and asked him to confirm to me that he was investing. Sure enough, banker X confirmed that both he and banker Y were investing but would appreciate understanding a bit more detail. About a month later, Ryan received the investment.

I subsequently helped Ryan raise nearly 2 million dollars over the next two years, though it’s fair to say that my role seemed limited and that all I was doing was effectively confirming, in writing, deals that Ryan had already successfully pitched and negotiated.

Over time, through observation and discussion, I came to understand that although Ryan is a very disorganized, creative entrepreneur, he does use a highly effective ‘system’ for securing investors. This is how Ryan does it.

1. Research – Ryan goes out of his way to identify potential angel investors. Typically these are people who have some capital and are involved in business or finance. Ryan’s research method is real world as opposed to virtual. He is a ‘social butterfly’ continually making new connections and expressing a deep interest in these people and their friends. Slowly but surely, Ryan builds up a picture of those people who are likely to be potential investors.

2. Target Early – Once Ryan identifies his prey (potential investors), he puts himself into situations where he will meet them. This can be anything from the opening of an art gallery to a mutual acquaintances party. Ryan is very determined and resourceful and always seems to find a way to cross the path of his targets.
Ryan doesn’t wait until he is desperate funding. He describes himself as being in ‘perpetual funding mode’. By lining investors up in advance, he effectively ensures that he is able to access investment as and when he needs it.

3. Seduce – Applying the same principles that most of us use to persuade someone to come on a date, Ryan presents his best side to his target. In addition to being upbeat, witty and charming, Ryan expresses deep interest in the potential investor. He makes the encounter about them and makes every effort to ensure they enjoy the experience of meeting him. Far better than pitching an investor at a urinal!
Though Ryan has the same worries and stresses that every entrepreneur does, he never reveals these to his target. He also never talks about his latest venture unless specifically asked. Social protocol means that he is always asked about what he does.

4. Convey Success – Ryan is a master at making dry toast sound mouth- watering. When asked what he does by his targets, he always makes it sound as though he is already successful. While being careful never to mislead, Ryan focuses on the positive and any successes that he has already achieved as well as others who are interested in his venture. Even when talking of potential challenges, Ryan focuses on the solutions.

5. Engage – Having already worked out what makes his potential investor tick, Ryan focuses on those points that are most likely to appeal to them. He always asks for their opinion and lets them know he values it. Importantly, however, Ryan never mentions that he is looking for investment unless pressed by his target.

6. Enchant – In his latest book ‘Enchantment’ Guy Kawasaki discusses the importance of enchantment to business success. Ryan understands this principle well and makes his ‘investor encounters’ magical, mesmerising experiences using the power of story and likeability, while focussing on how his venture will make a difference to the lives of others. If you want to enchant others, I strongly recommend you read Guy’s book.

7. Hook and Leave – Though somewhat counter intuitive, Ryan usually leaves the encounter at the point he is certain his target’s interest is at its high point. This seems to be a variation on ‘playing hard to get’ which tends to have the desired effect with the target making contact a few days later with a request that Ryan let them invest.

Conclusion
Ryan’s way may not be for every entrepreneur. But Ryan has proved time and time again that it works. Even during today’s tough economic climate. Many of the techniques and strategies Ryan’s uses are the very same advocated by Angels and VC’s in their blog posts and elsewhere.

At the end of the day, Ryan is focussing on building relationships. He never misleads anyone but does use his powers of persuasion to maximum effect. People and relationships are the most critical factors in investment. This is why investors consistently say that the team is the most important factor in a deal. It is also why when talking about an investment, investors will often start out by saying that the founder is a great person with lots of integrity.

Source: Investor Pitch Clinic

Secret codes for ‘Exceeding Expectations’ revealed

This article was taken directly from the software mind mapping expert project manager Babou's blog Leadership Champs. Very effective articulation of organizational behavior. However, Babou forgot the most important final phase of the strategy. Document, Quantify, Present and Evangelize your contributions.

This article explains about factors that lead to exceeding expectation in your activities (either personal or professional). This puts your life in a traffic free express way! After understanding the ‘secret codes’ for exceeding expectation & once you started implementing them then no one can stop your growth by any means!

cloud catching

Whatever be your level in your organization, every time when you hear the word “Exceed expectations” from your manager, do you think it is a kind of cloud catching exercise for you? This feeling will be there when you have confusion on what really needs to be done to exceed expectation.

Just by hearing the term “Exceeding Expectations”, you get the general meaning that “over and above what is expected”. Don’t go beyond this simplest & straight forward meaning. If you start thinking too much about the term, you end up in doing ‘tread mill’ i.e. running in the same place & not going anywhere.

First and foremost step for anyone to exceed the expectation is to know what is expected. Expectations changes from time to time based on performed activities & experience. Expectation level can go down or go up from time to time.

Expected behavior is the grey area which is revealed only during performance review session. This makes the entire process of achieving exceed expectation harder.

When a manager sets expectations it is based on team member’s experience, skill and knowledge in overall work or in a particular task.

When manager decides goals, he documents and communicates only the expected outcome. The expected behavior is not explicitly discussed with team member. During performance review discussions, tug of war happens over the expected behavior as it is mostly subjective in nature.

Manager & team member need to analyze alignment of expectations with the high-level project goals.

Note: Though references in the below text talks about interactions between a team member and a manager, the term ‘expectation’ is applicable to all & not specific to one particular activity, hence you can apply these ideas to any activity. Also, degree of individuals’ skill varies from one person to another & this text doesn’t talk about how they can improve these skills as it is in an individual’s hand.

Exceeding Expectations

Three main factors that decides ‘exceeding expectations’ for an employee (either it is a team member or manager) are – Proactive, Effective, Creating visibility. All three are interlinked as one helps the other and they share certain common elements.

Being proactive is the basic behavior expected on every assigned activity. In many ways you can exhibit this factor –

a) From childhood, we are trained in such a way that we simply wait for instructions. This is real enemy for exceeding expectation. Even you know how to do, if you wait for your manager to tell then it will not bring you up above the expectation level. You need to start performing activities without prompting or at least you can inform your manager that you are doing it.

b) You need to start assuming responsibility in the absence of someone (either manager or peer)

c) As Einstein said “one cannot solve the problems at the same level at which it was created”. You always need to understand the big picture which helps in identifying issues before hand.

d) You need to avoid mistakes either by following existing standards/processes set in the project or by creating your own standards/processes. This gives an excellent way to project you as a disciplined person.

e) Whenever you encounter with a problem, you should not stop at that point and stare at your manager with blank face. You need to move from problem oriented mindset to solution oriented mindset, in that way you can identify & provide possible solutions or workarounds for the situation.

Effectiveness is another important factor that makes you to exceed the set expectations. You can bring effectiveness mainly through practice & disciplined approaches. Here are few areas where effectiveness gives more weightage to expectations

a) In different decision-making scenarios – it can be a decision-making for general solution approach or a strategic decision-making or in an ambiguous/pressure situation. Usually work will be smooth and we encounter ambiguous or pressure situations once in a while, but behaviors shown in those situations has long-lasting effect in the organization history.

b) Effectiveness in activity management has greater value in deciding where you stand in the expectation scale. Following a procedural way in estimating time required, balancing personal & professional life, planning and organizing activities will bring you up in the scale.

c) Communication is integral part of whole expectation cycle from setting it till fulfillment. Effective communication happens when you understand things to be done in one (or few) round of explanation.

d) Others will look at you if you start implementing action items (sometimes it is corrective actions too) as many lacks the skill of following up the action items. In this way you can make yourself stand out in the crowd.

e) Self awareness – Though I mentioned it as last point, but this is having equal credit in securing high score in expectation levels. The one who understood his strengths and weaknesses can perform activities effectively. You help others in your strong areas & get help from others in the weak areas. In this way, you will complete the job within given timelines.

Creating visibility is the third factor for exceeding expectation.

a) Visibility creation is in your hands & it is not in the size of activity that you are performing. You can make everyone look at you the way you do it.

b) You can gain confidence of your higher officials by showcasing goodness in the work you performed & by the way you can also grab new opportunities with that.

c) Again, effective communication decides the level of visibility that you are creating. You need to use every given opportunity as visibility creation test & use your full potential in doing that.

d) Whenever you are included in a discussion or in performing an activity, everyone around you needs to feel value addition you make to that discussion/activity.

e) Having a relationship is not just enough; you need to have a positive relationship that enables you to influence people positively. With positive relationship, your acceptance will be widespread & people will help you without ego or grudge.

*The Forgotten Forth Factor: Document, Quantify, Present and Evangelize your contributions.

Being the "go to guy" who is dependable for getting things done, does not always result in career growth without the forth factor elements.

a) Document contributions: 1. Contribute to company blogs. 2. After every meetings, develop reputation to being the first to send summary of meeting with status, findings, action items and next steps with names to all the meeting participants. Notate sharepoint whenever possible.

b) Quantify contributions: Keep track of your successes, quantify those successes in measurable contribution units.

c) Present contributions: Present your successes by formally present new ideas and recommendations when ever possible, and include your past performance, the measurable contribution units, in the pitch to management and all hands meeting.

d) Evangelize your contributions: Brand your performance and contributions to the organization by discussing your ideas and contributions as one of your passions. If it is your passion, it is expected that you will happily continuously discuss your ideas and contributions; that ultimately results in a reputation. A reputation for exceeding expectation can bring leverage and lift in ones career path.

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Source: Leadership Champs

Whose Watching The Banks?

Fiscal Times wrote; Banks are complicated, and especially in this age of too-big-to-fail, they often house a number of thorny practices under one roof – practices that, as we learned the hard way in the fall of 2008, can be difficult to regulate. When the Dodd-Frank Act was passed a year ago, lawmakers and citizens hoped it would usher in a more robust and effective system of oversight. The law created several new regulatory agencies to deal with the challenges of keeping the most complex financial industry in the world in check. These intricately named agencies include the Financial Stability Oversight Council and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and join a lineup that already boasts the Office of Thrift Supervision and Bureau of Competition.The convoluted system was made more so, and today it can be nearly impossible to keep track of who exactly is overseeing what. To help decode this web of oversight, The Fiscal Times created this infographic, “Who’s Watching the Banks,” to illustrate which agencies – and which agencies within agencies – keep an eye on which aspects of the financial industry.

Do you know whose watching the banks? Do you think there is enough oversight, or is further regulations needed?
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Source: The Fiscal Times

How Great Leaders Inspire Action through the art of "Why"

Simon Sinek focuses on the art of knowing "Why". Those who know the answer to WHY in history have been the most effective leaders.

All organizations and careers function on 3 levels:
1. What you do - purpose, cause or belief is ones driving motivation for action.
2. How you do it - ones specific action one takes to achieve "Why".
3. and Why you do it - the tangle ways in which one brings "Why" to life.

The problem is, most don’t even know that "Why" exists. Although, Simon's Martin Luther King root cause analysis was not completely correct, he got the ideas of "Why" correct.


Simon O. Sinek is a thought leader and author best known for developing "The Golden Circle" and popularizing the concept of Why. He works with a variety of leaders and organizations including military, government, corporations, entrepreneurs and charitable organizations. Recognized as an expert in Air Force culture, he joined the RAND Corporation in 2010 as an adjunct staff member, where he advises on matters of military innovation and planning. His first TEDx Talk, "How Great Leaders Inspire Action," is the 19th most viewed video on TED.com. His book on the same subject, "Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action," (2009) delves into a naturally occurring pattern, grounded in the "biology of human decision-making", that explains why we are inspired by some people, leaders, messages and organizations over others.
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Source: 2009 Tedx Talks on Leadership