Cover Story
The Hamburger file
Smart Business Chicago | January 2008
Born: Detroit
Education: Bachelor’s and master’s degrees, University of Michigan, industrial engineering; MBA, Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration
First job: Working in a toilet paper factory at Procter & Gamble as a manufacturing
engineer in Green Bay, Wis.
Whom do you admire most in business and why?
I guess I owe it to Jack Welch, since I’ve cited him so many times and recommend
his book called ‘Winning,’ and I think it’s a good thing for managers to read. He keeps
the focus on winning. We’re just trying to win, we’re not trying to be political, we
don’t have an agenda other than trying to win, and that means achieving our full
potential, our mission, and that means fulfilling our purpose of helping our students
achieve their educational and career goals. If we do that, then we’re winning.
What is the best business advice you’ve ever received?
First who, then what Jim Collins, the author of ‘Good to Great’ and other things.
Get the right people on the team on the bus even before you figure out where to drive
the bus because if you have a great team, you’ll figure out where to drive the bus. And
a lot of people go the other way; it’s the people that really help you set the strategy.