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Appreciation

The season of giving thanks is upon us. Many of us are in preparation mode doing our final grocery shopping for Thanksgiving dinner. Others such as myself will procrastinate until the very last moment and probably make several trips to Trader Joe’s within the same hour on Wednesday evening where I will appreciate the small and efficient footprint of their stores. Either way, there will be much reflecting back on the past year to think about what we are most thankful for.

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about this specific President’s letter and what I want to share with you all on what I am thankful for. I’ll spare you my list of family, friends, coworkers, colleagues, clients, vendors, etc. There are many people that I am beyond thankful for having in my life.

There is a word that is synonymous with “thanksgiving” that we are all very familiar with that kept popping up in my head and in my daily life: appreciation. I can’t recall that word being a part of my daily vocabulary prior to joining EFBC nearly 10 years ago and joining my forum. As we all know, showing appreciation to the presenter as well as appreciating our forum is something we do at each forum meeting. Those are our parting words to each other. It is part of forum protocol.

The beautiful thing is how much the word “appreciation” has become part of my life outside of my own forum. I’ve been visiting forums throughout EFBC and each one has appreciated me for coming by. On a recent vacation with Tina and a few our closest friends, we spent hours at each of our dinners appreciating everything we possibly could. Each round followed by finger snaps. What started out as a joke turned into daily appreciations and words of encouragement on a WhatsApp group chat. Last night, my kids appreciated me, with some coaching from Tina, on my offer to take them to a Bulls game which they turned down. The showering of appreciation has me feeling warm and fuzzy all over.

I appreciate each of you and your commitment to EFBC, your forum, and in being a leader. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to serve on the board.

Finally, I’d like to appreciate Joe Hogel, a.k.a. MegaPros Joe, who recently passed away. I only had the privilege of meeting Joe on a couple of occasions, and it was a quick handshake and hello. Joe was a found member of EFBC and spent nearly three decades giving back to our community. In reading his obituary and listening to kind words spoken about him by other EFBC members it is more than apparent the impact he has had on many individuals. He will be missed.

To you and your loved ones, Happy Thanksgiving.

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We Got Wired for A Purpose!

As we head into the holiday season and say goodbye to the amazing Fall weather Chicago experienced, we want to reflect briefly on another successful program we hosted. Thursday, November 3rd, 105 guests gathered to support budding entrepreneurs at the Chicago History Museum.

From the onset, our programming goals were to raise money for DePaul University Coleman Entrepreneurship Center’s Annual Purpose Pitch Competition. Each year, the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center spotlights purpose-driven business ideas that focus on doing good rather than the bottom line. The Purpose Pitch Competition is a unique pitch session where Chicago startups pitch their greater purpose and how they plan to fulfill that purpose through their business objectives. Student and alumni groups compete to pitch their unique business goals and objectives to hopefully win dollars to fund their unique startups.

To hopefully draw in guests and appeal to a wide range of potential audience members, our program committee came together and voted on a keynote speaker from one of the worlds leading magazines on all thing’s tech, WIRED magazine. Greg Williams, UK Editor, gave a riveting talk on disruptive technology that spoke both to the students as well as our community of entrepreneurs and business owners.

Our silent auction had 37 items, from various sources, including some donations from our members. As a result of the generosity of our event attendees, we were able to successfully raise $9,000 to directly benefit the winners of the 2023 Purpose Pitch Competition. Our initial goal, as an organization was to raise $2,500 and our members went above and beyond our expectations and goals. The EFBC team and the Coleman Entrepreneurship staff really came together for a great event.

Our silent auction could not have been successful without the help of our amazing sponsors who donated. Big thanks again to all of them.

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Discover Your Gifts and Transform Your Team: The Promise of Working Genius

Building a successful team is one of the most important roles you have as a leader. And understanding your teams’ talents is a critical aspect of ensuring that success. EFBC member and Bisco, Inc. EVP Julie Suh shares her experience with Working Genius, a new tool that helps individuals understand their talents, transform their work and be a part of better functioning teams. And we all know better performing teams are indeed Genius!

How did you learn about Working Genius?

Patrick Lencioni, the founder of Working Genius, was a speaker at a conference I attended earlier this year. He talked about the concept of Working Genius, and it piqued my interest. The conference also gave out a code for a complimentary assessment which I took. That led to me listening to the Working Genius podcast which in turn led to me enrolling in their certification course that provided me with materials and access to videos to help me implement the assessment at Bisco.

Can you describe Working Genius?

Working Genius is a model to help people discover what they are naturally good at to help them thrive in the workplace and in their life in general.

The model involves six stages of work: Wonder, Invention, Discernment, Galvanizing, Enablement, and Tenacity (W.I.D.G.E.T.). The premise of Working Genius is that two of the stages bring you energy and joy (referred to as Working Genius), two drain you of energy and joy (referred to as Working Frustration) and the other two you are good at but they don’t energize you (referred to as Working Competency).

Working Genius is different from other tools as it is more about productivity than personality.

How did you implement Working Genius with your team?

I first rolled it out to our leadership team. They took the assessment individually, and we reviewed the results at an offsite leadership meeting and discussed what we did and didn’t agree with the assessments.

A team map was generated as part of the assessment to illustrate everyone’s Genius and Frustrations. That allowed us to look as a team to see if there was a stage we were lacking or if we were skewed in any specific areas. On a well-rounded team, each of the stages should be represented as a Working Genius. After a good response from the leadership team, we rolled it out to the mangers and then our marketing and sales staff.

Has knowing the Working Geniuses of your team changed how you approach work at BISCO? 

We develop new products, and a lot of our activity is focused around product development and project teams. The assessments lend themselves well to determining project teams and understanding where individuals’ tendencies lie. Depending on the stage of work we are at, knowing the team’s Geniuses helps us better understand and evaluate each other’s responses and actions as well as our own. I now also use Working Genius to pull different people into certain types of meetings to get a more balanced group.

Is taking the assessment a long process?

It’s less cumbersome than some of the other assessment tools, like DISC. It only takes about 10 minutes to complete.

What was the most beneficial aspect of conducting the Working Genius assessment with your team?

It was hugely beneficial to understand our leadership team and where our pitfalls and tendencies might be. And knowing that from time to time we might need to “borrow” people to supplement a particular Genius. For overall career development of our BISCO employees, it provides an opportunity to look at their results and see how it aligns with the work they are doing.

Working Genius can also apply outside of work. It can apply to home life, volunteering, etc. and has actually helped some members of the team understand some family dynamics.

What are your Working Geniuses?

I am Discernment (The natural gift of intuitively and instinctively evaluating ideas and situations) and Enablement (The natural gift of providing encouragement and assistance for an idea or project).

In keeping with her Enablement Genius, Julie would be happy to answer any additional questions you have about her experience with Working Genius. Email Liz at liz@myefbc.com to get in touch with Julie.