This week, in partnership with the University of the Aftermarket, we offer you an inside look at the Leadership 2.0 experience thanks to participants in this year’s session. Leadership 2.0 is a two-week, residential aftermarket-focused education program hosted by The University of the Aftermarket at Northwood University. The program is designed to develop the leadership and business skills of the next generation of visionary industry professionals. In today’s blog, we hear from Brian Burkett, a territory sales manager at AutoWares.
Monday morning of Leadership 2.0 began with the familiar sounds of storytelling from the night before and project discussions as everyone settled into their seats to kick off the day. The sense of friendship and mutual admiration within the group was apparent as the class began with re-introductions. As classmates shared their professional and personal recaps from the past six months, the atmosphere had a true feeling of warmth and genuine interest.
We started with a lecture from Dr. John Passante, addressing the importance of mentoring and our views on the subject. A lengthy discussion about the effects of technology on personal interaction spurred great participation from the class. Passant has always done a fantastic job of inviting interaction throughout the presentation, providing the class with a disarming feeling of having conversation, rather than a dry speech.
Breaking for lunch, it was incredible to watch the interaction of my fellow classmates, all specialists in their field multitasking away. The air filled to the brim with laughter, business and project talk, all the while answering emails and returning calls.
The afternoon began back in the classroom with Dr. Frank Morgan explaining to us the importance of team building. It was a point that he reinforced to the class with an activity conducted in our presentation groups. The activity found our teams lost in the arctic, miles from civilization, with a few survival items recovered from our wrecked airplane. Ranking the importance of these items as individuals, and then as a group, showed very dramatically that the decisions made by the group were much better than those made individually.
With the first day winding down, the groups found themselves using the time before dinner as an opportunity to begin final preparations for their team presentations, which occur on Thursday. With everyone working hard, it was easy to see a little competitive spirit arising from the class. Thursday’s team presentations are sure not to disappoint!
