Stephen Hicks, Ph.D.

Full interview with Jeff Sandefer published

Entrepreneurship and MBA Education

My full interview with entrepreneur Jeff Sandefer is now available online at CEE’s site.

From the introduction: “Jeff Sandefer is a founder of the Acton School of Business, an innovative MBA program in Austin, Texas focusing on entrepreneurship. Sandefer received his MBA degree from Harvard University before launching five successful companies in several industries, most notably in energy. He translated that business experience into becoming an award-winning professor at the University of Texas, where he was named by BusinessWeek as one of the top entrepreneurship professors in the United States.”

I met with Mr. Sandefer in Austin, Texas to discuss his meteoric entrepreneurial career in oil and gas and his innovative Acton MBA program. This full version of the interview also includes discussion of the Acton Academy, an elementary school run by Laura Sandefer.

The next issue of Kaizen will feature an extended interview with Brazilian entrepreneurs William and Wilson Ling.

More Kaizen interviews with leading entrepreneurs are at my site here or CEE’s site.

John Allison to become Cato’s president

According to this report in the Washington Times, Edward Crane is stepping down and John Allison is stepping in at the Cato Institute.

Here is my extended interview with John Allison for Kaizen, in which we discuss his education, career at BB&T, philosophy of management, and views on the value of money.

Kaizen 20 — the Jay Lapeyre interview

Entrepreneurial Resilience in New Orleans

Hurricanes, oil spills, and Louisiana politics — the latest issue of Kaizen features my interview with entrepreneur Jay Lapeyre, CEO of The Laitram Corporation.

I met with Lapeyre in New Orleans to discuss natural disasters and corrupt politics, leadership, and the state of American manufacturing in our global economy.

Also featured in this issue of Kaizen [pdf] are student essay contest winners Amina Seitahunova, Amanda Nicosia, and Danielle Taylor, and guest speakers Alexei Marcoux and Phyllis Johnson.

Print copies of Kaizen are in the mail to CEE’s supporters and are available at Rockford College.

More Kaizen interviews with leading entrepreneurs are at my site here or CEE’s site.

Full interview with fashion-design entrepreneur Chan Luu

My full interview with Chan Luu is now posted at the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship’s site.

Chan Luu’s designs have been worn by many celebrities, including Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga, Kate Hudson, Reese Witherspoon, Sandra Bullock, Janet Jackson, and Jennifer Aniston. Much of the interview was published last month in Kaizen. I met with Luu in Los Angeles to discuss growing up in Vietnam, the relevance of business education to entrepreneurial success, and the complexities of doing business in the fast-changing world of celebrities and fashion.

More Kaizen interviews with leading entrepreneurs are at my site here or CEE’s site.

Steve Mariotti on teaching capitalism in the Soviet Union

In a recent Huffington Post piece entitled “Teaching Capitalism in the Last Days of the USSR,” Steve Mariotti discusses his experience teaching business and capitalism to young people during the final days of the Soviet Union. Fascinating.

I interviewed Mariotti for Kaizen on his excellent Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). Before founding NFTE, Mariotti was a successful entrepreneur and a teacher in some of New York’s worst schools. Because of his great successes and innovative methods, Mariotti was named New York State’s Teacher of the Year in 1988. Great guy.

Essay contest flyers for Spring 2011

The Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship is sponsoring an essay contest for Rockford College students enrolled this semester in Introduction to Philosophy (PHIL 103) and Business and Economic Ethics (PHIL 325).

Here are links are to the contest flyers:

Introduction to Philosophy topic: What is independence, and is it a good thing? [pdf]

Business and Economic Ethics topic: “What essential character traits and business skills lead individuals and organizations to succeed?” Reflections on Forbes Greatest Business Stories of All Time, Atlas Shrugged, and Kaizen interviews with successful entrepreneurs [pdf]

The winners will receive cash prizes and be featured in upcoming issues of Kaizen.

Eduardo Marty — the full Kaizen interview

My full interview with Eduardo Marty, founder of Junior Achievement Argentina, is now posted at the CEE site. A lengthy excerpt was published in Kaizen last month.

A key quotation: “What else is important is curiosity. And to take risks. When you see a person of curiosity, asking questions, taking a risk—but persevering and feeling inside that the critics cannot hurt him too much—when you see that, I think that you will see a successful man.”

And about his experiences teaching entrepreneurship in Cuba: “I worked five years in Cuba. They have my pictures in the window of the immigration office in Cuba. I’m not allowed to get in anymore. Five of my JA professors in Cuba went in prison. They were released after one day, but they were taken by the police and kicked out because they were teaching entrepreneurship in Cuba.”

Kaizen 13 — The Robert Bradley interview

The latest issue of Kaizen [pdf] features my interview with Robert L. Bradley, founder of the Institute for Energy Research. Dr. Bradley was a speechwriter and researcher for Ken Lay, the late CEO of the late Enron. The theme of the interview is Enron and Political Entrepreneurship: we explore Dr. Bradley’s insider perspective on the distinction between market and political entrepreneurship, Enron’s political business strategy, and the key decisions and events that led to Enron’s downfall.

Also featured in Kaizen are the spring semester’s student essay contest winners — Brandon McNames and Matthew Weber — a report on guest speaker Jeffrey Orduno, and other news from the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship.

My full interview with Dr. Bradley will be posted at the CEE site next month.

If you would like to receive a complimentary issue of the print version of Kaizen, please email your name and postal address to CEE [at] Rockford [dot] edu.

More Kaizen interviews with leading entrepreneurs are at my site here or CEE’s site here.