Current News

Fosness, S. (2022, April 12). Mitchell entrepreneur determined to bring growth, inspire business leaders with leadership seminar. Retrieved April 12, 2022, from https://www.mitchellrepublic.com/news/local/mitchell-entrepreneur-determined-to-bring-growth-inspire-business-leaders-with-leadership-seminar On April 14th, 2022, Jordan Hanson is holding a session to help entrepreneurs in Mitchell, South Dakota. While this isn't too special, what is special is that South Dakota has historically been a city that is "stagnating" in it's business growth, especially in recent years. Mitchell's population has only grown 3% compared to the US average of 7% since 2010, something that also helps point to the slow growth of the city.

The lack of successful businesses in Mitchell is the primary motivation for Jordan to come forward and hold this session. Jordon is in real estate, and has been noticing business leaders want to help support their community but don't know how to approach it. He believes that helping teach entrepreneurs will help attract more people and more businesses to Mitchell.

This news article connects to our course in a number of ways. First is the idea that people are motivated by what they have around them (extrinsic motivations). Mitchell has two colleges, but despite this, the vast majority of students move away from the city after graduation. This is because the city lacks extrinsic motivators; without many businesses staying in the area, there is nothing to do and people move away. Because people move away, there are less businesses, and the process repeats.

One of the ways this seminar attempts to change this is by imparting wisdom onto businesses just starting out or in the process of growning. As we learned in this course, leadership isn't always about micro-managing employees (except if the business requires it, like in the army, where is is referred to as the Autocratic leadership style), but rather about establishing shared company culture and goals. Existing businesses and entrepreneurs can help by guiding and leading businesses that are not yet established.

Another way this news article connects to our course is by showing that there are many different leadership styles. Rather than a single person presenting, there are 3 speakers at the seminar. Each has a different industry and different type of company that they work for. This can help show new entrepreneurs that different leadership styles are required in different situations, something that we learned in this course.

Finally, this news article shows social responsibility. The leaders presenting at the seminar feel that they have a responsibility to their community and to other businesses to help them grow and prosper. In return, having more successful businesses attracts more customers to the city, which benefits businesses and the city's economy.

Kempster, S. (2022, March 31). Corporate sanctions against Russia indicate a new level of social responsibility. Retrieved April 12, 2022, from https://theconversation.com/corporate-sanctions-against-russia-indicate-a-new-level-of-social-responsibility-179421 In the midst of Russia's war against Ukraine, businesses such as McDonald's, Starbucks, IKEA, and Apple have stopped operating in Russia. While this seems like a purely altruistic move, Steve Kempster talks about how it may also benefit the businesses themselves in ways not immediately apparent. Steve Kempter is a Professor of Leadership at Lancaster University, and the lead researcher on a study designed to explore whether social responsibility is beneficial for the company as well as society.

This study and news article connects well to our course. In the last unit of our course, we learned about social responsibility and how businesses have a responsibility to society to operate responsibly. This includes fair wages, working conditions, and programs designed to support vulnerable people, groups, or things in society.

The news article explores how having social responsibility can benefit businesses in the long run. The author refers to this as "enlightened self-interest" and reflects upon the fact that businesses can increase their profit and revenue in the long run by helping to maintain the systems around them that contribute to their income. The author also considers the fact that some of the larger businesses have greater revenue than many countries, further pointing towards the fact that the actions of large businesses can have an impact on society as a whole.

Another aspect of social responsibility is consumer's willingness to buy from businesses. A business is much more likely to have consumers choose them over a competitor if they contribute to society and are publically seen doing so; we touched on a similar idea in class when we discussed whether a theoretical investor was more likely to invest in a sustainable business or one that is more profitable but less socially responsible.

One final aspect of social responsibility is the ability to contribute to society. A business is fundamentally made up of it's people, and those people have moral compasses. Knowing that their employer is being socially responsible can help with employee retention as well as hiring, since moral is generally higher at businesses that are more socially responsible.