MBOC
Remember the days when you could just pick up the phone, ask for something, and get it without all the red tape? Those days seem long gone… Last week, I needed a favor. Actually, the Maryland Business Opportunity Center (MBOC) needed the favor. We found ourselves locked out of the office, where we were scheduled to meet for our entrepreneurial cohort. As I sat in the parking lot, with a dozen people who had driven from all over the state for this program, I looked at Google maps to see if we could find another place to meet…Chik Fil A…Cracker Barrel…G&M Restaurant… That’s when I saw it. The Maritime Conference Center! I had been there for a graduate school retreat, and later, for a conference. I knew this gem in our community had rooms that could accommodate us. But calling out of the blue, with no advance warning….at 5:00pm on a Monday? The likelihood of success was super low! They politely took my call, and Christopher Sikora, an executive there, called me back. He could have easily said, “No,” and no one would’ve blinked. It was a big ask.He was also headed out the door for the day. I explained our situation, and Chris said YES. No contract, no heads-up, no compensation! He just wanted to help. A caravan of cars drove the mile to get there, and waiting for us in the lobby was Chris!! Truly above and beyond 🏆 We started our meeting a half hour late, but this meeting went on to inspire amazing new connections and ideas for the entrepreneurs in that room. What Chris showed us is that sometimes it’s the unexpected challenges that bring out the best in us. Entrepreneurs solve problems, but leaders like Chris remind us that a simple act of kindness can change the entire course of a day. If you’re ever in need of a space that goes beyond the ordinary, give Chris and the Maritime Conference Center a call. They not only offer top-notch facilities but also extraordinary service! hashtag#leadership hashtag#aboveandbeyond hashtag#entrepreneurship
Just Move Forward
Sometimes we don’t need a New Year’s resolution, we need to just move forward. On this day three years ago, I was launching a new chapter in my career. Which didn’t work out. I loved public service and wanted to serve again. Two days before I announced my run for office, my teen son was taken to the emergency room with a sports injury in Massachusetts. The day before I announced, my teen daughter was placed in precautionary quarantine for Covid exposure, in Massachusetts. A week after I announced, my son was placed in quarantine with Covid. Two weeks after I announced, my daughter contracted Covid and I had to drive eleven hours (remember when you couldn’t get on a plane) in a massive snowstorm to get her. The waning days of the pandemic were blowing up my campaign – from seven hours away. But it was a family emergency that took me out of the game entirely. I was crushed, but I had to walk away. It was a full year before things started to get back to normal. Just as I was catching my breath, my mother died, which wouldn’t have been a big deal because we had been estranged most of my life… But my special needs sister, Leslie, came to live with me. And she needed a level of care beyond what I could’ve imagined. I know many of you have seen your own challenges over the last few years. Just know I see you. As you’ve shared your mishaps and detours, I have felt your pain. Instead of a New Year’s resolution, I’m going to encourage you to Find Your Forward! Dust yourself off, take a deep breath, and try again! hashtag#FindYourForward hashtag#OneStepAtATime hashtag#Resilience
AXAL
I bet you never thought I’d be asking this question but here goes… Does anyone in LinkedIn need to update their Java legacy system? One of the coolest things I get to do is work with brilliant entrepreneurs. They invent things I can only dream of. And I get to help them turn their ideas into companies. I recently met Samai and Nand, two UMD students who figured out how to use AI to update legacy systems stuck in Cobol and Java. When I was County Executive, we were paying serious money for Cobol programmers, a software language that is 50+ years old. This, by the way, means many of the programmers are retiring! When we think about the next generation of software and solutions, we need to be listening to (wait for it)…the next generation! At nineteen and twenty, these guys have already developed a prototype and been accepted into Y Combinator, the premier path to success for any entrepreneur. They are looking for their first design partner to co-develop their solution for legacy Java installations. If you’re one of those executives who is ready to move into the future, reach out to them or me. They are interviewing for a partner starting next week! hashtag#LegacySystems hashtag#DigitalTransformation hashtag#Entrepreneurship
Holiday Lights
Adventures with Leslie Leslie continues to live her best life! In the last few weeks, she visited the Maryland Holiday Light Spectacular with her roommates and is enjoying holiday festivities with family and friends. Her biggest focus, however…the Baltimore Ravens. A few weeks ago, she said, “Laura, the Ravens aren’t doing too good. I don’t follow football quite as closely so I just listened. “Justin Tucker needs to stay on his kicking.” I’m starting to think he’s her favorite. And today she proudly said, “the Ravens will be in the payoffs.” I often wonder how much people like Leslie really understand…her IQ is 59…but I think it’s more than we realize. I was able to combine her two favorite things in one gift: Wockenfuss, a Baltimore candy tradition, makes a Ravens-colored nonpareil. Her favorite candy and favorite team in one gift! It’s not about the price, it’s about the connection. I am wishing every one of you a peaceful and joyful time with family and friends. #AdventuresWithLeslie hashtag#UnlikelyFootballExpert hashtag#RavensPlayoffs
I Can’t Work for a Woman
“I can’t work for a woman.” I’m not sure he meant for it to come out, although he had been dropping hints for awhile, but those were the words said (yelled) to me by a company founder. This founder wanted me to raise the money necessary to build the company. He also needed and wanted to get a paycheck. It had been three+ years of no funding, and they were looking at shutting down. I was the only one willing to take the risk necessary to make it happen. This happened months into working with this company, with no payment or salary. It was a start-up and signing on had been a huge risk. You’ve all heard me say how important it is to show up. Sometimes you have to know when to walk away. I calmly pushed my chair back from the conference room table, picked up my things, and walked out the door. Know your value. Know what you bring. Trust yourself to make the right decision. It didn’t take long for the call to come in, asking me to return. And I did…with some ground rules. It’s about showing up, and knowing when to walk away…but also about following through. The company was a huge success. I can’t say working with the founder was ever easy …but I can tell you that standing my ground, and the support of the other co-founder, made it possible to walk back into the office. Today, I am starting a new venture. I look forward to sharing the details soon! hashtag#leadership hashtag#resilience hashtag#showup hashtag#failure
The First Step Towards Change
The first step toward change is to own it. I had a conversation with my son, as he prepares to leave for college, about how he would like to do certain things differently this year. He brought it up so we went there. He’s often disorganized and keeping track of his work can be challenging…or at least it was in high school. I have the same challenges. In my early career, I was often encouraged to interview for an administrative assistant (previously known as secretary) job. It would take too long to count how many times…without a college degree…I was sent in this direction. The thought of creating a filing system…whew! I would’ve been terrible at it. Chatting it up on 800 number calls in a customer service center was more my jam. Learning to organize has been a lifelong endeavor for me, and I’ve learned to love it! So how did I change my thinking about this thing I wanted to change? 1. Own it – accept that this isn’t a strength 2. Learn from it – make an honest assessment of what is challenging about it 3. Change it – develop and follow a new routine I started with a book called something like 30 Days to Getting Organized, and I’ve never looked back. I can now go “Marie Kondo” or “Home Edit” on any room or filing system that crosses my path. For the new school year, my son and I decided to work together on a plan that has accountability built in. Own. Learn. Change. He’s working on a system but your thoughts on any other ideas are welcome too!! #change #newbeginnings #organization
Bet On Yourself
#BetOnYourself. For me, this meant cashing in my savings (including my 401k) to pay my bills, and paying my mortgage on a credit card…so that I could run a start-up that had more debt than cash. Building a company requires big-time risk. The decision I made to take this risk happened for a few key reasons: 1. I know what I have to offer – I believe in my ability and if I say I’m going to do something, I’ll get it done. 2. The path to leadership is not an equal opportunity endeavor – I was unlikely to be promoted into leadership because I didn’t check the typical boxes. 3. I trusted myself to know this was a good idea – many years of struggle helped me hone my instinct for survival, which is the underpinning of success. 4. One of the founders was willing to do “whatever it takes” – we didn’t always agree, but we were in agreement on the commitment necessary to succeed. There were challenges. One of the founders flat-out said he would not work for a woman. Big stumbling block. Financial decisions were made before I arrived that put us in debt right out of the gate. One of the founders (same one) didn’t understand the risk of protecting the IP and a presentation he did led to creating an unnecessary competitor. My unconventional background was viewed as a liability in the traditional business setting when, in fact, it was an asset. Living out of my car, struggling to buy food and pay rent, and surviving unspeakable challenges prepared me to succeed as an entrepreneur. No safety net = high level of motivation. This is me presenting my company to the Capital Investors, a who’s who of the early internet boom. This was in the book The Dinner Club by Shannon Henry Kleiber. hashtag#entrepreneur hashtag#entrepreneurship hashtag#leadership hashtag#LinkedIn
Slide Deck Masterclass
Every week, I mentor students and faculty at University of Maryland who want to be entrepreneurs. I’ve probably done hundreds of slide deck reviews in my career…and I have opinions. Here are a few (add an extra slide where needed): Slide #1: The first slide should be clean, include your company logo and/or name, and the name and title of the presenter. If you have an awesome tagline, include it. Otherwise, skip it. The purpose of this slide is to center the attention on you, to indicate you’re ready to go. Slide #2: Next, and absolutely most important, this slide is for the problem you are solving…not your product, not your bio. I need you to think big here. I’m looking for a global problem. For example, if you have a new app for teaching vocabulary to resistant-learners, the problem isn’t how to teach vocabulary, it’s changing how we think about education delivery. Slide #3: How do you plan to solve that problem? If you haven’t inspired your audience by this point, you’ll have a hard time getting them to look away from their phone. Slide #4: It’s finally here! This is your product slide. Include a demo or an explanation, benefits are good too. Slide #5: Cool stuff goes here. Patents, unique market data, key partnerships and clients. If you don’t have enough data points, it’s always interesting to see a sample customer ROI, outlining how your product can save/make them money. Slide #6: Include specific and relevant market data. Do not throw out a giant number for an addressable market without giving real context, unless you want them to look at their phone. Feel free to switch 5 and 6. Slide #7: Financials. Everyone has the hockey stick. Surprise your audience with an understanding of the assumptions that go into building financial projections for your business. Slide #8: Use of Funds/Raise. When I was raising $100 million for a venture, in a packed boardroom, I was asked how much I needed. I said the number without flinching. I asked the Chair later why he asked that question when he already knew the answer. His response, “I wanted to see if you could make the ask.” Slide #9: Team. I know what you’re thinking…it’s all about execution, shouldn’t this be further up? You’re right, but they’ve probably checked you out on LinkedIn. Assemble the photos and mini-bios in a way that is easy to read. This isn’t the area for creativity. Slide #10: Please do not forget to say thank you. This needs its own slide. Their time is valuable and you don’t want to miss the opportunity to express your appreciation. No need for a recap. Just a slide to let them know you’re here for it! Most first presentations are 10-12 max. Definitely have hidden content-heavy back-up slides for due diligence questions. You might’ve noticed I didn’t include a competition slide. I know I’m going against conventional wisdom here, but if you haven’t created differentiation from you’re competitors in slide 2 or 3, you haven’t delivered the presentation. #entrepreneur
Problem Solving
🚨 True story from Detroit — I asked three different twenty-somethings for directions to a restaurant two blocks away!Google Maps was spinning because of the tall buildings, so I figured I’d ask a human.Not one could help. Not even close. It hit me like a brick: we’re facing a crisis of resourcefulness.And it’s going to cost us—big time. Problem-solving, critical thinking, follow-through—these aren’t just “nice to haves.” They’re career-defining skills. They’re what fast-track employees have that others don’t. So, I’ve made it my mission to teach these skills to my kids. At our house, the rule is simple: each of my kids pays half their college tuition.Sounds tough? It is. That’s the point(I’m not as mean as I sound – they had a phenom k-12 and any scholarships go to their half first 😊). Here’s how my son handled it: 📍 Private college. Full room and board. Max meal plan.📍 He owed about $5,000 each term (after merit scholarship).📍 Instead of using his summer job money, he took out a loan—on the last day, with zero research.📍 The interest rate? 12.65%. 😳 That’s $1,700 in interest before even touching the principal. I didn’t fix it for him. I sent him back. He had to:🔍 Dig deeper📄 Research the FAFSA💡 Discover he qualified for a federal loan at half the rate🏦 Cancel the first loan✅ Follow through and pay the bill That’s resourcefulness in action.And it’s exactly what the workforce—and the world—needs right now. 🛠️ We don’t need more instructions.We need more people who can figure it out. And, yes, while the system for paying for college is broken, he needed to work with what is available to him.
Resourcefulness
My first job as CEO came with zero salary.I had to raise money not just for myself — but for the whole founding team. That wasn’t the plan. I’d dreamed of Apple. Microsoft. IBM.But those companies weren’t looking for someone who was waiting tables instead of going to college. (I did get an MBA later – without college – but it didn’t sway them) What I didn’t know:While I was refilling coffee and memorizing orders, I was building something powerful. ✅ Executive functioning✅ Emotional intelligence✅ Grit But there was one skill that made the biggest difference — and hardly anyone talks about it: 👇 RESOURCEFULNESS 👇 It’s not: ❌ Funding❌ Fancy résumés❌ Prestigious connections It’s the ability to figure things out when nothing goes to plan.And the good news? You can train it. In the age of AI and instant answers, we’ve confused access to info with ability to solve real problems. But the most powerful search engine?Your own brain. Here’s what real resourcefulness looks like:✔️ Trusting yourself when the path isn’t clear✔️ Trying again — even after failing publicly✔️ Staying calm when plans blow up✔️ Asking better questions✔️ Adapting faster than your fear This is how humans survived before Google, GPS, or ChatGPT. Today, it’s a superpower — and one of the most undervalued leadership skills there is. 💡 Want to build your resourcefulness muscle? Try this: 🎯 Learn a new sport or hobby🤝 Go to an event where you know no one📺 Watch the news channel you disagree with🛑 Don’t buy anything new for a week Confidence comes from trying.Resilience comes from discomfort. Resourcefulness? It’ll set you apart in a world of shortcuts.
