President Kristin Brown opened the meeting with a hearty welcome! She led the Club in reciting the Rotary Pledge. The thought for the day was presented by Gary Peterson: “When a pessimist comes upon a parade, the pessimist  stops. When an optimist comes to a parade, the optimist crosses the street in between the marchers.” 

 

 

Kristin Brown announced the following:

 

 

      3. Vote on election day!

 

 

 

Steve Steiber noted that there are signup sheets on the tables for volunteering during the Holiday Sales season. Please volunteer to help sort, pick up, or deliver.

 

Greg Kaliber thanked the Community Service Committee for the donation to the Evanston Police and Fire Foundation. Their benefit is Friday, Nov. 2, 5:30 p.m., at the Women’s Club. The benefit is especially critical now in light of the proposed cuts to police and fire under the new Evanston budget.

 

 

Linda Gerber, International Service Committee.

 

The Committee met to consider two international grant applications:

 

 

 

Linda thanked Gee, our exchange student, for his help in translations involving communications with a Rotary Club in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Finally, she mentioned that Koi presented us with a check for $386 resulting from their recent Charity of the Month program. Sandy Chen, owner, supports our Club in many ways, including as a Taste of Evanston partner.

 

Kathy Tate-Bradish, Membership Committee, announced that there will be a tour of Rotary International for anyone interested next Tuesday, Nov. 6, at 9:30 a.m. Let her know if interested. Keep your Rotary magazines for recycling. Finally, vote!! It is very easy in Illinois.

 

Steve Goranson presented an update on the Holiday Gifts Sales. The time to be acting and asking is now! Use the email system to connect with your prospects.

 

Helen Oloroso, Nominating Committee, announced that she is seeking a response from current board members as to whether they will stay on the board next year. Please let her know, and also if you are interested in any other position.

 

Elaine Clemens, Community Service Committee, asked us to bring in our recyclable brown pill containers and cloth bags, which go to the City of Evanston. The leftovers each week go to Just Harvest, a food pantry in Rogers Park. Please bring groceries next week for StreetWise.

 

The Committee awarded $1,000 to the Evanston Police and Fire Foundation for their benefit Friday, Nov. 2. There are two tickets to the benefit if anyone is interested. The November effort will be to collect scarves, hats, gloves, and jackets for children for the ESCA project in District 65.

 

There were no roasts or boasts today, but Steve Carlson was the subject for an interview. His most memorable Rotary moment was when he was the International Service Chair in 2004. There was a grant proposal that year for Brazil. Through the help of Bruce Baumberger and former member Don Zeigler, the project was successful. The project was to install a neonatal high risk clinic in Santa Rosa, Brazil.

 

Most members do not know that Steve lived in Jackson, Miss., in 1948 when he was young. He observed the treatment of African Americans there and was horrified. 

 

 

Carol Pandak directs Rotary’s global polio eradication project. She gave us an update on progress. There are only 22 cases of polio worldwide this year, centered in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria. The focus is on Afghanistan, and the Afghani government is taking a very active role. We are very hopeful that the goal of complete elimination of polio is in sight. That will occur when three years have passed with no new cases. Carol thanked all of us for our efforts in helping Rotary reach its goal.

 

 

 

 

Linda is the Larry Levy Executive Director and Clinical Professor of the Kellogg Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative.. She was formerly at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She specializes in entrepreneurial management and is an expert in the field.

 

Linda introduced her speech with a short slide tour of the new Kellogg Global Center at Northwestern. She invited us to stop by and tour the building, which is designed to encourage collaboration.

 

Kellogg reaches around the world. Some 37 percent of the students are from foreign countries. When they go back home, they bring ideas that create innovation and improve businesses in their home countries, stimulating the economy, and improving lives.

 

A goal of the revamped curriculum at Kellogg is entrepreneurial education. No longer are students encouraged to learn how to create business plans. In fact, business plans are not allowed. The students are tasked not to do any secondary research, but rather to get out into the community and talk to people. Then they will have a better understanding of what they need to achieve because they will understand their market better.

 

The students use what is known as a business model canvas. First, they create their value propositions. What are they trying to accomplish? Then, talk to proposed customers, to see if this is what they really want. The value propositions must match what the customer wants, and talking with the customer can result in many changes to the propositions.

 

Once that is established, then they define customer relationships and segments and figure out the channels to get the product to the customer. Figure out key partners, resources, and activities. At that point, they can then begin to structure costs and identify revenue streams.

 

What is unique about this structure is that it forces the students to go out and talk to their prospective customers. Once this is completed, the student (or entrepreneur), will have a much better idea of the market and customer needs and create a business specifically tailored to what has been discovered. Patterns have been observed and the knowledge learned has been applied.

 

The methodology is simple. It is not you, the entrepreneur, deciding what the community needs, but rather the community telling you what it needs.

 

The Kellogg program is designed to instill an entrepreneurial mindset in the students. The students develop an intense curiosity with which they build, change, and update their business. The students go out and spend 10 weeks with their community and then spend 10 weeks developing a plan and seeing if they can sell their plan out in the marketplace.

 

There are typically three paths which the graduated student might follow. The first is to be a launcher. That person jumps right in, creates his propositions, works with his proposed community, and launches the business.

 

Because a graduate typically ends up with so much student debt, there are two more typical paths these days. A graduate may go to a middle market company in need of some revitalization.  The graduate brings in his new ideas and perhaps helps to recreate the company.

 

Finally, there is a great demand in larger corporations for innovation. These corporations are very interested in hiring someone with an entrepreneurial mindset. Often, after the graduate has been doing this for 5-10 years, he or she will then be ready to launch their own business.

 

 

 

 

Mark Bak, Glenview-Sunrise, District Grants Chair

 

 

Nancy Baumberger, spouse of Bruce Baumberger

Guilherme Garcia, “G”, our foreign exchange student

Chris Hatschmos, friend of Steve Steiber

Amanda Ottman, American Refugee Committee

Vajhti Atraia, potential new member and friend of Kathy Tate-Bradish

Melinda Muller, potential new member

Bryant Wallace, Evanston Chessmen

Peggy Saunders, mother of Jean Saunders

 

 

Sam Lovering, 24 years

Randy Usen, 24 years

Michael Merdinger, 3 years

Ann Weatherhead, 2 years