Focusing upon two core values, “leading by example” and “we’re all in this together”, Dr. Wagoner humbly spoke of a company with its share of both successes and failures.  Perhaps most character revealing was the resultant impacts upon her “confidence”; understanding and properly reacting to the inevitable the “ups and downs” of a small biopharmaceutical company.

Through “knowing your business better than anyone else” a leader is best prepared to “change the plan before disaster strikes”.  “Surround yourself with good advisors” but “don’t listen to them too much”.  “Pick your battles carefully”, cautioned Wagoner, and always ask yourself the question, “does it really matter”.

For those that regularly attend leadership forums, it is clear that leaders come in all shapes and sizes, from diverse backgrounds, with wide ranges of styles, values and skill sets.  What doesn’t seem to change or waver, however, is the passion and deep felt commitment and responsibility that every leader carries, and projects.  If everyone at Icagen really feels “they’re all in this together”, they should all be proud of how their leader “represented”.

About Power Breakfast-In-The-Park

In conjunction with Business Leader Media, and the Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED), Accentuate Staffing hosts a monthly breakfast meeting at the Brier Creek Country Club, to present influential community and thought leaders, as well as offering an opportunity to network.  In the spirit of lifelong learning, it is our goal for each attendee to put into practice, at least one compelling concept, idea, or action, within the immediate 24 hours, to help differentiate their company and / or their career.

About Accentuate Staffing

Since 1996, Accentuate Staffing has delivered “The Power of Positive” to you.  As one of the Triangle’s largest woman owned companies, we source candidates in the career specialties of accounting, information technology, clinical / scientific research, human resources, customer care, and light industrial / distribution services.  Our current roster of 160 corporate clients is diverse, highly regarded, and often exclusive.  We cherish our position as a leader in the community, offering support to charitable institutions including the Children’s Flight of Hope, the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle and the MS Society, amongst many others.  For detailed information on how “The Power of Positive” can impact your company or your career, please visit us at www.accentuatestaffing.com.

As it stands today, Hosted Solutions is comprised of five data centers, with expected revenues of $50m.  “Perseverance, and leaving your ego at the door”, reasons Rich, allowed his company to survive the difficult, early days.  As 9/11 occurred some two months after purchasing the struggling and debt laden data center, their focus upon hitting “singles and doubles”, he adds, provided them the necessary cash flow to survive.

Focusing for the next five years upon execution, Hosted Solutions continued to be opportunistic, “purchasing rather than building” capacity, for cents on the dollar.  “Using other people’s balance sheets” allowed the original equity investors to limit dilution of their positions, as well as determine and time their exit strategy.

While the events leading to today’s economic predicament are different than those experienced by Rich and his fledgling company in 2001, the opportunities and the methods to capitalize upon them are much the same.  Put a talented and committed team in place and “replicate over and over the basics to winning business one customer at a time” and never “get ahead of your ski tips”.

About Power Breakfast-In-The-Park

In conjunction with Business Leader Media, and the Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED), Accentuate Staffing hosts a monthly breakfast meeting at the Brier Creek Country Club, to present influential community and thought leaders, as well as offering an opportunity to network.  In the spirit of lifelong learning, it is our goal for each attendee to put into practice, at least one compelling concept, idea, or action, within the immediate 24 hours, to help differentiate their company and / or their career.

Joe Colopy is the CEO of Bronto Software, a leading email marketing software company for online retailers. Joe guides the overall strategic direction for Bronto Software. He started the company out of his bedroom and incorporated the business with Chaz Felix in 2002. Prior to starting the company, Joe worked in marketing and development roles at industry leaders like Red Hat, Dell Computer and Harvard Business School.

Sought after for his insights into online marketing, Joe has been featured in media outlets such as NPR’s Marketplace, Entrepreneur Magazine, Business Leader, DMNews, ClickZ, Internet Retailer and BtoB Magazine. Joe has also provided guidance and insight at conferences and events such as the Shop.org Annual Summit, Inbox Email Event and the B2T Conference.  He has spoken at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and the University of North Carolina’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Click here to register:

http://triangle.businessleader.com/index.aspx?page=ui.event-bitp

To register or donate please check out http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Walk/NCTWalkEvents?pg=entry&fr_id=10110 .

For more infomation on the MS Society:

Here is some info from Wikipedia for everyone asking about Twitter.

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users’ updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length which are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them (known as followers). Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow anybody to access them. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or external applications. The service is free to use over the Internet, but using SMS may incur phone service provider fees.

Bob Young, founder of Redhat and current CEO of Lulu.com will be the featured speaker.

Stay Positive