The University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Regnier Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Henry W. Bloch School of Management has been selected by the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC) to host the 2013 GCEC International Conference.
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First “Traditional Track” Master of Entrepreneurial Real Estate (M.E.R.E.) Student Graduates at UMKC
The Lewis White Real Estate Center reached another milestone at the end of this semester with the first student to complete all the academic requirements for the M.E.R.E. (Masters of Entrepreneurial Real Estate) graduate.
The 36-credit-hour, intensive two-year degree program pertains exclusively to real estate, with a focus on real estate trends such as the global shift in attitude towards eco-friendly developments, reducing carbon footprints and the expansion of green technology in new construction.
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Management Education through the Years at UMKC
This May, the Henry W. Bloch School of Management celebrated 60 years of management education. Of course, it wasn’t always called the Henry W. Bloch School of Management.
In 1953, the university founded the School of Business Administration, and it wasn’t until 1986, when H&R Block co-founder Henry Bloch endowed the school, that it became the Henry W. Bloch School of Business and Public Administration.
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Henry Bloch delivers a blockbuster
From left, Michael Song, Henry and Tom Bloch talk with an EScholar graduate.
For the third-ever graduating class of Entrepreneurship Scholars (EScholars), it was a night to remember.
Even for entrepreneurs bursting with potential, who had spent a year in the company of top business experts, it isn’t every day you get to hear from a legend.
The e-scholars had completed a rigorous 12-month certification program and had their ideas and plans evaluated by some of the best in the business. Many of them were poised to start up a business of their own design with some seed money and encouragement.
And the energy took an upturn when Henry Bloch himself walked to the podium.
Henry Bloch addresses the 2013 class of EScholars at their April commencement exercise.
The audience had started their journey a year earlier as eager applicants, intrigued by the offer of support and resources and the chance to launch successful business ventures. The Entrepreneurship Scholars Program, offered by the Henry W. Bloch School of Management at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, is a community-wide program designed to prepare brilliant and promising entrepreneurs with the skills and knowledge needed to launch world-class ventures upon graduation.
The applicants had come from the Bloch School, from throughout the UMKC campus, and from the community.
During their year in the program, Henry Bloch had become a familiar and welcome fixture in classes and at campus events, always ready with a thoughtful question or a timely suggestion.
UMKC Chancellor Leo Morton, Henry Bloch, EScholar graduate, Michael Song and Mark Parry.
This night, instead, he gave his audience a blockbuster of a talk.
He began by deflecting all the thanks and praise to Dr. Teng-Kee Tan, Dean of the Bloch School; the faculty and staff, and the students for being the hardest-working bunch he had ever seen. He complimented Kansas City’s business community for helping refine the Bloch School’s vision and direction.
Then he got to the heart of his message: “I envy you,” he said to the students, “because you are graduating at a very exciting moment in our history.”
He wove the theme of conquering a mountain through his remarks. Describing these times as “the dawn of entrepreneurship,” he compared the students’ journey ahead to scaling a magic mountain – a trek for which they are well-prepared. He mentioned specifically their willingness to learn new things, their readiness to toss out obsolete ideas, and their ability to turn on a dime.
“Modern miracles” he cited – space travel, personal computers, instant communication – were not part of his formative years; but they came from the minds of forward thinkers.
“That’s why I envy you,” he went on. “Your turn is now at hand. As a retired CEO… I can tell you the view from the top is pleasant and satisfying. But the never-to-be-forgotten excitement, the fun and challenge, is in the climb.”
At this point, Bloch turned to the ethics and values on which he built H & R Block, and that will persist:
• The quality of your early work determines your future – so start with quality.
• Don’t try to get by with the minimum – give more than people expect of you.
• Listen – if your customer did not thank you, don’t think him rude. It’s possible you failed to do a satisfactory job.
• You will make mistakes; just make sure you don’t repeat them.
Bloch reminded the audience that it is the habit of thinking things through – not necessarily the information at hand – that will serve them well. Data is fine, he said, but we need to be thinkers; remembering is no substitute for analyzing.
“Success doesn’t fall in your lap,” he said. “You must chase it…but never quite catch it.”
Perhaps his wisest words were reserved for what has become a perennial problem among 21st century executives: “Don’t damage the value of your name or hurt your image for any amount of money.”
View the speech in its entirety.
Details of the EScholars program can be found online. Scholarships are available to all accepted applicants and will cover the majority of program costs. The only out-of-pockets costs for participants will be fees to enroll in one-credit hour course per semester (three semesters total).
A mother inspired, through the pain of losing a child, to create street-like clothing with safer, better functionality for those who are chronically ill and hospitalized.
Parents frustrated by the difficulty in weaning their child off his “binky.”
A Federal Reserve employee who believes there’s a better way for people to connect with volunteer opportunities in their communities.
An urgent care section chief at Kansas City’s leading children’s hospital who is determined to save people unnecessary trips to the ER.
These are just a few of the inspirational stories that inspired judges at the 2013 Regnier Venture Creation Challenge held on Saturday, April 27 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the UMKC Student Union.
Vital Stats on UMKC Enactus:
KANSAS CITY, MO — A team of graduate finance students at the Henry W. Bloch School of Management beat Rockhurst, KU and K-State, taking home the top prize in the first annual Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) Cup – Kansas City. The competition was held at American Century Investments in Kansas City on April 10.
UMKC Team beats Harvard, Yale, Purdue
A team of students from the UMKC Henry W. Bloch School of Management’s Master of Entrepreneurial Real Estate Program and Kansas State University’s architectural school have won first place in the ULI/Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition. Continue reading
UMKC Regnier Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Announces Honorees for
28th Annual Entrepreneur of the Year Awards
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Council for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the Regnier Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the UMKC Henry W. Bloch School of Management have announced the honorees for the 28th Annual Entrepreneur of the Year Awards celebration.
The dinner will be held on Monday, Oct. 21 at the brand new Henry W. Bloch Executive Hall for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
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John Norton, Managing Director of the Regnier Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at UMKC’s Henry W. Bloch School of Management, has been selected for a Fulbright Specialists project in Indonesia at Universitas Ciputra commencing March 28, 2013, according to the United States Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Continue reading
