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Welcome to the fall issue of IPFW Corporate Advantage. Over the past year, we have been conferring with area business executives, educators and consultants to develop a new program to help experienced managers refine their leadership skills. The result is a powerful, three-day Applied Leadership Series (ALS) that debuts in March 2012.
This issue includes a "sneak peek" of one segment of the new series by Jane Rich, regional director of the Northeast Indiana Small Business Development Center, who will introduce ALS participants to business strategy and financial performance tools. Check out what Jane has to say, and sign up for updates about this new program if you want to refresh your leadership effectiveness for today's dynamic global environment.
Also featured in this issue is an article by financial advisor Kirk Johnson, first vice president at the Fort Wayne office of Merrill Lynch. Kirk, who also serves as an instructor for the IPFW Division of Continuing Studies and its Corporate Training division, discusses the importance of cultivating good relationships with your customers.
You'll also want to read about IPFW alumna Kathy Carrier, the president and founder of Briljent, LLC, a certified Women's Business Enterprise that was re-defined after the 9/11 tragedy to become a nationally-recognized company providing services to large corporations as well as state and federal agencies.
As always, we hope you find all the information included in this newsletter to be helpful as you explore new ways to use Corporate Training to your advantage. We welcome suggestions for future subject matter; please click here to submit them for consideration.
--Gary Schott, Director of Entrepreneurship & Corporate Training, IPFW Division of Continuing Studies - 260-399-1675 or schottg@ipfw.edu |
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 Applied Leadership Series to Look at Strategy and Financial Performance
By Jane Rich, Regional Director of the Northeast Indiana Small Business Development Center | |
 IPFW's Applied Leadership Series (ALS) debuts in March 2012 to help experienced managers refine their leadership skills through a challenging and intensive curriculum. Part of the curriculum will provide an opportunity for participants to learn how to create and use tools to measure and improve the financial performance of a business. In this article, Jane Rich provides a "sneak peek" at a portion of the series that she is facilitating. She will discuss how strategic planning and financial management can help business owners and managers to quickly and confidently turn goals into measurable steps, and how to determine what matters most in evaluating business performance.
Read the entire article. |
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Keys to Powerful Client Relationships
By Kirk Johnson, Merrill Lynch Vice President/Financial Advisor/
IPFW Corporate Training and Professional Development Instructor | |
 In today's turbulent economy, few things are more important than attracting and ultimately obtaining new and powerful customer relationships. In this article, financial advisor Kirk Johnson stresses the importance of understanding your market niche and the type of customer that you serve best. He also stresses the need for an efficient database that will allow you to not only know who your best customers are and what business they have transacted in the past, but, more importantly, what their needs are likely to be in the future. He believes that a genuine understanding of those needs builds loyalty, causes repeat and continued sales, and broadens a company's strategic opportunities in its target market.
Read the entire article. |
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IPFW Alumni Insights
This series features alumni of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) as they share their insight on a variety of topics related to business and organizational growth. We thank the IPFW Alumni Association for helping us identify community leaders for this column.
Interview with Kathy Carrier, President and Owner of Briljent, LLC. By Mary Popovich for Corporate Advantage
 Kathy Carrier, a 1991 graduate of IPFW with a bachelor's degree in business administration, is a Fort Wayne entrepreneur. She is the president and owner of Briljent, LLC, a 230-person, certified Women's Business Enterprise that provides consulting, training, technical writing and staffing services to large corporations and state and federal agencies; the president and CEO of Keepsake Threads, a textile production business; and the chief marketing officer of DXD Furniture, a woodworking and custom furniture-making business run by her husband. In her 20-year career, she has managed audit engagements for a public accounting firm while working as a CPA, spent 15 years in a Fortune 500 company (the final 12 years as an officer), and started and grown successful local businesses.
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| About IPFW Corporate Advantage
Providing Corporate Advantages Through Tailored Training | |
In need of training to elevate your company to the next level of excellence or teach your employees specific skills needed for future growth expectations? IPFW's Corporate Training specializes in providing your company with a competitive advantage through training specifically tailored to your needs. Unlike other "cookie-cutter" or "one-for-all" training programs that attempt to fit your needs into their existing courses, we conduct a thorough needs analysis and custom-design a program specifically for you. We provide training at your site or ours, carefully choose the right instructor from our vast network of community experts, and customize the training manual and hands-on instruction for your unique needs. What's more, we can schedule the training on your timeline, when it's least likely to impact operational and production goals.
Learn more about IPFW's Corporate Training and the many training opportunities, or contact Gary Schott at 260-399-1675 or via e-mail at schottg@ipfw.edu
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IPFW would like to thank the following companies for choosing us as a corporate training partner since 2009.
Alconex
Allen County Public Library
Allen County Government
AutoForm Tool
Biomet
DRG
Fort Wayne Metals
Fort Wayne-Allen County Airport Authority
Indiana Physical Therapy
ITT
Jostens
Kraft Foods
Kosciusko County Community Foundation
LD Commodities
Lincoln Financial Group
Maple Leaf Farms
Multimatic
NIDIA
Pretzels
Paragon Medical
POET
Raytheon
STI
Summit Brands
Superior Essex
Symmetry Medical
Trelleborg Sealing Solutions
USSI
TRIN
Wieland Designs
Zimmer
Look for features on our customers in future issues |
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