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IGNITE
Founding Partners
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Holmstrom & Kennedy, P.C.
KMK Media Group
Williams McCarthy, LLP
Coyle-Varland Insurance Co., INC
RSM McGladrey
Rockford Area Convention & Visitors Bureau
GrahamSpencer
Rockford Area Realtors
Rockford Area Economic Development Council
Williams-Manny, INC
Rock River Valley Blood Center
Rockford Park District
Rockford Chamber of Commerce
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The Ignition Switch
| June 10, 2010
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To The Market We Go!
Growing up, some of m  y fondest memories are that of selling sweet corn at my grandpa's roadside stand, stopping at the local fruit stands while on vacation with my dad for peaches perfectly ripe and juicy or picking the perfect apple from Edward's Apple Orchard! The thrill of each of these memories was two fold: First, the food was freshly taken from the ground or tree which allowed for a delicious flavor unable at local grocery stores. Second, it allowed me to be a part of the process and allowed for interaction with the grower - straight to the source! Begining this Friday, experiences such as these will be available here in downtown Rockford! The Rockford City Market kicks off this Friday at 3:00p.m.! Located on Water street between E. State Jefferson Street, the Rockford City Market offers fresh produce, local goods and live entertainment! With 18 vendors, the Rockford City Market can offer something for everyone. City markets offer perks other retail establishment are unable to provide to their customers. By shopping at the city market, not only are you buying fresh foods picked at their peak, you are supporting your local economy! Going a step further, purchasing goods from a city market with local goods, such as the Rockford City Market, you are lessing your global footprint! According to Spar kpeople.com article by licensed and registered dietician, Becky Hand, "Our existing system of food
transportation and distribution requires enormous amounts of energy and
resources. Before reaching your table, the average food item in the
United States will travel 1,300 miles! In fact, only about 10% of
the fossil fuel energy used in the world's food system is used for
production. The other 90% goes into packaging, transportation, and
marketing of the food. All this inefficiency creates many environmental
problems." This week, enjoy musical entertainment by Frank and Mike who play classic and Latin jazz standards! A list of vendors that will be present at the market can be found HERE! **IGNITE member, Tyler Smith's company, Tyler's Landscaping Service is among the vendors! Support your fellow IGNITE members!** Here are few shopping tips from the Rockford City Market website! - Take your time & have fun browsing. Make
going to the market your regular Friday afternoon fun!
- Stroll all the stands to see what's available
before making your decision.
- Go green and carry one large bag than carry a
bunch of smaller plastic bags.
- If you have a question about something for sale, just
ask.
- Ask how to prepare and cook the item. Get
valuable information on even the most common fruits and vegetables.
- Don't be afraid to try something new! You
may discover a new favorite food to make your summer recipes even
richer and sweeter.
- Engage your kids and give them a few dollars
to buy whatever produce they want to eat. It's a good way to
encourage them to eat more fruits and vegetables.
- Introduce a friend to the City Market. The
more the merrier! The City Market is the place to see and be seen.
- Familiarize yourself with the market and its vendors by visiting
regularly.
- Bring small bills and change. Make life
easier for yourself and vendors by paying in small bills and change.
IGNITE
members are invited to wear their IGNITE shirts
and meet as a group at Carlyle Brewing at 5:00p.m. for a quick drink
before heading to the market! We will snap a few photos of our fun at
the market! Hope you can make it there!!
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Investments... You've Got Questions?
We've Got Answers!
 If you're anything like most young professionals, investments can leave you a bit dazed and confused! So many questions! Where to begin? Well, YPs.... Great news! IGNITE has scheduled a Lunch Outside the Box (LOTB) on Investment Fundamentals just for you! Join us on June 16th at Giovanni's from 12:00-1:00 to have your questions answered! Register here! This is a seminar you will not want to miss!
Register for the LOTB HERE now!
Ticket includes presentation as well as lunch! |
Millennials Seek Long-Term, Trusting Relationships
By Next Generation Consulting's Rebecca Ryan
Monday, June 07, 2010
[Note: This interview originally appeared in the June 2010 edition
of Inside Public Accounting]
Firm leaders were just beginning to address how to deal, manage and
engage a new generation of employees - the millennials - when the
economy tanked and took with it concern about human capital.
 Fast-forward a few years, and with the first signs that we're climbing
out of the recession, thoughts of recruiting and retention are once
again starting to come back to the forefront. So what's the new "normal"
when it comes to the newest group of workers?
According to Rebecca Ryan, founder of Next Generation Consulting in
Madison, Wis., the recession created a feeling of vulnerability and has
made the newest generation of workers yearn for stability.
"Overall, people under 30 are the most unemployed generation. They're
having a rude awakening," Ryan says. "But every generation has had its
own rude awakening. For the boomers, it was that the 'make love, not
war,' antiestablishment values were not going to work in corporate
America."
Many Gen-Xers also came into the workforce during a recessionary period
(the early 1980s and early 1990s), but whereas the Gen-Xers were job
hoppers during their early career, the millennials are looking for
long-term employment. Just don't expect them to shut up and live with
whatever they're dealt.
"There's a mentality that millennials should be happy to have a job, and
that they should stop asking for things because we're having hard
financial times," she says. But that's just not in their nature. When
Ryan interviews industry consultants, she asks them: How do you think
the next generation is different from yours? "They all tell me, 'When I
was 22 or 23, I wanted the same things. The difference is, I didn't ask.
I shut up and kept my head down.'"
In an age of Twitter, Facebook and reality-TV confessionals, "this
generation has learned to use their words and tell you what they're
thinking," Ryan says. Millennials are passionate about making a
difference in their firm, and to them, that often means sharing their
ideas with you.
Ryan encourages younger employees to learn how to communicate with their
superiors by being concise and "not being a human suggestion box." She
encourages firms to find ways to channel those great ideas. Several
firms have created staff advisory boards of younger employees who meet
regularly with the MP to suggest ways to improve the firm. The one rule
is that these employees need to come to the table with not just a list
of complaints, but, a set of solutions.
Opportunities for development have always been high on the list of wants
for millennials, and the recession has done nothing to shake that
craving. A recent study by Texas A&M researchers, in cooperation
with HR association WorldAtWork, showed the opportunity for development
for young accounting recruits was the most significant factor. Firms
shoot themselves in the foot when they ignore this desire for growth,
Ryan says.
Investments in staff does not always have to involve a higher salary or
expensive training. A simple gesture sometimes has the biggest impact,
such as when a partner takes a staff member along when meeting with a
client or prospect. "It doesn't cost you any more to put one more
passenger in your car, and it gives that millennial an awesome
experience," Ryan points out. "They will tweet and blog about it - 'I
got to hang out with the MP today!'"
Offering younger employees a seat at the decision-making table is
another way to increase their level of engagement. "Too often, firms
lock the partner group away at retreats and expect them to come up with
answers," Ryan says. There's a long-term value of giving younger
employees a seat at the table: "When you give next generation leaders
something real, it deepens their level of engagement and [increases
their] loyalty to the firm," she says.
One of Ryan's clients, a top 20 firm, invited a group of high-potential,
non-partner staff members to address issues raised in the firm's
employee engagement survey. "They worked during busy season and
generated solutions, and five of their six ideas were green-lighted,"
she says. "The really great thing was that afterwards in the hallway,
partners were saying, 'If this is our future talent pool, we will be
fine. They had their business plans thought out.' It gave both groups
confidence."
While there are differences in how different generations behave, balance
is one thing people want from an employer regardless of age.
Millennials see work as part of life - not separate from it. And
increasingly, it isn't just women demanding balance. "We have the first
generation of millennial men who grew up in a household where both
parents worked," Ryan says.
"I'm not saying we coddle the next generation," she continues. "It's
okay to say, 'I need you to double down for the next few months.' But
we, as leaders, have to allow for regeneration time."
One Ohio firm's manual states that employees will not be asked to work
more than 40 hours a week outside of busy season. And that flexibility
extends to partners, too, some of whom work a part-time schedule.
Ryan offers a prediction: "If I could look into my crystal ball,
this notion of part-time partnership is one of the things that will make
a big difference in retaining awesome talent."
Another common denominator for employees is the desire to work with
people they trust. "Trust is like the air in your firm," she says. "You
can't see it, it's hard to quantify, but if you don't have it, the firm
will die."
With the economy starting to pick up in some markets, recruiters are
starting to target the three- to five-year accountants once again. And
if they feel that your firm hasn't treated them fairly or that there
isn't an opportunity for growth, you can kiss them goodbye.
One firm passed over a young woman (let's call her Cynthia) for
partnership, explaining that it was a "bad year." This explanation,
while it may have been true, didn't pass muster with Cynthia, who left
the firm soon after. Within a few months, other high-potential women
also left the firm, saying, "What you did to Cynthia was a signal to us
that the door to partnership isn't open. She did everything you asked of
her and you still didn't make her partner."
Even more offensive to employees is when partners do not share the pain.
"When you lay off 10% to 15% of your staff, but under-performing
partners aren't moved out ... that's a signal to people throughout the
firm that when times are tough, they're going to take the brunt of it,"
Ryan says.
As the economy warms up, the shoe will be on the other foot, she
warns. "In firms where that trust has been broken, there will be an
outward migration of high-potential employees," she says. Firms with a
reputation for treating employees well, on the other hand, have
positioned themselves to be the beneficiaries of this migration.
In one Pennsylvania firm, partners cut their own salaries by 10% before
asking employees to take a pay cut, Ryan shares with IPA. That sacrifice
reinforces the trust level and ensures the firm continues to be an
employer of choice.
Another way to build trust is to let people know when the worst is over.
"People are feeling like they've just come through a knothole
backwards," she says. "There's a heavy anxiety laying over the firm.
It's important [for the staff] to know there is light at the end of the
tunnel."
Like what you read? Check out Rebecca's blog HERE!
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It Pays To Be An IGNITE Member! IGNITE M  embers can now enjoy discounts at local hot spots! Just flash your IGNITE Membership Card at the following locations to receive your discount! Don't have a membership card yet? Pick yours up at the next IGNITE event! The IGNITE Member's Meeting ( Evening or Afternoon sessions!) is the perfect place to grab your card! New discounts constantly added! Check back to our web page often! Please patronize those businesses that support Young Professionals! Forest City Pub200
South Bell School Road (off the Radisson Lobby) Rockford,
IL 61108 815.226.2100 Receive
10% off entire bill (excluding alcohol) Hope & Anchor English Pub5040 North 2nd Street Loves Park, IL 61111 815.633.2552 Receive 20% off all food entrees - dine in, carry out or in
Sweet Shoppe (excluding alcohol) Klehm Arboretum & Botanic Garden2715 South Main Street Rockford, IL 61102 815.965.8146 www.klehm.org Receive
$5 off a new one year membership Cliffbreakers River Resort700 West Riverside Blvd. Rockford, IL 61103 815.282.3033 www.cliffbreakers.com IGNITE
Member & One Guest receive 25% off entire bill (excludes buffets) Sam's Ristorante & Pizzeria6075 E. Riverside Blvd. Rockford, IL 61114 815.877.2127 www.samsristorante.com Buy one entree and receive a second entree for free! (Limit one per table - up to $8 value -
valid only with the purchase of two beverages for dine in only)
High Maintenance Salon and Spa &
Maintenance Man Barberspa4401 Peak Drive Loves Park, IL 61111 815.963.1948 www.maintenancesalons.com Receive
15% off at both High Maintenance Salon and Spa AND Maintenance Man
Barberspa!
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Rockford Rocks!!
At Ignite, we know that Rockford Rocks but we want to share what we know! Submit events, happenings, cool things to do, things you love about Rockford and we'll share with our members. Let us know what you think makes Rockford Rock!
 Rockford City Market - Water Street (between E. State & Jefferson Streets) - Friday Afternoons from June 11-October 22 - 3:00-7:00p.m. - Join IGNITE members down tow for the Rockford City Market! Enjoy local produce and goods as well as live entertainment! For more information on the market, click here!  Friday Night Flix - Davis Park - Friday, June 11 - 7:00p.m. (movie begins at dusk) - Head to the north side lawn of Davis Park to enjoy Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark! Bring a blanket or lawn chair and enjoy the evening outdoors! Wine, beer, soda and food will be available for purchase. Cost to attend? FREE!!
 Friday Night Jazz with Out of the Blues - Cliffbreaker's - June 11 - 8:00p.m.-Midnight - Stop by Cliffbreaker's before Friday Night Flix and enjoy great food as well as great music by Out of the Blues! Cliffbreakers is a great supporter of IGNITE! In fact, enjoy 25% off your total bill by flashing your IGNITE Membership Card! Even better, the lead vocalist is High Maintenance Owner, Clare Schwartz - another GREAT IGNITE supporter! Art on the Lawn - Rockford College - Sunday, June 13 - 10a.m.-5p.m.- Art on the  Lawn features a wide variety of fine arts in many media: ceramics, digital art, drawing, fiber/paper, furniture, glass, jewelry, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, wearable art and more. Food and drink are available for purchase. Admission for adults is $3.00, children 12 and under are free.
"Take Aim at You r Health" Wellness Night - Aldeen Golf Course - June 15 - 4:30-8:30p.m. - An evening of fun, health and wellness information designed to improve play both on and off the course. In addition to wellness screenings, testings and assessments, chair massages and numerous golf-related activities and events are scheduled including a Practice Centre special, golf tips from the pros, golf club fitting, putting stroke and video swing analysis, and more! Free event! For more info, visit here!
City of Gardens, Wine & Roses - Sinnissippi Gardens - June 17 - 5:00-7:30p.m. - Join the City of Gardens for an evening of Wine & Roses in the beautiful Sinnissippi Rose Garden! Chat with friends, sample wines and enjoy appetizers from area restaurants including Artalé Wine Co., Cliffbreakers, Crimson Ridge, DiTullio's Italian Market
& Café, E & J Gallo Winery, Five Forks Market,
Josef-Barbados/Pearl, Panera Bread, Toni's of Winnebago. Admission at $35 per person includes a commemorative glass, premier wines, hors d'oeuvres,
desserts, and entertainment. Reservations by Monday, June 14th required. More info here! |
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