It Is All About the… People!

What Is It All About?
Over 50% of small businesses fail in the first year and 95% fail within the first five years according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. This is not even taking into consideration the impact of the recent global financial crisis. The prevailing belief is that the majority fails because of financial difficulties. This is supported by conventional business wisdom that holds the Bottom Line as the benchmark for small business performance. However, new research reveals some interesting facts. The purpose of this workshop is to unveil a contemporary method to the way entrepreneurs charts strategic direction in uncharted turbulent water. We will begin by looking at the Core Areas that make up any organization, discuss a set of tools for evaluating small business vulnerability and its ability to recover from destructive actions that lead to interruption in its operation. We will conclude with a group participation exercise that will illustrate the
theoretical knowledge covered in the first part of the presentation.

Presented by SCORE Miami and The Launch Pad at Toppel Career Center

Agenda:
Session A: 30 minutes:
Introduction, networking and refreshments
Session B: 35 minutes :
Formal presentation of the concepts and Body of Knowledge (BOK)
Session C: 45 minutes - A hands-on exercise demonstrating the application of the BOK
Session D: 10 minutes: Q&A (Questions and Answers).
Location: Meeting Room, Toppel Career Center
University of Miami, 1306 Stanford Drive,
Coral Gables, FL 33124. Parking is available in the metered parking spots along Stanford Drive.
Alternatively, attendees can park in the Pavia Parking Garage on Pavia Street.

Who Should Attend?
Students and faculty members from the schools of Business, Psychology and Education. Entrepreneurs and individuals who have an interesting enhancing their understanding of the contribution of human elements to he business environment.
What should you bring with you?
On a single sheet of 8/12 x 11” paper write:
• How would you define a business success?
• How would you define a business failure?
• In your opinion, what are the three most important elements that contribute to small business success?

Please bring your notes to the seminar so we can share your ideas with the participants.
Here are some of the interesting topics we will explore:
• Why do businesses exist?
• Why do businesses fail?
• Why do they succeed?
• How do we measure business success?
• What is missing from the “Bottom Line” approach to measuring business success?
• What are the hidden costs of a small business?
• What is Small Business Vulnerability?
• The 12 core areas of small business.

You Will Learn How To:
• Define and measure Small Business success.
• Define and measure Small Business vulnerability

The Presenter: Doron Zilbershtein is the Culture Explorer at Winnovation Solutions (winnovationsolutions.com), a Miami based firm that specializes in assisting small to medium size companies to achieve and sustain performance excellence through culture. Doron’s passion, knowledge and experience is in organizational culture across the globe. He brings work experience from living in 15 countries. Doron focuses on human performance in the small business environment especially under stressful situations. Doron holds a B.Eng Degree in Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, and an MBA in Entrepreneurial Studies. He is currently pursuing his PhD in Industrial Organizational Psychology with a focus on small business vulnerability. Doron is a Senior Member of the American Society for Quality, a judge in the International Team Excellence Award competition and the Co-Founder of the Maritime Quality Culture Forum.