Four simple words not easily achieved, especially in the workplace. The School of Business series is designed to bring together current MBA students and community leaders to hear insights and experiences in leadership from organizational leaders throughout the U.
Trish Berg, associate professor of management who organized the series, connected with the co-authors while using Love as a Business Strategy as a textbook in her classes. The co-authors Zoomed with Trish and her students during the spring semester and plans were laid for the four to come to campus to help kick off the series. They did not disappoint. Their story is one of rapid success, failure, redemption and most importantly, learning.
The CEO and founder, Mohammad, who goes by Mo, started the session by sharing the story of Softway, a tech company he started at age 20, when his values were centered on greed for money, driving fancy cars β¦ all of the luxuries of his concept of business success and living what he thought was the American dream. The company was hemorrhaging money and Mo was forced to lay off employees in a single day.
I had no idea if Software would survive. It was an all-time low. A couple of weeks later, while watching one of the greatest comebacks in college football at his alma mater, the University of Houston, Mo witnessed something that would change his life β not only as a business leader but as a human. He learned about the culture of love and support that head coach Tom Herman had created for his team. It was an eye-opener.
At that moment, Mo decided he needed to put people at the center of his business, empower them to make mistakes and learn from each other. It has been an ongoing process, but that marked the beginning of the turnaround of Softway.
