Success

Success in Sales (Willy Loman and Chris Gardner)

“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody” ~ Bill Cosby. Few needs of the person are greater than the need to be understood. To have a voice that is heard, respected and valued – to have an influence. Most of us believe that the key to influence is communication – getting your point across clearly and speaking persuasively.

Initially the both characters -Willy Loman in “Death of the Salesman” and Chris Gardner in “Pursuit of Happiness” wanted to be understood and change their lives, so they can have influence on the world around them and became successful. But Willy Loman is hopelessly lost in his past. Chris Gardner lives today. He is not sure what tomorrow will bring but he knows that it`s up to him to change his future. His love for his little boy helps him survive and makes him stronger. Unlike Willy Loman Chris doesn`t predict his son`s future…but does what he can to make his son`s life brighter and happy.

We can find some similarities between Willy Loman and Chris Gardner. They both work very hard to pursuit their dreams of a better life. Willy Loman drove many miles to try and sell things to maintain his family while Chris Gardner also would do anything to meet ends meet to help his family to survive. Willy Loman carried two heavy suit cases with him all the time, even though the business didn’t go to well, his dedication to his family kept him going. Chris Gardner tried to do everything possible to sell his x-ray scanners so he could get the money to pay for apartment and family needs.

Obviously Willy Loman loves his son Biff and wants him to have a successful life. It’s quite sad that Willy favors one son over the other, but he still shows great fatherly love and care. He wants his son to succeed and become a big man, no matter what. Eventually after everything fails, Willy commits a suicide to get Biff money Oliver didn’t give him. Chris also loves his little boy and endures many hardships to provide for him. He is trying to teach his son everything he knows, because he knows that the life might be rough for his son in future.

Eventually Chris finds a new job opportunity so he can provide for his son. These both man have the same great desire to succeed in sales business. Willy Loman wasn’t wrong, he had mental issues but appearance does play a big part in Salesman’s life. Appearance is one of the major principles. His whole life Willy tried to please everyone, so he would be successful. But I think that eventually he became obsessed with his appearance… Chris Gardner experienced minor success at the start of his carrier. But he never gave up, even in hard times; Chris took matters in his own hands and tried to sell remaining x-rays for money.

Willy Loman and Chris Gardner may share some things in common, yet they are so magnificently different. They think differently, they have different values and motivations. Willy Loman`s story is a tragic story of the hopeful dream of one salesman that led to the damnation of an entire family. Willy is a man who is lost in the past and his mind is constantly tormented with the hopes and dreams he had years ago that have since fallen through. Chris Gardner lives his life today. His mind works hard to find ways to change his life for good. Chris doesn`t waste his time on talking about yesterday’s achievements.

Willy believes that all it takes to become successful is to be well liked. Chris Gardner does care about his appearance but prefers to practice good communication skills with everyone and knowledge of the business. Willy Loman had a dream that was not realistic; he also lied to his family. His pursuit of this dream led his entire family to live an illusion created by him – that they are better than everyone. In the end, he thought he had no choice but to kill him and try to make things better with insurance money. Chris was always honest with himself and his family.

For Gardner there were a lot of tense and hard moments to give up like losing an apartment and sleeping in a washroom with his son, but he kept his hard work and hopes to the very end…until he could say “this part of my life I call Happiness”… Trying to please everyone, to achieve success is not the key to sucess. You have to be yourself and judge situations in your life by your principles. People who try to be loved everyone eventually lose their principles and have no fundament to build upon. Appearance is a major factor of success in sales, you always have try to make a nice first impression.

But appearance won’t bring you success if you don’t use intellect and be yourself. Willy Loman learned that the hard way which brought him into the grave; he tried to present himself as a successful, important and loyal man. Willy didn’t know how to listen to others, and wanted the world to understand him. Chris Gardner worked very hard while staying true to himself and dedicated his son. Chris didn’t present himself as someone he wasn’t during interviews and tests, but he proved others that a man who can listen, and is trying to understand the world can be taught just about everything.

The success of Martha in the home development, lifestyle and entertainment industry has inarguably made her a success. Her success however stems from the network that she had access to, her business contacts, her personal drive towards success, her keen business traits and skill as well as her orientation towards a powerful type of management. Martha has not been a person who delegates her work to many as she is mostly comfortable working in her space while controlling the situation and the decision making rights.

“Stewart simply refuses to play by the rules, and we’re not just talking about her stint in the slammer. She was a mom, a fashion model, and a Wall Street stockbroker before she quit her day job to start a catering business. Then, at the height of her fame as the avatar of aspiration living, she became a spokeswoman for Kmart. ” (Hammer ; McNichol) This has put many of her employees off who see her as very controlling, dominating and often icy as well due to her clean desk policy and a highly regularized management system.

However this is cannot be disregarded that the way Martha has organized and managed her life and her career ha been impressive as after all these years she has been able to retain her position as the undefeated mogul of house making. The indication of her success as a business manager and entrepreneur can be seen in the way she has developed a large corporate enterprise out of a small basement run business.

She initiated lifestyle based products and service management on consultancy level for the mass public while sharing her views of house keeping and management that have now been adopted by many ardent fans. She also pioneered brand based marketing for house making and lifestyle management in the 80s when the concept as in its emergent stages and few products and reviews were available to cater to the demand of the market in this niche. Her success as a business entrepreneur came through her television show and magazine by the name of Martha Stewart Living.

“She is best known for her recipes, decorating, and entertainment ideas for the home and also created her own line of linens, craft supplies, and decorations. Although she was sent to prison in 2002 for stock fraud, she continues to flourish in both her media and product industries. ” (‘Martha Stewart Biography’) Over the period of years Martha Stewart has successfully managed her career as well as her business pning multiple industries form celebrity based media marketing, endorsement and sponsorships to television based take shows, cooking, home making and DIY shows etc.

The concept of entrepreneurship previously was associated with either International companies in the East or with the local US companies that were mostly driven by men. Martha Stewart however brought about a type of entrepreneurial business that catered to the needs and the demands of the women while simultaneously showed off her excellent business management skills to make her merge as a business leader.

The success for any wine producer in the market depends on his ability to enter the market with a strong distribution network. In addition, the brand value should be good meaning that the company should be well known in the premium market showing that the company produces quality wines. In addition, the company should expand into newer markets by forging local alliances, in order to expand its market and customer base. Summarize the opportunities and threats that confront industry competitor.

Opportunities: The major opportunity available with Vincor is the emergence of newer Asian markets where the purchasing power and the standard of living is on a rise. Additionally, the company could focus on all the types of product segments depending on the type of the market Threats: The major risk would be the production and distribution of wne products. Being an agricultural product, the production depends on the local weather conditions, which are not ideal for the Asian countries.

In addition, the distribution cost might be high if the company decides to directly export wine from the locally based production unit. IA complete analysis of the company and its strategy .

Elements of Strategy (Diamond Model)

Arenas – Vincor wishes to grow in the US market and possibly in other countries of the world. Their strategy was to shift to the premium segments in Canada and US. In addition it also wished to have its core brand Icewine to become internationally recognized by distributing it in select stores in the Asian market.

Vehicles – The Company wished to enter the newer markets by acquisitions in larger consumption markets, and then exporting it to the nearby markets from these newer areas. This would also improve the sales and distribution channels of the company.

Differentiators – The major differentiating factor which the company wished to keep was to be in the premium market worldwide to improve its brand recognition value, which would be helpful at the time of launch of newer products.

Staging – Once the strategy was formulated, Vincor started to acquire companies at a rapid pace in the US to capture the growing market in the area. It then proceeded to enter into the Australian market by way of acquisition to enter the Asian region indirectly.

Economic Factors – Vincor was attracted towards the US market due to the fact that the profit margins were high and there were few brands available in the market. The company wished to increase its reliance on the premium segment rather than graduating downwards towards cheaper segments.

Identification of the company’s Generic Strategy Type. While the company wished to follow three different strategies in US, Canada and the other world countries the underlying strategy was the same in every way. The generic strategy was one of differentiation. In Canada, Vincor did it by building up its share in the premium segments, while in US it did by increasing its product portfolio in the super-premium segment and in the Asian country it concentrated on improving the brand value of its signature product Icewine.

Formal education in the world began around 551–479 B. C in China. The philosopher Confucius is credited with opening the first public school which could be accessible to anyone at least in theory. Literature, music, conduct, and ethics etc were taught to the pupils. Once formal education had its birth its corollary homework too found its existence in the hemisphere of human activities. The concept of homework came in to being when home and learning began in separate places. The work assigned outside school with the purpose of enhancing the understanding of particular subject.

A whole corpus of activities can be termed as home work. Etiologicaly any work that is done at home can be termed as homework. The whole purpose behind the practice of giving homework is to raise the level of academic attainment. The objective of the concept giving work at home is multifaceted. The students are dependent on the instructor for gaining information and knowledge . Education doesn’t comprise merely of passing down of skills and information . It is rather modification of behavior . The objective of giving work at home is to make them independent learners.

Like any other human endeavor homework also has multiple aspect ranging from academic excellence to bringing about a perceptible social change in the students. The efficacy of the practice of making students work at home has always been questioned by communities ,teachers and parents who are interested in the prosperity and well being of those who are seeking knowledge . One the one hand we have researches who arguing that the practice should be stopped as it has a detrimental effect on students.

On the other hand we have individuals who consider it a necessary and aspect of the process of learning. This discord between the objectives of the homework has lead to studies being conducted to asses the advantages and the disadvantages of the practice . Students spend almost 20% of their learning hours slogging hard to do their doing their homework in United States. Harris Cooper defines homework as “tasks that are assigned to students by school teachers that are intended to be carried out during non-school hours” (Cooper, 1989, p.

7) The whole discussion on how much homework should be given to a child has been researched and it has been case studied that students in their early child hood education require 10 minute of homework and as the child climbs up the grade 10 minutes of work is added in each grade and a maximum of two hours in grade twelve is required . The modern age has relied too much on succeeds and one wonders that are we giving precedence to success to progress. HYPOTHESIS

The issue of homework revolves around the question whether there is necessity of giving homework or it is a practice which is baseless and just keeps the students busy. The big problem is how far homework works does. LITERATURE REVIEW The whole debate on the relevance and objectives of homework is pretty recent – it all started in 1990s. Harris Cooper a social psychologist whose area of research is applications of social psychology to educational policy issues, homework, school calendars, after school programs has very comprehensively dealt with the issue of the efficacy of the practice of giving work to students at home.

He has defined the objective of the practice and explored the positive outcome of it . There are the immediate and long term academic effects and then there are other affects which has nothing to do with academics. The success of the students both in academics and in life depends on the fact that how much parental involvement. It is practice that help foster the involvement and appreciation of the parents. The works of Harris Cooper focuses on both the academic and the social aspect like around development and the parental co-operation.

The negative fall out of this human endeavor is that when there is lack of co-operation between the various faculty members and disregard of the capacity and the individual capability of the learner. Homework becomes an unbearable burden which not only defeats its very purpose but also hampers the involvement of the leaner in leisure activities. According to Cooper “An activity can only be rewarding for so long If students are required to spend too much time on academic material, they are bound to grow bored with it” (Cooper, 2001, p. 35).

Similarly there are others like Connor who very precisely list both the positive and the negative aspect of homework. ( Connor 1991, n. p) John R Brender Higher, whose field is Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education, investigated the effects of out of class assignment on the success of teaching of Spanish language. He conducted research on the out come of home assignment on the test scores for 401 undergraduate students, 94 percent African American, at an urban university in 2 levels of introductory Spanish. He gave small homework routinely and long and workbook assignment of 8to 12 pages.

There was test conducted at the end of the course and a significant correlation was found between the results and the fact that who had done his home assignments or not. He also found that the Afro- American students faired much better when they were given home assignment. OBJECTIVES AND METHODS OF HOMEWORK Out of class assignment should designed to reinforce what has been taught in the class. In fact it is a practice exercise of the concepts and facts delineated in the class. It is a common phenomenon that repetition acts as a reinforcement of the concepts and understanding of a subject.

The practice of giving home work is based on the assumption that there is strong connection between memorization and understanding. It should be kept in mind that concept should be very clear as mere repetition will not suffice. The most significant goal of the out of class assignment is to enhance and maximize the academic attainment. The grade of the student is very important in deciding what and how much assignments can be given to a learner. It has been researched that there is direct co-relation between the test scores and the homework .

At the high school level a significant half appoint of GPA can be improved with every addition of 30 minutes of homework . ( Keith, 1992 ) The students and teacher should ideally try and set goals of their daily assignments . The goals should be clearly defined but the problem with too much focus is that that it hampers the learning of additional information. The student’s involvement in the setting of the goals and personalizing the objectives of out of class has been documented to have positive effect on the learner’s academic excellence.

The higher the grade the more important is fact there should be joint venture between the students and the instructor as far as homework is concerned. Out of school assignment and its completion by the students is not the only practice that is required for promoting educational achievement of the pupil. The assignment should be corrected by the instructor and wherever possible the teacher should write down his remarks. The positive points should be highlighted . This kind of feedback seen to produce more results according to studies conducted by Walberg Rewarding the students for completing the assignment can act as an encouragement.

Each student has unique personality and skills although it not realistic but if the instructor is able to match the assignment with the capabilities of the learner it would all the more effective Apart from the traditional goal of enhancing the scores and academic achievement of the learner, it transforms the students from a dependent to an independent learner. Confidence is very important life skill that is inculcated in the students as a result of these out of class assignment . Self confidence rids the students of a sense of inferiority and it develops the acumen to take initiatives in life.

A very interesting an important aspect that can be added to the method of prescribing work at home is that the students should be made accountable for the regularly assigned works . The sense of accountability is important behavioral aspect. Any student who is in possession of this trait is likely to less undesirable traits which are harmful to the wellbeing of individual at society at large. The sense of responsibilities that is fostered will help them grow into adults who would be an asset to society. Home work can be used to help students replace their maladaptive habits with those that are more helpful.

Some of the students don’t complete their work as they are lazy. A behavior modification therapy can be adopted so as to motivate the students to replace the old habits of the learner to make less effort on its own to one who actively participates in doing homework. If the students show that he has raised his effort level then he should be encouraged or praised in front of the class According to Rockwell (n. d, n. p ) “see to it that pleasant situations occur as a result of that behavior”. The age old practice of homework provides the motivation to achieve in life.

The sense of achievement provides the thrust to work hard. Life is full of ups and downs and the tendency to cope wit failures. If it is proved that homework has no or negative effect on the academic success of the pupil even then the practice is worth while as it foster the skills to face the onslaughts of failures in life. This method of providing incentives is intrinsic and extrinsic. The intellectual satisfaction that is reaped as a result of successful completion of work provides intellectual satisfaction gives intrinsic motivation .

If this motivation is reinforced with positive encouragement from the teacher the behavior is not only modified but a general atmosphere of responsible learning permeates in the class. One of the off shoots of out of school assignment is that it fosters parent teacher co –operation . It is well documented that if the parents play an active role in knowledge acquisition of their children the level of academic achievement is higher. The parent’s involvement in their offspring’s educational achievement has been long been accepted but it was empirically researched systematically in 1969 in U. S, A’s Evaluation of the Head Start Program.

The research provided substantially proved the link between parent participation and academic output of children. (Coleman, Campbell, Hobson, McPartland, Mod, Weinfeld, & York, 1966) Although some of the reaches refuted the positive effect of parental involvement on the academic performance the majority of the researches have documented progress in student’s grades when the parents take keen interest in the homework or any other intellectual activity at home Mattingly and Jeynes have quantified the effect of parental involvement on the reading and the mathematical skills and science achievements.

(Mattingly, et al. 2002 and Jeynes 2005)Except in case of science where there was no statistical proof of improvement in children there considerable improvement in math and reading skills. The area of learning which showed maximum improvement under parental participation was reading skills Assignments that are given at home make the student learn to manage time . Time is a very precious entity and it has been seen that home work have a unique association with time . There is a positive outcome when the time invested in the out of school work is increased .

If the work is time consuming then the it doesn’t enhance the progress of the academic achievement but rather impedes it. The limit to the number of homework was introduced for the first time by Piscataway New Jersey DISADVATAGES OF HOMEWORK The critics of out of class assignment see it as an intrusion into the leisure time of the student . Human beings are social animals and they need time to interact with family members and community to learn how to socialize . If a pupil is overburdened he will not have the time to mix and mingle with family and friends.

If the work assigned to the learner is not relevant and uninteresting and lacks innovation it is going to produce boredom . This in turn is going to lead to either not completing the work or it will be done for the sake of doing it. The students sometimes apply wrongful means to complete their work . They take to cheating. Consequently a loss of interest is generated and in extreme case the student might try and miss out school. A study conducted on the public schools of Maine showed that the students who dropped out of school gave homework as the reason of their leaving the schools.

This can develop a escapist tendency. The other charge that the practice of homework is reeling under is that it is going to widen the gap between the students who come from a well to do background who have access to most of the facilities in life. The learners of the lower socio –economic background have to work after school and hence don’t have time to complete their afterschool hour work. (Cooper and Valentine, 2001). In the present scenario where both the parents are working or that children are living with single parents homework can be a time consuming efforts .

Those who are unable to complete their work because of lack of parental supervision can develop a sense of inferiority complex and lack of self esteem can result in the child being unable to cope with the pressures in life . There fore it is imperative that those students who come from weaker background should be be given after school assistance in completing their work. Some of the studies like the one conducted by Kavaliauskiene & Uzpaliene, 2002have shown that the students are not in the favor of work being given to them to be done at home as it stops them from pursuing those activities that are of interest to them.

CONCLUSION The real problem that has been debated by educationist and parents Motivating the students like creating an interest in the subject can solve this problem If there isn’t a tremendous increase in the work that is being given and the teachers are able to co-operate with each other when giving work can to large extant solve this problem. This is very realistic solution to unburdening the students in lower grades but as the students reach higher grades and studies become specialized this becomes unrealistic. In any case the teachers should ensure the efficacy of the work they are giving.

There should be an emphasis on giving homework in manner that is interesting and creative. The answer to the question that whether Homework is a necessity to educational success or busy work lies in taking a middle path. The modern world with its emphasis on individual freedom and liberty has lead to regarding every thing in negative connotation even if there are documented proofs of the efficacy of giving out of school work. Moderation is always beneficial. The instructor who motivates encourages and supports his seekers of knowledge is likely to receive appositive response even in case of homework .

An authoritarian teacher who more interested in prevailing his will is likely to evince a negative . A controlling behavior is negative impetus to not only homework but the entire process of learning. What is of foremost importance is the environment of the educational institution and the attitude of the teacher and last but the least the method of education should be innovative and creative . Over burdening the child with a lot works deprives the participation of child in leisure activities and community programs . Thereby hampering the all round development of the child .

If out of class assignment are properly managed and if possible made according the acumen of individual child in manner that is interesting not only positively contributes to the academic progress but also leads to transformation of a child from being spoon-fed like a fledgling to being a confident flier into the vast horizon of knowledge exploring the huge canvass without The fear of the unknown . The vital life skills like confidence ,understanding ,vitality and diligence can be achieved and the i. e modification of behavior are accomplished.

REFERENCES

Coleman, J. , Campbell, E. , Hobson, C. , McPartland, J. , Mod, A. , Weinfeld, F. , & York, R. (1966). Equality of educational opportunity. Washington, D. C. : U. S. Government Printing Office.. Connor NeilaA( 1991)homework :A new direction Columbus OH National middle school Association Cooper, H. (1989). Synthesis of research on homework. Educational Leadership, 47, 85-91. Cooper, H. (2001). Homework for all – in moderation. Educational Leaderhip, 58, 34-38. Cooper, H. , and Valentine, J. C. (2001). Using Research to Answer Practical Questions About

Homework, Educational Psychologist, 36(3), 143–153 Jeynes, W. H. (2005 ). A meta-analysis of the relation of parental involvement to urban elementary school student academic achievements. Urban Education, 40 (3), 237-269 Matttingly, D. , Prislin, R. , McKenzie, T. , Rodriguez, J. & Kayzar, B. (2002) Evaluating evaluations: the case of parent involvement programs, Review of Educational Research, 72, 549–576. Vockell, Edward and Hodal, Frank. “Everything We Always Wanted to Know About Humane Education…But Never Bothered to Find Out,” HUMANE EDUCATION, 1978, 2 (1), 4-5

walked into our general store looking for a sandwich and walked out having signed up for a 72-hour racing event called the Death Race. To anyone who knows her, Amelia signing up for an endurance obstacle race is no surprise.

Amelia is one of my favorite people in the racing world. There’s . Her accomplishments would impress anyone. She may just be the most successful obstacle endurance athlete ever with more than 30 first-place wins in the women’s division, not to mention placing second and third overall multiple times. She was the Spartan Race World Champion in 2013 — and that’s just one of her international championship wins.

Amelia’s achievements can be chalked up to one thing — she’s made success into a habit.

She wakes up every morning at 4:07 a.m. to get in a workout before her day begins at 7:30 or 8 a.m. The demands of her career at in San Francisco are pretty steep, but Amelia will tell you she likes hills. In fact, when she traded Chicago winters for the soft seasons of California she made it a point to tackle the hills of her new city. And she gets it all done.

“I find I’m more productive when I’m juggling multiple things; it’s how I thrive,” she says.

I love her “get it done” attitude, but I know there are a lot of people who aren’t born with Amelia’s drive. (She says her parents had to remind her it was OK if she occasionally got a B in school.) She refuses to give herself the option not to be successful, not to work hard. So what I wanted to know was, how can you acquire her drive if it’s not innate?

“The more you work at it, the more you make it part of you, the more automatic it becomes,” says Amelia. “That’s one of the reasons I don’t let myself out of my routine. If I have an injury, I’ll still wake up at 4:07 and swim instead of run — even if I have to swim with a pool buoy between my knees. I make sure I don’t lose my sense of purpose.”

This is such a big hurdle for so many people, but getting started is surprisingly simple — put one foot in front of the other and the next thing you know, you’re moving. And as we all know, a body in motion tends to stay in motion.

So let’s say you’re now in motion. How do you prevent the temptation of immediate gratification from stalling you when you’re trying to build the habit of success?

Amelia understands the pull toward pleasure. “Everyone wants to be happy, but the hard things are the ones that really shape you and help you grow. When it’s fun and easy, you’re not learning anything.”

There’s actually scientific evidence to back up what comes naturally to Amelia. You can build up toughness in your brain, just like in your biceps; going through tough times actually has a neurological benefit. It may be instinctual to make our lives easier, but it’s tackling the hard thing that transforms our brains.

This brings me back to Amelia’s Death Race, which featured extricating an I-beam sunk into a frozen river. Frankly, I didn’t think that thing would ever move. It was so difficult that it made Amelia cry in frustration. But, she says, “I didn’t die. I got through it. It was really cold but you deal with it. And seeing that thing begin to rise out of the mud was so exhilarating.”

That’s another secret to her success. Doing the hard thing made Amelia truly happy. So what are Amelia’s tips for making success a habit? They pretty much follow what we teach in Spartan X.

Know your true north.

If you don’t know where you’re going, you’re never going to get there. For Amelia, True North was being self-sufficient and everything she did was to achieve just that.

Are you committed or just interested?

Merely being interested isn’t enough, because interest wanes when the work gets hard. Amelia wears her commitment like a suit 24/7 and has the results to show for it.

Delay instant gratification.

Sacrificing a short-term reward now can bring you twice as much later. Amelia believes there’s a big difference between instant joy and a goal that enhances and shapes your life.

Related:

Share what you’re doing.

If you want to stay on course, tell someone what you’re trying to achieve. Now you’re on the hook and can’t wiggle off so easily. Even better, take Amelia’s tip and sign up for something outside of your comfort zone. The goal will keep you on track.

Pick your community.

A community of like-minded people will motivate you, encourage you and push you to be your best.

Take the first step.

You don’t have to start by getting up at 4 a.m. Try setting your alarm 30 minutes earlier. Do it until it becomes a habit, then adjust again. One small change will snowball and before you know it, success will be a habit for you, too.

It’s a shame Amelia was injured earlier this year with a stress fracture in her femur. I still think about that Death Race and seeing Amelia push through 3,000 burpees in the snow and across waist-deep, icy waters in Vermont in the dead of winter. She’s tough as nails, committed and she has made success a habit. I know she’ll recover for 2017.

If you think people like Amelia are amazing, you’d love our .

During the 12 year period after the Civil War (1865-1877) four main groups of people, Southern Whites, Recently Freed Blacks, Northern Democrats, and Northern Republicans, were all competing to rebuild the war ravaged South to their advantage or ideals, but it was the Southern Whites whose needs were most closely met.

Because the freedmen were never given social equality, education, means of economic success, or full participation in government operations the plantation owners of the south were able to bring about conditions after the civil war which were not far from those of the prewar, with the whites controlling the laws and the money and the blacks performing all of the labor needed to fuel an agrarian economy. After the Civil War many Negroes though they would soon be entitled to nearly full, if not complete, social equality because of congressional action such as the formation of the freedman’s bureau and the passing of the civil rights act.

However, they soon learned that the Southern whites were not about to let this happen, and that blacks would be kept in the inferior position they had known for the hundreds of years that preceded the war. Soon after the war most Southern states wrote into the books news laws pertaining to Negroes called the “Black Codes. ” These laws, which were often identical to prewar laws save the word “slave” was replaced with the word “freedman”, limited almost every conceivable right of the black man. They were denied the ability to congregate in groups, stay at certain motels or inns, and eat at many restaurants.

They were required to carry special passes and given a curfew. Because the white South was so opposed to black equality, any law passed to grant Negroes rights were either or ignored, or were bypassed using certain loopholes. Congress could do almost nothing to stop these maltreatments from happening. In 1875 they did pass the Civil Rights Act, but poor enforcement and a Supreme Court ruling 8 years later led the bill practically useless to the blacks. All in all white resistance and government control led to almost no integration of blacks into white society.

Lack of good education for blacks was another important factor that prevented them from achieving any status higher than servant after the war. Although blacks schools were set up from primary to college, they were sparsely funded and almost completely segregated, leaving the blacks with either no education or a very poor one. Congress did make attempts at, and succeed in, creating state funded schools in the South, they allowed them to be segregated, which permitted the whites to control which race got what kind of education.

Their prejudices of course pointed them in the direction of inferior education for blacks. Black schools were almost always poorly funded and inadequately staffed. The teachers at these schools, usually Northern whites, were often given such a horrible social stigma that they were forced to leave the South, and teaching there, completely. They were ostracized by the whites, and often beaten or tarred and feathered by the Ku Klux Klan. Some states attempted to integrate state colleges, or create all black colleges, but these ventures met with little success.

In Arkansas, for example, the state college was declared open to all races, but only one black person registered and he was taught privately off campus. Not only did the prospect of segregation allow for poor black education, but it also caused their demoralization. Almost a hundred years later when the Supreme Court finally ruled segregation unconstitutional, one of the strongest arguments was that separating the blacks from the whites caused a great feeling of self hatred and inferiority among the blacks.

Had the blacks not faced these practical and psychological barriers, they would have been far more likely to contend with white southerners in the job market. One of the most important things denied blacks during reconstruction was the means to make a living either of subsistence farming or in jobs requiring skilled labor. Early on in the civil war there were rumors of a post-war land redistribution which would gives blacks the means to start farms of their own, but these rumors predicted a much greater turn over of land than was actually seen.

At first it seemed as if they might be true however. Upon capturing the sea islands south of Charleston, General Sherman gave the 485,000 acres to 40,000 black families to run. These blacks believed they had been given legal ownership of the land, and worked it profitably for over 4 years until the original white owners stepped in and demanded, and were granted, their old deeds back. Other plans were initiated to give poor blacks more land, but few of them me with success.

In some states thousands of acres were acquired through either purchase, taxation (States taxed land highly if one person owned more than a certain amount. This required many large land owners to give up some, but not all of their land. ), or confiscation, but when attempts were made to sell this land off at low prices, it was picked up mostly by speculators or people with close ties to the government looking for a summer home. Fewer than 40,000 acres were ever actually given to poor blacks.

Not only were blacks kept out of subsistence farming, but they were also removed from almost all forms of skilled labor. The black codes imposed strict restrictions on what jobs blacks could do, so that even if they did pick up a trade, either through schooling or from previous experience on the plantation, they could not use it. The whites did allow them to enter the skilled workforce, but only through apprenticeships under white masters which were almost no better than slavery. Apprentices were not allowed to leave their maters, and could be whipped if the masters deemed it necessary.

With the end of efforts to get the black man his own land and the inability for him to enter the skilled work force the black man was destined to a life of subservience to the whites. After reconstruction the only option left to most of the blacks was a system of sharecropping which was practically identical to slavery. And just as demoralizing. All of these restrictions could easily have been lifted if the freedmen had been given the right to vote early on, as the 15th amendment seemed to promise, but this never happened.

Although the 15th amendment guaranteed the right to vote to everyone regardless of race or creed, it’s vague wording allowed whites to find other ways to deny the freedmen suffrage. Southern states adopted poll taxes, education requirements, land requirements, grandfather clauses, or a mixture of any of those in order to successfully keep the blacks from the polls without actually stating that blacks could not vote. This allowed the whites to stay ahead politically as well as economically.

Although in some states this did not happen, and blacks were even elected to political office, they never achieved high ranks in either state or federal governments, and their numbers in the house were well below what percentage of the population they represented. Without the right to vote or any representatives in the government, the blacks found themselves powerless to change the laws that held them down. They could not get equal rights, decent education, or job opportunities because these were all the responsibility of the government, a government which they played almost no part in.

Without a voice in legislation the black man was powerless to direct his destiny, and the white man was able to guide him down a path of further servitude. This fact alone proves that slavery did not die with the end of slavery. With a large portion of the population writing laws keeping a smaller portion in a lesser state, slavery still exists. All of these factors contributed to keep the whites on top of the blacks for many years after reconstruction. It wasn’t until the civil rights movement of the 1960’s that true change was brought about.

The black man was kept out of white social circles, was not given education, was kept out of the job market, and was not allowed to participate in the government. All of these factors added up to a man who was supposedly free, but had few options to choose from. Everywhere the black man turned paths were off limits to him, and the only one that seemed to be open was one of lower class citizen whose life was still basically determined by the white man. The outcome of the reconstruction truly favored the whites in that all power was given to them. They were able to control the destiny of not only themselves, but of the blacks as well.

Table of Contents Introduction Generally people think that an entrepreneur is a visionary, somebody with great ideas who is eager to take huge risks. However having a radical innovation from the nothing is overwhelming but very rare. To be successful, it is essential to think differently from the casual thinkers. The aim of this paper is to show how we, a study group of five students could come up with an idea in an entrepreneurial way and go through an elaboration process toward the realization using the theoretical frameworks.

In the first part I will describe how my group went through the idea generating process and found the idea of the CPH Bike SOS with the help of the Design Thinking Method. Our multilateral service invention has three pillars, each of them with the aim to answer the question: Where can we get help if we have any problem with our bike when the shops are closed? Living in Copenhagen, we have realized that there is a market gap on the service market of the bike shops. On the other hand, looking at the market segment, we are sure, that there is an unsatisfied need.

The second part of the paper will focus on the theoretical framework of the dea. I will define the type of our innovation, after which I will decide about the type of the firm we should start to realize the idea, and then the focus will move to the needed resources and collaborations we need to get the idea off to the market. At the end of my work, I will take a glance on what kind of the type of possibilities we have to be successful in the future and how to develop the idea further. Generating ideas In this chapter I would like to describe our process of generating the idea.

It is a really important part of the task we were working on, since it explains how our group ent through a progress from the casual reasoning to the effectual reasoning and so thinking on a more entrepreneurial way. In my team we are five girls, each of us are foreigners here in Denmark, and we have quite different backgrounds. We had some difficulties to find a creative idea to work on. On one hand the problem was the fact that we did not know each other before, so there was an initial phase of trust- building. We had to familiarize with the situation to debate on each other’s ideas.

On the other hand, we realised that when we had an idea which was a direct solution to ome problems and so Just the final step of an entire process. So we started the process again and again to get back to thinking “out of the box”. As point of departure we used the method implemented by IDEO. (Figure 1) : Figure : Design Thinking Model of IDEO (Source of Image) Inspiration – What is the problem? In the inspiration phase, we wanted to find as many ideas as we could, to have a wider range. As mentioned, we did not know each other, and we did not know what could be the common interests, experience or problems.

We used the “Bird In The Hand” Principle to look into the facts what we have right there. As Sarasvathy sums it up, instead of having one solution and finding the way to reach it, we should take a step back and define the means which can lead us to a good opportunity. So the first step was defining the framework in which we are searching for possibilities with the following three questions: “Who are we? ” We started to look through the features which describe us and so along which we can find some problems we all have in common.

As long as we are all foreigners, our biggest issues are around living without the familiar things that we were surrounded by every day and getting used to a new way of living. We live here without our families, we had to arrange housing for ourselves, we are getting accustomed to biking every day. On the other hand we are students, spending time on studying, we all have a limited budget, then we are all girls who love fashion, we cook for ourselves, do groceries, we listen to music and go out, etc. Without knowing each other we succeeded to find numerous common topics as a good initial. What do we We study together but our previous education is different. One part of the group studied international business so that part of the group has a more business riented point of view, while the other part of the group has a more design oriented education. Most of us have lived in different countries other than our home country, so we have insight to different systems. We also have working experience that helped us in having an insight of the companies. “Whom do we know? ” With this question, as Sarasvathy suggests, we have to define the sources of our knowledge, such as our social and professional networks.

When an issue was considered, we defined the relative groups we can have any information from. It is important to take any stakeholder into consideration, as long as good ideas can come rom the most unexpected sources. With all these given means we defined some of the problems, interests and difficulties that we are currently facing in common. In the framework of’s model of Entrepreneurial Thinking – Effectual Reasoning, we defined different issues on the basis of the given means described above, for which there is no satisfying solution on the market.

On Figure 2 1 would like to provide some examples to our process of using the method of the “Bird in the Hand” Principle. Figure : Entrepreneurial thinking – Pool of ideas (Source: Sarasvathy, 2001) At this oint of the idea generation we had to choose one among the several given. To choose one, we started brainstorming whether we have any idea for a solution or not. So this is the second big step of the idea creation in the Design Thinking Model. Ideation – “How might we solve the problem? As long as we did not want to limit ourselves, we started to search for solution for many problems we have found. From the most unusual till the most ordinary idea, we collected everything, because even bad ideas can be the source of some really good solutions. On Figure 3 1 snow some imagined ends ot the problems. Figure : Using Entrepreneurial Thinking – Effectual Reasoning for creating the idea (source of image: Sarasvathy, 2001) Finally we sticked to the idea of finding a solution to an everyday problem: Where can we get help if we have any problem with our bike, when the bike shops are closed?

We found this problem interesting as long as we all have bikes, and some of us have already experienced how it is when you need some help and nothing is open. Moreover, biking concerns not only us but the major part of the habitants of Copenhagen. According to the Bicycle Account 2012, 75 % of Copenhageners use their bike throughout the year. Another surprising statistics is that 36 % of everyone who studies or works here uses the bike every day. So with a solution to the question above, we can say, that we would reach the major part of the Danish capital.

Biking has statistically measured benefits both for us and for the environment. For instance, as the research shows, at present rate 90,000 T of C02 per year saved by cycling in Copenhagen. Then, according to the 56% of the Copenhageners, it is faster than any other way of travelling since we do not stuck in a traffic Jam and we can easily find short-cuts. It is definitely healthier too. But it can cause some inconvenience as well as delays respecting to our schedule, in case of problems. For example what if you get a puncture going back home by night?