ReINVENTing Iowa, College of Business & Innovation
Jon Raftis
Today was yet another great day. Ames is a town that I have not spent very much time in, but it seems like they have quite a lot of commerce going on there. I was really impressed with Sauer Danfoss. Even in the midst of a wildly declining and turbulent year, the folks at Sauer Danfoss were willing to host us. I was extremely intrigued with their openness to talking about the difficulty in firing some folks recently. They also took us on a tour of their manufacturing facility and I really thought that was cool. The painting robots were awesome in my mind.
Vada Grantham had a special story. He has been an entrepreneur in every sense of the word. He has owned various companies over his career. I especially enjoyed the video that he played at the end of the speech. I thought some of those tidbits of advice from that video served as really good reminders of how I want to be living my life. That video sort of allowed me to take a personal inventory of how I am doing.
I was so impressed with the afternoon session at the Research Park. The three technology firms that spoke with us were quite refined companies. I never knew that there was that much interesting business being done right here in central Iowa. I have lived in Des Moines for many years and it was powerful for me to realize that some of these very special companies do their work right here in Central Iowa.
I thought that the IPO pitches we did with Dan Topf were an invaluable learning experience. That is some of the best hands-on work we have done so far this week. We were able to practice our presentation skills and we also really had to apply our analytical skills.
Then, of course, the Iowa Cubs game was a terrific outing! I had a great time there.
Looking forward to another stellar day of LIU on Wednesday….
| Leadership Iowa University is a program of the Iowa Association of Business and Industry (ABI) Foundation. The program is designed to bring together two ABI Foundation programs, Leadership Iowa and Business Horizons, to create a unique opportunity for college students. Leadership Iowa University will educate, inspire and develop young leaders as the foundation for Iowa’s future economic growth and encourage their on-going involvement in local communities and the state to create a better future for all Iowans. |  |
