Small Business School
The transcript for this episode
Small Business School Small Business Schoolupdated: May 2007 Small Business School|Small Business School Small Business Schoolgo to the homepageSmall Business School
Small Business School
Small Business School
Small Business School
Small Business School Small Business School
Small Can Be Big
Small Business School
Overview Transcript Case Study Video
Mike Skarr
Mike Skarr is the President and CEO
of the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce
Small Business School
Small Business School
Small Business School
Engage Your Team
Small Business School
Small Business School Small Business School Small Business School
WATCH TELEVISION THAT TEACHES
Small Business School Small Business School Small Business School
Small Business School Small Business School Small Business School Small Business School
Transcript Segments
Small Business School
1. Take Time To Give
2. Find The Cause That Fits
3. Make A Positive Impression
4. Prepare To Volunteer
5. Transform Your Community
6. Say Yes
7. Add By Subtracting
8. Engage Your Team

Small Business School

MIKE SKARR: And what makes a democracy great is kind of what you're talking about, is this volunteer spirit.

HATTIE: (VO) Mike Skarr is the President and CEO of the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce.

MIKE SKARR: About 75 percent of our population is involved in some sort of volunteer activity. It's part of the culture and the fabric of our community so you are expected to really be engaged in some volunteer capacity and we raise actually millions of dollars each year in our committee that gets recycled back in by people in volunteer capacity. So we're all involved in a variety of volunteer activities.

HATTIE: (VO) We found more dedicated volunteers at Detroit's Diversified Chemicals. The founders Arnold Joseff and George Hill run their $70 million business and still find time to work in the community.

ARNOLD JOSEFF: Even though you have to make profits, and you have to be businessmen it doesn't dismiss the fact that you can have moral values. You can have ethics, and you can have the desire to renovate and to be an uplifting spirit within an area. What we have done on a consistent basis is to take over literally abandoned properties and bring them back to life. We don't sell them. We continue to use them. They become an economical method of establishing a business that then it creates employment, technology and growth. And really it's who we are and what we want to become. It's what we want to share with others because if we can do it in our own small way, others can do it in a much bigger way.

GEORGE HILL: It's always right to talk about making the kind of profits to give you and your family a sense of security and a sense of well-being. Nothing wrong with that. That's American capitalism. But I think if you start focusing on that then you miss some of the real fun and the real joy of being a business. You miss part of the creative process. I'm not an artist or a musician, but creating wealth in the community, not wealth for Arnold and I, but wealth in the community. And creating jobs is something that we're capable of doing.

ARNOLD: (VO) The old homestead and our facilities and Glazer Elementary are all within a six block circumference from each other. And what we have here is an elementary school where according to the principal, Dr. McMurtry, 75 percent of the students either come from one-parent families or are below the poverty line. And what this school represents is an opportunity for our company to become involved in the community in yet another way because it's our employees that are involved in addition to the company. And we're going to really expand on this this coming fall because of this is the way you change America.

JIM: If all of your life is about you, and all of your life is about your possessions, and all of your life is about what other people think about you, you do not need to be here.

LEON: When I get up every morning I am sure that there's a dozen reasons that I should just rollover and cry and go back to sleep. But, I search for one, at least one reason to get up and be positive for that day. If you look you'll find it.

JOHN: What we have to do in the U.S. is continue to in effect refine or perfect what we're doing.

LEON: (VO) One small voice is small. But, when you have 3 million voices all on the same page it makes a big difference. That is what has made America great. That's what will make it great in the future.

HATTIE: (In the Studio) There is power in numbers and when every business on Main Street gets together our communities can be transformed. You've just met the movers, the shakers, the thinkers, the dreamers, the workers, the creators of wealth and work. And while they're doing all of that they volunteer. I'll see you next time.

Small Business School
Small Business School Review the study guide Small Business School

Small Business School
Small Business School

The Small Business Index of Learning Companies
Click here to be listed and linked from within this site
.