I have a shift in half an hour

When I was a young Corpie, I always thought it was kind of curious to see the people in charge of the company taking shifts like I was. Why wasn't their time taken up by Important Business Decisions - and if they were on the contact list as Director or CEO, why were they on the schedule as Stocker or Cashier? At the time, I didn't understand it, but I think this says a lot about the Corp as an organization.

Not every student-run company does this - you don't see the GUASFCU Board working shifts as a teller. Nor would managers in most firms do the same work as an entry-level employee, even occasionally. And not that that's bad - everyone in any leadership position has to focus first on his or her particular responsibilities, or the organization would suffer. But that's not to say we in the Corp can't do our jobs better if we maintain a presence and familiarity with the critical point of customer interaction - face-to-face contact between the Georgetown community and a Corpie.

In many companies as large as ours, it would be impossible, or at least frowned upon, for the people in charge of long-term planning and broad projects to also have an intimate knowledge of operations at the level of the individual employee. Too many meetings. But I think we find this pattern throughout the Corp, at every level - as a shift manager, you know why a drawer might be off from having worked as a cashier and as a service director, you know how best to communicate with your employees because you were in their shoes maybe just a semester or two ago. And while we're at it, the shoes aren't all that different. I think one of the most important attributes for a Corp leader to have is humility - by definition, we're all pretty new at what we're doing. It's odd for someone to hold the same position for longer than a year (think if the real world operated that way!) and we're all going to make mistakes.

Of course, we're also capable of directing a lot of creative energy and Corp love toward making the place a little better. So how do we do that? Well, whatever it is that you pursue as a Board member, service director, or service UM/MM member, it will have to be realized on shift. Your project will inevitably manifest itself in the on shift environment - be it in a new drink, new POS structure, new attitude, anything. And by staying intimately familiar with that experience, you can couple that with the critical attitude of a leader and figure out what's good and what could use some attention. So with that in mind, I gotta go cash.

If kids ran the world...

The Corp Board of Directors recently chose the next four "external Board members" who will join me, Brad, and Phil over the next year to serve as the highest decision-making body of this company.  As the people in charge of the Corp's long-term vision and planning, they mirror other organizations, where the Board serves a similar function.  At many other student-run companies, the Board includes adults from the University or alumni.  Ours does not - hence the "entirely student-run".  

It took me a very long time to understand what our Board does and what their conversations are like - in fact, not until I attended my first Board meeting.  Why does this matter?  Well, for one,  Board members get the Corp discount.  So you might want to have something to talk about when they answer "I'm on the Board" to your inquiring about where they work.  What's more, it's sometimes difficult to explain how students are our "shareholders" or how we're a non-profit company dedicated to serving students, and knowing a little bit about the Board helps you understand the identity of the Corp a little bit better.

There are four students on the Board who have never worked for the Corp before.  The three officers (me, Brad, and Phil) are Corp employees.  So Corp employees have three votes and non-Corp employees (representatives of the Georgetown community) have four votes.  These external Board members or "Members at-Large" are campus leaders and general Georgetown all-stars that are chosen to advise the Corp and provide some oversight of our activities on behalf of the student body for a year.

So, hypothetically, if the Corp decided to spend money on Rolexes for the Corp Upper Management instead of spending money in the best interests of the student body, the Board could step in and prevent that.  Since of course we don't try to do that, the Board can act in a more cooperative role and help us keep in touch with our mission while we (the Corp Upper Management) concentrate on running the most innovative, efficient, profitable business possible.

That's not to say that the Corp UM doesn't think about Students Serving Students.  In fact, many of the conversations at Corp UM meetings are very mission-driven, and that's awesome.  But UM members also have a responsibility to the company to run the best services they can, so that's their main focus.  The external Board members have specific roles too, but their positions connect directly with the Corp's softer side and its long-term health.

At some companies, the Board will meet every quarter (like in Dayton, mentioned below) or even less frequently, just to make major decisions and generally keep tabs on what's going on.  Ours meets weekly, or a little less frequently, and stays up-to-date about what's going on, looking for opportunities to lend some time, effort, and expertise to the Corp through task forces, thoughtful conversations, or formal proposals that help keep us a healthy, responsible company.

They're Omar, Sunny, Nick, and Pat.  They'll be working with me, you, and the Corp to leave it at least a little better than they found it, just like all of us.