Sunday, February 9, 2014
Friday, February 7, 2014
Words of Wisdom From a Successful CEO
Had the privilege of sitting in on a lecture facilitated by Keith Koenig, President of City Furniture. FAU Business School offers a series of monthly lectures by prominent and successful local business leaders. The audience is comprised of MBA students, some faculty and local business people. By coincidence (and I don't believe in coincidences) he parked right in front of me and we both had to get our parking tickets. We chatted briefly, me sharing I had come to listen to him and complimenting him on all the great things people had to say of him as a leader. He was very humble. We introduced ourselves to each other, shook hands and met again on our way to the room where the event was being held. Nice man with great words of wisdom he shared with the students.
After going through the history of how he got started after finishing a masters degree at Flordia, his brother opening a water bed store, Keith joining his brother and the store evolving into City Furniture. Key words he shared in his success over the good and bad years of the economy, conservative business decisions, being reserved when it comes to money - accumulating money; testing the market, hiring good people and staying private. He also talked about how furniture stores are impacted by the housing market and he predicted that Florida is going to be a place to buy real estate now, encouraging the folks in the audience to buy soon if they can. He was also a proponent of our federal government as there are many things we are doing well and we will always be a world leader.
He was smart in the sense of asking the audience to share their perspectives on buying furniture on-line vs. going to a showroom and when do they go to a showroom. He is very aware of the Millennial generation being the largest generation now and in the future and how imporatnt is was for him as a leader to recognize their buying power and habits. City Furniture makes it a practice to hire college grads and grad school grads and is one of the largest companies, probably in Florida to do so.
I really like his style of speaking because he engaged the audience throughout his lecture, very interactive.
After going through the history of how he got started after finishing a masters degree at Flordia, his brother opening a water bed store, Keith joining his brother and the store evolving into City Furniture. Key words he shared in his success over the good and bad years of the economy, conservative business decisions, being reserved when it comes to money - accumulating money; testing the market, hiring good people and staying private. He also talked about how furniture stores are impacted by the housing market and he predicted that Florida is going to be a place to buy real estate now, encouraging the folks in the audience to buy soon if they can. He was also a proponent of our federal government as there are many things we are doing well and we will always be a world leader.
He was smart in the sense of asking the audience to share their perspectives on buying furniture on-line vs. going to a showroom and when do they go to a showroom. He is very aware of the Millennial generation being the largest generation now and in the future and how imporatnt is was for him as a leader to recognize their buying power and habits. City Furniture makes it a practice to hire college grads and grad school grads and is one of the largest companies, probably in Florida to do so.
I really like his style of speaking because he engaged the audience throughout his lecture, very interactive.
Thursday, February 6, 2014
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