Wendy Guillies is the President and CEO of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.  With more than $2.5B in assets, the Kauffman Foundation is one of the largest private foundations in the United States.  Guillies leads the Foundation’s work to boost student achievement in the Kansas City region and to accelerate entrepreneurship across the country. Before becoming CEO, she served as the Foundations Vice President of Communications.   She serves on numerous boards and was selected to the 2017 class of the KC Business Journal’s Women Who Mean Business.

In this Episode:

• How was the life of Wendy in the Kauffman Foundation
• Wendy’s responsibility in the legacy to make in the world of entrepreneur
• How Kauffman Foundation helps racial and injustice issues
• Wendy talks about education and how similar it is in terms of beliefs in the mandates of the Kauffman Foundation
• Resources they used in their policy
• 4 Pillars about policy ideas
• Wendy’s life aspirations
• Transition from Vice President of Communications to CEO
• Wendy’s biggest home run hit, misses taken, and lessons from it
• Wendy’s little things that add up to her big things
• Are billion dollars normal asset or not
• What Wendy feels when she changes somebody’s life
• What it’s like for Wendy to lead a group of people and able to make such a great impact

Quotes from this Episode:

“Let’s stop chasing companies and try to get on the movie, but let’s focus on growing around.” —Wendy Guillies

“You don’t have to be super smart, or have at least fancy credentials or something rich or famous to do amazing things that can change a community. Most people in this world are common people that are better everyday like working on their everyday problems and doing amazing things.” —Wendy Guillies

“Either you make a job or take a job — go work for someone or you are going to start your own thing and play people.” —Wendy Guillies

“We want equity to be built in every student. Not just the ones who have parents that pushed them to these programs, but every student has opportunities.” —Wendy Guillies

“You want to empower others to speak, you need to start vision, you need to set expectations, and that’s why you need to uniquely speak out.” —Wendy Guillies

“In any given month or year it might look like there's a criminal change, but over the long run it's a big impact.” —Wendy Guillies

“If you think about the clock, wag at your hand and look at your hand. You don't say it’s moving but when it does move, it moves the little part of it.” —Wendy Guillies

3 Pearls of Wisdom:

“No matter where you live or your walk of life, everyone wants to overcome their destiny.”

“Entrepreneurship is about human dignity and creativity and not something that speaks to everyone.”

“It’s the slow game but it’s being persistent and being patient.”

Discover more about Wendy’s works on Kauffman.org. You can also follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Rounding the Bases with Joel Goldberg Podcast was created to share the stories of men and women in business and entrepreneurship that are both well knowing and or hidden gems. Joel believes that everyone has a story and their story matters which is why Joel is eager to connect with individuals that are bringing value to their community through innovation, leadership, entrepreneurial journeys, and developing company culture. If you would like to be a guest on Joel's podcast please email us at joel@joelgoldbergmedia.com.