John Cooper had spent the last five years working for Standard Holdings, an early-stage business development and private equity arm of the Standard Group of Companies (Standard). The job was one he took immediately after graduating from business school, and he took the position of business analyst to capitalize on the chance to work with Alan Kirkpatrick, an accomplished and well-respected entrepreneur and founder of Standard. During his years at Standard, Cooper had benefitted greatly from Kirkpatrick’s rich mentorship and devotion to the optimal development of professional relationships. Cooper acquired the confidence to fully exploit his potential and subsequently was invited to participate in many unique experiences and developed relationships with all of Standard’s key stakeholders. Cooper could not help but feel he was being groomed for a senior leadership position much earlier than expected. After receiving an interesting phone call from a recruiter, Cooper wondered how to achieve his goal of career fulfillment and began by investigating other opportunities available to him within Standard and, alternatively, incorporating his own independent consultancy.
John Cooper had spent the last five years working for Standard Holdings, an early stage business development and private equity arm of the Standard Group of Companies (Standard). The job was one he took immediately after graduating from business school, and he took the position of business analyst to capitalize on the chance to work with Alan Kirkpatrick, an accomplished and well-respected entrepreneur and founder of Standard. During his years at Standard, Cooper had benefitted greatly from Kirkpatrick's rich mentorship and devotion to the optimal development of professional relationships. Cooper grew the confidence to fully exploit his potential and subsequently was invited to participate in many unique experiences and developed relationships with all of Standard's key stakeholders. Cooper could not help but feel he was being groomed for a senior leadership position much earlier than expected. After receiving an interesting telephone call from a recruiter, Cooper wondered how to achieve his goal of career fulfillment and began by investigating other opportunities available to him within Standard and alternatively, incorporating his own independent consultancy.
John Cooper had spent the last five years working for Standard Holdings, an early stage business development and private equity arm of the Standard Group of Companies (Standard). Cooper had benefitted greatly from the rich mentorship that Standard's founder, Alan Kirkpatrick, provided. Cooper grew the confidence to fully exploit his potential and subsequently decided to leave Standard to incorporate his own consulting company. Before announcing his decision to Kirkpatrick to leave standard, Cooper was worried about the reaction he would receive. While saddened by the loss to Standard of Cooper's skills and talents, Kirkpatrick remained very supportive of the decision to leave and agreed to become Cooper's first client. Throughout the growth period of his new company, Cooper constantly reflected on the impact that Kirkpatrick's' influence had on his own decision-making. He ultimately realized the significant positive value that Kirkpatrick's mentorship had bestowed upon him when he returned to school for a master in business administration (MBA) and classmates would approach him for advice and compliment him on his professionalism and insights.
The vice-president of marketing at Arts & Crafts was reflecting on the company's extremely successful year in the music business. New artists had been added to the company's roster, experiments with digital releases and marketing campaigns had been successful, and plenty of international licensing opportunities were emerging. In addition, one of the company's artists, Leslie Feist, had received multiple music awards. On the other hand, the music industry was facing some difficulties and most analysts predicted nothing but doom and gloom. The vice-president of marketing had to consider the future strategy of Arts & Crafts while considering the overall health of the industry.