They have different backgrounds, goals and outlooks and LaSonia Patterson’s goal is to help these high school students become leaders across the world.
Utilizing that help, five teens earned a $10,000 scholarship for college.
Patterson, a Senior Manager for Walbridge’s Information Technology Department, leads a group of about 10 high school students in the National Black MBA Association’s Leaders of Tomorrow. The group, created in 1991, focuses on leadership, financial literacy, college preparation and career preparation.
“I want to empower these students to achieve their goals,” she said. “I try to help them think about, ‘How do I run my own business? How do I make my own money? How do I be accountable to my community?’”
As a part of the national program, teams of five students from around the country prepare business cases, develop a five year, multip
ronged strategy to turn the company around and present it during their annual conference sponsored by a college/university. Up to 40 teams showcases their business cases, with leadership from major companies serving as judges.
This year, 24 teams presented on the social media company Twitter. Teams had to go into a full-fledged financial analysis of the company.
“They had to understand how Twitter made money,” she said,
After considering all the options, Patterson’s team decided that adding a Virtual Reality (VR) capacity to Twitter would be their big push for a five year plan – but the planning was just beginning. They had to know the ins and outs of developing and using the technology, understand NASDAQ and, beyond that, understand the company’s financial position and corporate culture – what the mission, core values and vision of the company is.
As they came up with their ideas, Patterson would often listen to their presentations, guiding them to think about all the risk, extra costs or stumbles their company might face.
The business case competition is structured so that teams move on, delivering their plans to different judges until three teams remain. Those teams deliver a final presentation to the entire 300+ student attendees, while judges pepper them with tough questions.
“(When they were presenting, a judge asked) ‘Have you decided whether it’s an acquisition or growth?’” Patterson said. “Based on the financials and cost of developing technology, they decided to purchase an existing niche VR company and build from their platform. So they had to understand that company’s financials and what they would do during the acquisition.”
This year, the Detroit team’s VR idea coupled with their deep analysis led them to the final presentation along with teams from Philadelphia and Dallas.
“It can be grueling, but they knew their idea was good and they put a lot of hard work into this” Patterson said. “I was confident in their presentation, their numbers and what they were saying.”
The Detroit team didn’t just leave it at acquiring a VR platform. They developed plans to make it the “in” product, including creating a product development timeline that launched “Twitter LIVE” in 2020 to coincide with the Super Bowl and to include a concert by Katy Perry and Beyoncé with the VR offerings.
And, after meeting continually for the 12 weeks leading up to the conference, the five Detroit students placed second, earning $10,000 for their upcoming college endeavors.
“I wanted to cry,” Patterson said with a smile. “I didn’t, but I really was excited because I saw them transform.”
The Students
What Patterson finds so beneficial is the relationships the students build as this is their first “network” and the way she sees them grow during their time in the program.
There’s one student who wants to run a mental health facility for children, another who loves music (and is in the Detroit Metropolitan Youth Symphony), while another who is fascinated by the science of crime scene investigation and one who could be the next Oprah.
What makes Patterson most proud is seeing how the students mature, their interests grow and they learn to think independently in the program.
One former student, who is now attending Alabama State University, recently called her to catch up and mentioned how she recently had to work on a business case for class and could do it with ease because of the work with Leaders of Tomorrow and Patterson.
But that’s not the only story of growth Patterson can call up. Each individual student she can talk about, explaining how they’ve transitioned, grown and learned how to think independently while gathering the information necessary to make business decisions.
“It’s really one subject I can talk about all day,” she said.