I've Caught the FEver!

I’ve always said that the only thing wrong with Flyer Enterprises is that you can’t work for the company your whole life… they actually make you retire when you graduate! After five years of working for the best company and with the best people in the world (yep, I meant what I said in the video!), it’s amazing to see how far we have come in such a short time period.

In five years, we have opened three new ventures: The CHILL in 2006, Flyer Spirit in 2007, and FE Catering in 2009. We also created the IT Group, something that is pretty unique among other student-run businesses. We survived the heartbreak of having to close our original business venture Rudy’s Fly Buy (yes, I spelled it right!) and took away a lot of lessons from having to do so. We celebrated our 20th Anniversary as a company and reflected on all the milestones along the way. We renewed our relationship with Georgetown University’s student-run business, The Corp, which was the organization we originally benchmarked off of when we wrote our business proposals for our first student-run ventures. We have constantly pushed towards better operation and management of our divisions, so much so that we are now a useful resource for other schools who are trying to start-up a similar program. I could literally go on for hours, but I’ll cut myself off there. In summary, we have made great progress in the last five years and we have a LOT to be proud of!

Since I’ve know retirement is coming quickly, I have become quite nostalgic in my last few weeks as CEO. Being able to look beyond just the day-to-day operations of our businesses, I am truly amazed and humbled by what an incredible experience we receive in working for this company. Whether you are a member of a marketing team, a shift leader, or a president of a division, you learn so much in the workplace that you would not have learned by just studying these concepts in class. You know what types of issues regularly face a business, you know how to have difficult conversations, and you know how to work with people as a team and how to motivate them to accomplish a task. And the best part is: you learn all this without even realizing that you are doing it. I encourage you to take advantage of every opportunity available to you within Flyer Enterprises. This is such an incredible experience and you really don't realize how much you have learned until it's over.

Speaking of what you learn in class, in one of my courses this semester, Business as a Calling, I read a definition of leadership that really struck me because of it’s relevance to FE. The book Greater Than Yourself defines a leader as “someone who takes up the cause to change one part of the world for the better and that these efforts are rooted in love and motivated by a desire to create a better company.” This voiced the main theme of what I have witnessed the most throughout my five years of working for Flyer Enterprises. Many of my co-workers have tried to describe this when telling someone about their FE experience, but have never really been able to put it into words. FE leaders, whether they have a formal title or not, are individuals that take personal responsibility to improve their division, leadership role, or the company in general simply because they love this experience and want other students to be able to benefit from it like they have. This is something that these leaders take on as a goal for themselves, not because it is forced on them in any way. This has been observation in each of my roles within Flyer Enterprises over the years and I take comfort in knowing that this mentality is deeply rooted in the FE culture. The FE experience is so amazing because of all the passionate people that work here and how much everyone loves being a part of this incredible opportunity.

In closing, I will always consider FE to be the most challenging, the most enjoyable, and the most rewarding experience of my college career. Once you catch the FEver, you are never cured... FE has got your hooked for life! I will be extremely thrilled to hear about all the cool things that FE will be doing next year and beyond. I am very excited for Joe Guy and his team to take over. FE is in a great place to pursue several available growth opportunities and further improve upon our current operations to only make us bigger and better in the future. I have been extremely honored to serve as Chief Executive Officer this year. It has been an incredible experience and I will forever cherish it.

FE Love Always,

Jessi (aka “Boss Lady”)