Adaptability and Leadership: Lessons from Mike Redwine

The Oklahoma Business Show

In this episode, I’m joined by Mike Redwine, the executive vice president at Southern Nazarene University and 2023 chairman of the Northwest Chamber of Commerce. Mike shares his journey from being a high school math teacher and football coach to his current roles, and discusses his passion for education and community involvement. He also talks about the breadth of responsibilities he has in his current position and the importance of adaptability in the business world.

Tune in to gain insights from Mike's experiences and learn about his valuable contributions to the Oklahoma business community.

Key Highlights

[00:00:47] Mike’s biography

[00:01:19] Mike’s breadth of responsibilities

[00:04:29] Managing multiple teams and responsibilities

[00:08:43] The importance of being close to the problems and solutions

[00:11:21] Micromanagement and autonomy in a business

[00:16:12] Changes and challenges faced by Mike during his 15 years at SNU

[00:23:31] Challenges faced in coaching vs. being a business owner

[00:26:33] Mike’s role and connection with college students

[00:31:27] Benefits of patience and perseverance in coaching and business decisions

[00:32:41] Value of sticking to a well-thought-out plan in both coaching and business

[00:39:06] Navigating relational dynamics in coaching

[00:42:01] Importance of appropriate communication within an organization

[00:46:14] Aspects of technology that play a crucial role in Mike’s work

[00:50:43] The convenience of smartphones

Notable Quotes

● I'm really fortunate that our current (University) president is someone that's not just my boss, but is someone that's a friend and someone that I think you know, sees things enough through similar lenses that he can help me with blind spots and things.

● It's so easy to let my mind go to worrying about the three or four misses, and then meanwhile, you have all these other ones that need your attention.

● You learn about the problem, but the solution is generally best determined by someone that's close enough.

● When you're young, it's hard. It's hard. It's hard to get younger people, you know, and young is getting a little relative, too.

● One of the fun things about football is there's one contest per week. And the entire week is preparing for that one three-hour event.

● So I think it's great to try to make sure you're differentiating. Is this a important change we're doing or is this just, you know, we've dropped the first two games and I don't know what's going to happen anymore.

● In the end, I think we all feel that, well, I think good leaders feel that if they can, even if it is their idea, their concept that they're trying to have others execute, to get fingerprints on it by those that are the next level down.

● I'm guessing as business owners, when you have employees, you, you want success for them. And, and, and because, you know, certainly from job satisfaction to pay and benefits and all the other things that we, that we want to provide for others.

Resources

If you want to learn more about SNU contact Mike at:

Email: [e-mail] or

University Website: https://www.snu.edu/

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