Tag Archive | University of Houston
November 20, 2016  

Creating A Winning Culture In Your Company

By Cheval John

November 19th, 2016

The #HTownTakeOver reignited after the University of Houston (UH) football team defeated then No.5 Louisville 36-10 in front of a record 42,822 fans at TDECU Stadium on Thursday night.

The football matchup was broadcast in front of a national television audience on ESPN and a national radio audience on ESPN Radio.

This Tweet by KPRC 2 sports reporter, Lainie Fritz, who captured the storming of the field after UH’s victory.

And ESPN had one of the best live streaming thursday night viewership this season due to this matchup

The campus has been a scene of a winning culture since Houston’s coach Tom Herman took over the team in December of 2014.

Since Herman’s arrival, UH has a record of 22-3 with an American Athletic Conference championship and a Peach Bowl win over Florida State University.

What is more impressive is that UH’s success has taken over the city of Houston

In a city that has plenty of professional sports teams, UH has found a way to get their football team into the spotlight.

UH has had success under previous football coaches like Kevin Sumlin and their softball team have been extremely successful since they began in 2001.

However, the recent success of UH’s football team seems to be in another level.

One could argue that UH’s recent rise to prominence started when they achieved the Tier One Status in 2011 by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education under the leadership of Chancellor Renu Khator.

With the Tier One status, UH were able to bring in world class professors and recruit future college students who were elite in their respective high schools from around the world.

From there, they were able to secure the funds to build the 40,000 seat TDECU stadium over the same grounds of the demolished Robertson Stadium in time for the 2014 football season.

That first year in the new stadium, Houston finished with an 8-5 record.

However, the season was considered disastrous due to the inaugural home opening loss to UTSA resulting in the firing of Tony Levine.

UH administration understood that if they wanted to take their football program to the next level in their new stadium, they had to bring in leadership who would bring in a culture of winning.

That was why they hired coach Herman to lead their football program because he played a role in helping Ohio State win a national championship under the new College Football Playoff format as an offensive coordinator for coach Urban Meyer.

Coach Herman instilled a winning culture at UH and the entire university community was onboard with the #htowntakeover movement.

The average home attendance at TDECU stadium have increase from 33,980 in 2015 to 38,953 this year.

UH administrators are trying to keep their coach from leaving the football team as major collegiate football teams are trying to hire him away from their school.

University of Texas seems to be the front runner to poach coach Herman away according to this ESPN report that the Longhorn’s most powerful boosters are trying to get Charlie Strong fired

Though UH have already increased coach Herman’s salary to $3 million a year, it seems like the money will not be enough.

The UH fans can hope that coach Herman will stay due to the stability of the UH administration who only want the best for their faculty and staff.

The above story showcases that as a business owner, you must:

1. Create a winning culture in your company

2. Allow your employees to shine in their respective roles

3. Avoid a power struggle (like the University of Texas boosters) that could tear your company apart

When you create a culture that allows your employees to shine in their roles, you will end up winning in the long term because they will go out of their way to promote you.

In the same manner as UH, customers will see your company as a place where people can grow their skills and positive recognition from outside sources will find you.

Have you created a winning culture like UH? You can leave your comments below.

September 4, 2016  

The Nation Is Recognizing #HTownTakeover

By Cheval John, September 3rd, 2016

The #HTownTakeover has officially been recognized by the USA.

It should be called the University of Houston potentially crashing the College Football Playoff party.

The reason is that Houston dismantled the defending Big 12 Champion University of Oklahoma 33-23 in front of a sellout 71,016 at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.

UH students, faculty, alumni and even the city of Houston are celebrating this epic win against a top-ten opponent.

The Cougars solidified the hype of possibly being the first team from a non-power 5 conference to make the four-team playoff.

It also makes a case for UH to be included in the Big 12 Conference.

Here is Elissa Rivas, a reporter and anchor of ABC 13 Houston responding to this tweet about the Big 12 proposal by UH

And the Houston Astros was watching the matchup during batting practice in preparation for their second game against the Texas Rangers

And UH President and Chancellor of the UH System, Dr. Renu Khator, echos the statement about the win against OU as a statement matchup.

So why is it that UH is all of a sudden the talk of the town

It has to do with their head coach Tom Herman.

Before Coach Herman arrived, UH was an above average football program under the previous head coach Tony Levine.

Coach Herman set a winning culture in the football team and even implored the college students to attend their home matchups.

And the #HTownTakeOver took root on the UH Campus and later in the city of Houston after they won the American Athletic Conference title, then the Peach Bowl against Florida State.

I can argue that former UH softball coach Kyla Holas built the program from the ground up and made them a powerhouse in collegiate sports.

Since UH softball or any other women’s sports does not garner the attention like football and basketball, they are left in the shadows of the money-revenue sports of collegiate athletics.

With the above being told, they are a few lessons that anyone can learn from the recent success of the UH Football Team.

1. You Must Have A Winning Mindset

Though the UH Football Team did not have any top recruits like their counterparts in the Power Five Conferences, they developed the mindset that they could beat any collegiate football team in the country.

They understood that to develop that winning mindset, they had to work as a team

Dave Sanderson explained on my show, What’s The Word, that the passengers of the US Airways Flight 1549 survived the plane crash because they worked together to escape the sinking plane

In the same way, we must have the mindset that we can succeed in our business and careers because sooner or later, the success will come to past.

2. You Must Be Laser-Focused on Your Goals

In the midst of the noise that UH could go to the Big 12 Conference, the coaching staff reminded the team of their goal of winning the AAC championship this season.

They understood that they had to beat OU if they wanted the collegiate football world to take them seriously as a football team.

As business owners, we hear all the noise of the rise of a new social media platforms that can revolutionize our business and that we need to be on there.

We need to stay laser focused on our goals that will eventually lead to the success of our business.

3. You Must Surround Yourself With Like-Minded People

The UH Football Program would not have achieved their success had it not been for the administration under Dr. Khator.

Dr. Khator invested money into the athletic department that allowed them to improve the stadiums around the UH campus.

And since UH Football is the main draw for the university, they are determined to keep Coach Herman at the university as long as Dr. Khator continues to believe in the athletic programs.

You must surround yourself with people who believe in your dreams of a successful career or business because they will lift you up to the next level.

The places to find like-minded people is at conferences and networking events.

And you can jump-start the friendships on social media in group chats because you will be able to build trust with your potential customer or business partner.

As I conclude this blost post for better, here are a few group chats on Twitter to consider joining:

Twitter Smarter hosted by Madalyn Sklar

Biz Heroes hosted by Paper.Li

ChatSnap hosted by Kristy Gillentine

Viral Chat hosted by Post Planner

Influencer Chat, hosted by Rebekah Radice, Ann Tran and Diana Adams

HootChat, hosted by Hootsuite

VC Buzz, hosted by Ann Smarty

Media Chat, hosted by Aaron Kilby

Millennial Talk, hosted by Chelsea Krost

Dare To Be, Hosted by Andrea Sanchez

Blog Chat, hosted by Mack Collier

Lets Live Stream, hosted by Rachel Moore