Creating a Profitable New Venture

CareerCast - Life-long Career Development

Bill Strickland Many people dream of creating a venture that is profitable and positively changes lives. Bill Strickland, president and CEO of Manchester Bidwell Corporation, has done that and more. In the course of his remarkable journey, he has won a MacArthur Genius grant, served as a three-time case study for the Harvard Business School, lectured at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and founded the MCG Jazz series, the longest-running and most successful jazz label in America, which has produced over 1,200 concerts and garnered four Grammys.

Aired May 15, 2008

Bill Strickland is the president and CEO of Manchester Bidwell Corporation, an organization that has created a model for arts, education, training, and, most importantly, hope. In the course of his remarkable journey, he has won a MacArthur Genius grant, served as a three-time case study for the Harvard Business School, lectured at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, served on the board of the National Endowment for the Arts, and received the “Coming Up Taller” Award, presented to him at the White House by former first lady Hillary Clinton. In addition, he has worked with many prominent foundations such as the Ford Foundation, W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Heinz Foundation, and Pew Charitable Trust. Strickland also founded the MCG Jazz series, the longest-running and most successful jazz label in America, which has produced over 1,200 concerts and garnered four Grammys. For more information on Bill Strickland, new centers that he has opened up across the country, and Make the Impossible Possible, please visit manchesterbidwell.org.

Zero to One Million: How I Built a Company to $1 Million in Sales . . . and How You Can, Too by Ryan P. Allis (2008).

Make the Impossible Possible: One Man’s Crusade to Inspire Others to Dream Bigger and Achieve the Extraordinary by Bill Strickland (2007).

Something Really New: Three Simple Steps to Creating Truly Innovative Products by Denis J. Hauptly (2007).

Entrepreneurship: Successfully Launching New Ventures by Bruce Barringer and Duane Ireland (2007).

Entrepreneurial Excellence: Profit from the Best Ideas of the Experts by Richard J. Goossen (2007).

Raising Venture Capital for the Serious Entrepreneur by Dermot Berkery (2007).

Something New by Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (2007).

Raising Venture Capital Finance in Europe: A Practical Guide for Business Owners, Entrepreneurs and Investors by Keith Arundale (2007).

New Frontiers in Asia: A Challenge to The West by Philip Jaffe (2007).

New Venture Creation: Entrepreneurship for the 21st Century by Jeffry Timmons and Stephen Spinelli (2006).

New Business Ventures and the Entrepreneur by Michael J Roberts, Howard H Stevenson, William A. Sahlman, and Paul W. Marshall (2006).

Entrepreneurship: Successfully Launching New Ventures by Bruce R. Barringer and R. Duane Ireland (2005).

Bill Strickland Make The Impossible Possible

Read an excerpt of Make the Impossible Possible by Bill Strickland. 

Read the Excerpt