Many people claim they wish to launch a business. They claim to have lofty aspirations. They claim to want it above all else. However, they won’t commit to their company or their ideas when it’s time to put some money on the line. Simply put, they won’t make a commitment to achieving their goals. As a result, people become frustrated and hurt when they find they aren’t progressing. Five years later, they find themselves in the same position, whining about the same issues and wishing they had started sooner. What distinguishes those whose dreams come true from those whose do not? A strong dedication that endures obstacles and worries along the road. Here’s how to stay committed to your goal, even if you have no idea how to achieve it.
Robert Blackwell Jr. is the founder of Killerspin, the world’s leading table tennis engagement brand, and EKI-Digital, a digital investment consulting firm. He genuinely thinks that data can change businesses and even people’s lives. As a former Chicago stock trader and IBM engineer, he discovered that practically anything can be improved if math is applied to it. From winning at table tennis all the way to corporate decision-making, he says, “Math gives us a repeatable, statistical advantage over our competitors, and yet many of us still rely on our guts.”
Robert has written a number of articles, given presentations on the topic of algorithmic opportunity discovery, and advised business and government leaders on how to get the most out of their IT investments.
Along with serving on numerous civic boards during the course of his career, he is currently a member of the executive committees of Choose Chicago, the Civic Federation of Chicago, the Business Leadership Council, and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.
Robert founded Ali-Yah enterprises, which bears his daughter’s name, in order to assist anyone, regardless of their difficulties, in becoming a component of a sustainable economic ecosystem. His motivation to consistently accomplish and outperform comes from this endeavor. Robert thinks that arithmetic is the key to the success and effect of Ali-Yah projects.
Forget Old to Learn New
Before Robert was an entrepreneur, he was 5 years old, so he doesn’t remember much about his life before that. He shares, “God blessed me with two incredible parents who, although they were very well educated, did not have much money. They gave me a set of rules at an early age and told me that if I followed those rules, I could do whatever I wanted. I started off lucky and blessed.” Robert has always been an extreme introvert who is interested in business, philosophy, and math. And not much has changed since he was 5 years old.
To build physical strength, one must destroy old muscle fiber by improving their own capacity to do ever more difficult work (lifting weights). Robert believes that challenges are the resistance one needs to build new output capacity. Robert says, “Most of my roadblocks were of my own making, which could have been overcome sooner and easier with my own maturity and study.”
Killerspin & EKI Digital
EKI-Digital is a Chicago, Illinois-based, award-winning quantitative digital portfolio management company (IT and strategy consultancy). It helps businesses maximize the return on their investments in digital capabilities by using quantitative approaches and technologies. Large corporations have used EKI-assistance Digitals to discover and capitalize on billions of dollars in revenue and cost efficiencies.
Since its founding in 1998, EKI-Digital has provided clients with services with a focus on the public, private, and financial sectors. EKI-Digital is able to offer flexible and distinctive solutions to help clients go from uncertainty to possibility thanks to their special blend of technology and sector knowledge. Through the modernization of the application, architecture, and analytical capabilities, it has assisted major enterprises in identifying and capturing $Bs worth of value.
Killerspin, which was established in 2001, has since dominated the high-end ping pong industry. Through stunning table tennis encounters, Killerspin helps people stay in touch with the people they care about. In its online shop and catalog, it sells ping pong tables, rackets, and accessories of the highest caliber. With events, instruction, and inspiration, it also supports and builds active communities of ardent players.
At its Killerspin House, located at 140 S. Clark Street in downtown Chicago, Killerspin is pleased to welcome players of all skill levels. Robert shares, “Our UnPlugNPlay initiative focuses on encouraging employees to take a break from their computers and play a game of ping pong with their peers.”
Entrepreneur’s Success Path
Robert believes he is unemployed, so his only chance of contributing to society was through his business. According to him, success is the accomplishment of a certain goal without the use of coercion, dishonesty, or injury to others. He states, “Winning the Super Bowl is the aim of every professional football team, it is clear, unambiguous, and easy to understand.”
As per Robert, discovery and invention keep him motivated. He does not think that he can make other people adopt his vision. He states, “What I can do is define a strategy for getting the results we are looking to achieve.” He further adds, “People that do not have the same destination and strategy will eventually go in different directions and necessarily separate. Understanding this at the beginning benefits everyone.”
Balancing Daily Life
Robert’s responsibilities as a leader are to provide strategy, resources, and support for the people who have to execute the strategy. Robert wakes up early so that his brain has time to consider solutions to challenges that have not yet been solved. When they are together and at work, he follows his 25-year-old daughter’s instructions. Robert typically works when he is awake and even dreams about it. For Robert, achieving balance entails a variety of intriguing problems that must be resolved.
Aiming to Becoming the Best
Being the best in the world at what he and his team do is Robert’s ambition. This dedication compels one to systematize invention, which Robert sees as a methodological process involving thought, analysis, and experimentation. Through his experience as a trader and his study of math, history, and economics, he has realized the effects that history’s greatest thinkers and doers have had on business and society. Robert believes that everyone can benefit from looking back on the past because there are many worthwhile lessons to be learned from it. And those who make the decision to ask the right questions about their past are most equipped to fully experience the present.
Robert and his team have built relatively small businesses that have given people of good character from all backgrounds the chance to show that they can add value to their industries and live fulfilling lives for themselves and the people they are in charge of. He also founded two organizations called Quant16 and Alpha Mission, which focus on people of good will proving that the free enterprise system works for everyone. Those organizations are now led by others and contribute to helping black and Hispanic-owned businesses build generational wealth.
Points for Aspiring Business Leaders
- Commit yourself to being world-class in your field.
- Read a lot.
- You get what you want by helping others (your stakeholders) get what they want.
- Hire people who are smart, honest, and have great work ethics.