Mike Lee
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Mike Lee, co-founder of Management Success passed away on Wednesday evening August 4th, 2010.
He is survived by his wife Barbara Lee, his daughter, his three grandsons, and the two other Management Success co-founders, Bill and Stephanie Kilpatrick.
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Management Success was established in 1993.
Few people knew that Mike had been “turning over hats” and running the actions of “Power Change” since 2002. We knew, because we were key to the process.
His longstanding purpose throughout the past eight years was to systematically shift all the points of power from himself into the hands of others on the Management Success team.
The morning following his departure, after personally informing the staff individually of the sorrowing news, Barb, Bill and Stephanie continued forward as the Board of Directors.
It has always been a uniquely capable Board, well-versed in automotive repair, consulting, high-tech, and business expansion. As would be expected of Mike, the company was left in a set of strong hands who instantly assumed the reins.
There’s a history dating back over the years, that few know, but many are finding very interesting. So we write it now.
In 1992 Mike and his wife Barb lived in Santa Maria, California, jointly running Management Feedback Systems (MFS) the author of Super-Fred, a software product used extensively in repair shops.
That was the year Mike and Barb were introduced to Bill and Stephanie Kilpatrick.
Bill and Stephanie had a software company “The Software Works!” with over 100 employees in Glendale California, specializing in convenience store and automotive bay management software systems.
The four (Mike, Bill, Stephanie and Barb) launched Management Success and provided the first seminars.
Bill delivered the initial set of workshops, with Mike present, to a room of 10 shop owners.
Bill and Stephanie wrote the materials for the Management Success Training & Consulting Program, all of which are in use to this day, and have undergone relatively few changes.
Mike and Bill jointly trained teams in Management Success to handle the diverse hats in the rapidly expanding organization.
By 1994 Barb had taken over the helm of Management Feedback Systems. She, as the Executive Director, was in charge of all areas. She supervised the transition from a DOS environment to a Windows platform. She built a strong, stable operation. Having accomplished that (which was her initial aim) she passed the Executive Director hat. The company is stable to this day.
She has been, and she remains the managing board member actively overseeing the affairs of MFS. This will not change.
As Management Success expanded in the mid 1990s Bill and Stephanie passed their hats and went on to establish several other businesses including Real Ability, an on-line e-learning software company.
The two sold The Software Works! to a multinational corporation (Marconi) in 1999. They co-founded "The Acting Center of Los Angeles” which became the fastest growing acting school in Southern California.
Bill and Stephanie are skilled in establishing new activities, then putting them into the hands of others, while overseeing the affairs without inappropriately meddling or interfering with a manager’s needs to make decisions. This manager can then move forward on their own head of steam, but fully aligned with the group’s vision.
This in its simplicity involves the steps of achieving “Power” and then “Power Change” for each job in an organization, including that of Manager, President and CEO, so they can be successfully worn by others.
We love Mike dearly. The three of us, more than anyone, understand him, his quirks, his work ethic, and his passion towards the automotive repair industry.
One of the most remarkable things about Mike is the number of people he has been able to help.
He has always been a character, a thoroughly entertaining and highly knowledgeable personality indeed!
Recently, when the three of us descended, as a unified force, upon Management Success, we found a strong, resilient team was stably in place.
For example, there is Bob Spitz who has been with Management Success since 1993. Bob came up the ranks quickly as a consultant, then as an executive, and was the first to take over Mike’s “seminar speaker hat”.
As the client-base grew larger and larger, many expressed interest in being part of the team. Jimmy Alauria, whom many of you know, also came up to speed on the rigorous seminar speaker hat, at which he now excels.
Nancy Ellis, a long-time senior executive in the company, rose up from her beginnings as a crackerjack consultant. Her smooth progression is an expression of how hats are effectively passed.
Nicole Wheldon has interacted with over 5,000 of the company’s clients. She came on board in 1996 about the same time as Lisa Hunter and Robbie Krescanko, and also another jewel, Joyce Sola, an executive whom few outside the group know, but who is adored by everyone here. Joyce alone supervises about 17 of the group’s 50 personnel. There are many extraordinary long-time staff who aren’t named here.
It was not surprising to the three of us (Barb, Bill, Stephanie) that we found more than 1,000 new write-ups and mini-courses Mike had been developing as part of his role in wrapping up “Power Change”. These unpublished materials cover the topics of running Management Success, but also include many management tools for use in managing repair shops and body shops. During the final months of his life, these write-ups were his #1 focus.
There is quite a lot to be learned from all this.
Life is for the living… and the living can do so much to help others succeed (if it’s in their heart to do so, and if they know exactly how to do it.)
We write this to give you a clearer insight into the spirit that brought Mike, Bill, Barb and Stephanie together in 1992. That same spirit is what has resulted in the core strength of the current 2010 Management Success team, something that is very much alive and in action.
Mike was already planning our fall convention and we would like to open this to any and all clients who have ever done any service with management success. A link has been provided below which gives the particulars.
It will of course include a life tribute as part of one of the evening’s events for Mike.
It will also include presentations and workshops from the group’s executives, but additionally some from us.
We will tackle head-on the importance of having a hat, knowing it, getting one’s own hat on, getting it into Power, getting other’s hats on, and getting them to wear it, all according to the unique vision of the owner.
This is a high-level perspective which we know well, because we have lived it, and we are living it right now, and into the future.
We extend an invitation to everyone involved with Mike and Management Success, clients from any era (some folks showed up to his 60th birthday celebration that he hadn’t seen in 30 years).
We have asked the team to make it possible to include anyone who would like to join us no matter how many, or what that may require in terms of expanding banquet and workshop facilities, to have the largest attendance of any prior convention.
Every single bit of what we will be covering will apply directly to the sensible handling of a company, its people, and how to make it sing a great song.
Perhaps you didn’t know Mike Lee’s heritage was that of an Irishman. And this is the Irish way to move onward and ahead!
Bless you for who you are,
Barbara Lee
Stephanie Kilpatrick
Bill Kilpatrick
The Management Success! Board |
