What do the three most famous millionaires in the world have in common with the CEO of a successful simulation science SME based in Champaign?

“One aspect of Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk is particularly appealing to me. All are business leaders who” work hard and play hard. ” ” Bildic To tell. “Each one works very hard and has a great focus on growing beyond what others have done so far.”

Dick, who spent 32 years at UI’s Grainger College of Engineering before launching his own company, has both a job and a role, as evidenced by his answer to the question “The last luxury I’ve been crazy about.” Is taken seriously. Go on a 12-day commemorative trip to Bora Bora. The trip was great. The two-day trip at both ends provided a stress-free spiritual break for the days in the sun of French Polynesia. “

University of Delaware graduates take the time from the job of running Illinois Rocstar, a provider of predictive modeling and simulation software and services for industry, science, defense, and security. Editor Jeff Darescio The 95th weekly speed reading spotlights leaders of large and small organizations.

One of my unbreakable rules at work is … Please be kind to each other. We should be able to oppose without being disgusted.

I’m spartan in that regard … I bought a used car and have been running it for years. I especially like “American metal”. I am currently driving a 2018 Chrysler 300. This is the third 300 I have owned since 2004.

When it comes to the most difficult thing to be a leader … As president and CEO of a reasonably sized tech company, we have 27 employees, most of whom are under the age of 30. The hardest part is separating my leadership time from the time I spend on business tasks.

I take my role as a mentor very seriously, but it can quickly obscure what’s important. Becoming the CEO of a small business includes sales, finance, government relations, and a myriad of other “distractions.”

One of my two favorite moments happened at work … The second day the company went into business — June 12, 2007. That day, we received the first US Government R & D contract. Initially small, it was guaranteed to be able to “continue” next year.

The other was in the midst of last year’s midsummer COVID-19 blunder. At that time, the Illinois Rockstar crossed the 25-employee barrier. In short, 25 families in Champaign County were part of the Illinois Rockstar team.

I can’t live without me … MacBook Pro. And I’m the best companion. I wouldn’t go anywhere without it.

The biggest business risk I’ve ever taken is … Using all of our PPP funding (COVID-19 Payroll Protection Plan), we hired new employees last summer and expanded our staff by 30%.

So far, it has been rewarded. Give it another year or two until it settles down. With this funding, we have significantly increased our presence on the web side and expanded into several new technology areas.

The company started engineering simulations of solid rocket motors 14 years ago — think of NASA and (Pentagon) — but over the past year, considering geological carbon storage and oil and gas, underground engineering. Added a substantive program to the modeling of. Our Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Mark Brandybury, has led this effort.

My philosophy about meetings is … They need to be useful, otherwise they should not be retained. However, this is much easier to say than to do.

Private one-on-one meetings are great for teaching and ensuring that staff and I think the same way. Illinois Rocstar holds several short stand-up meetings of less than five minutes each day, with a small group of staff working on individual R & D projects.

We also hold two major meetings every other week to see the progress the group is interested in. With young and technically vibrant staff, we hold group meetings a bit more often to ensure that we are focused on our products.

I have an agenda and attend all meetings. For large meetings, the agenda is published before the start. Agendas are rarely shared in one-on-one sessions.

The most informative college class I took was … Perhaps I took a human behavior course in 1991 as part of UIUC’s Executive MBA program.

I remember speaking and discussing Robert Cialdini’s book entitled “Influence: Psychology of Persuasion” vividly. As a trained engineer, the idea of ​​including one of the “soft sciences” in my career seemed quite distant.

It wasn’t, and it wasn’t. I still use the principles taught in the university’s classes in my daily life.

I’m awake and to them every day … It’s about 7:15 am, but I rarely go to bed until 1 am or 1:30 am.

My exercise routine consists of … Full court basketball and yardwork. I go to UIUCARC three times a week at lunchtime to play basketball with a very active group of college faculty and community members.

In fact, I think they may just tolerate my game.

The other works with his wife Katrina to maintain their homes in Champaign and Lake Bayles. Both are important to our mental health.

As far as the worst work I’ve ever done … Few are listed as “worst jobs ever”. That said, there was one supervisor who was the “worst boss ever”.

I worked for the UIUC Faculty of Engineering for 32 years, developing and managing large research centers and laboratories. All the while, and in fact for nearly 50 years, only one stands out as the “worst boss.”

During my college decline, I worked with my boss. The boss almost refused to read more than a short paragraph about anything related to business or technology, and took up the position with the aim of using the institute as a foothold. It seemed that he didn’t care much about the people on the outside, and within the organization.

This was difficult for those who had never done the “worst job”.

On a 1:10 scale, the impact of the pandemic is … Overall 3, although it started to get worse, as 6.

The positives are the unexpected benefits of expanding PPP-enabled businesses, the fact that they haven’t been at home long enough to adversely affect staff interaction, and the fact that they were away from the office from mid-March to mid-June 2020. In fact, there was plenty of physical space and so on. In our office, to stay away and stay safe.

The main drawback was that there were very few sales opportunities, especially for new ventures, as there were no direct meetings or visits with customers.