Business and Leadership Expert Mentors HPU Students

HIGH POINT, N.C., March 27, 2024 – Meridith Elliott Powell, who serves as High Point University’s Business Growth and Leadership Expert in Residence in addition to being a professional speaker and bestselling author, visited campus on March 18 to mentor students and meet with faculty.

Powell started the day with business students discussing sales as a relationship business and how the connections they make with potential clients are important. Leading during uncertain times was another topic she addressed during a coffee-and-conversation session with students. She later recorded a podcast with student Jack O’Donnell, a sophomore media production major from Avon, Connecticut.

During the day, Powell shared lunch with HPU students and met with five HPU deans. She also led a Leadership and Life Skills seminar at the Earl N. Phillips School of Business.

“My area of expertise is about thriving in uncertainty,” Powell said. “My passion is about helping people understand how to take obstacles and turn them into opportunities.”

She advised students to create a holistic vision of what they want their futures to look like, including not only career goals but also health, finances and relationships. To achieve that vision, she shared the following strategies:

• Focus on your vision by keeping it in front of you daily.
• Keep a positive attitude.
• Align your decisions with your core values.
• Have the courage to network.

“Networking is the art of investing in other people and building relationships,” she said. “If you don’t talk to strangers, you may lose your greatest opportunity to get what you want.”

Powell’s message about the value of relationships resonated with Elijah Sommer, a junior entrepreneurship and finance major from Concord, North Carolina.

“I’m a hard-and-fast checklist kind of person,” said Sommer. “I learned from what she said about the value of putting effort into relationships by being aware and conscious to maintain them at that level.”

Noah Richardson, a freshman sales major and supply chain management minor from Kernersville, North Carolina, said he learned from Powell’s comments about networking.

“I felt like that really related to me because you never know who you might meet and what they can mean for you if you switch your mindset and search for common interests,” said Richardson.

Powell is the founder and chief executive officer of MotionFirst, in which she strategizes with clients that include CEOs and high-ranking executives to find new ways to make their organizations more successful even during uncertain times. She has used her background in corporate leadership and sales to help shape the banking, finance and health care industries.

Powell is the author of nine books, including the award-winning “THRIVE: Turning Uncertainty to Competitive Advantage.” The book shares stories of highly successful companies that overcame adversity and continued to thrive in an ever-changing marketplace. She is also an invitation-only author for LinkedIn, with more than 600,000 followers around the globe taking her online business courses.