MUNSTER | Rich Pellar learned leadership at his father's knee.
Joseph Pellar founded Gary-based Crown Corr Inc., a specialty contractor of stadiums, convention centers, airports and other large structures, nearly 50 years ago. As a young boy, Rich began working for his father and became a full-time employee in 1976 at age 22.
Fifteen year later, he bought out his parents and began growing the business according to his own vision. Today, the multi-million dollar corporation has offices throughout the U.S and in the Middle East. It recently was awarded the contract to build the new Florida Marlin's baseball stadium in Miami. Crown Corr also is putting the finishing touches on MGM Grand's $8 billion complex, City Center, in Las Vegas, Pellar said.
Building Your Dreams Today is more than Crown Corr's tagline; it's the lesson Pellar teaches during a series of leadership classes at the Family Christian Center in Munster.
"Pastor Steve Munsey asked me a number of years ago to teach this class. After two years, I told him I didn't have time to keep doing it. He told me 'That's between you and God,'" he said. "I'm still teaching the class."
At 55, Pellar's tall and lean stature resembles a basketball coach getting his team ready for the big game. And the analogy is accurate. He has coached his sons' basketball teams.
Pellar's message during these 90-minute sessions on Monday evenings focuses on seven major topics, and he uses sports references and quotes from a number of books, including the Bible; "Spirit of a Leader" by Miles Monroe; Paul Orfalea's "Copy This," which explains how Orfalea's failures led to the building of the Kinko's empire; "21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership" by John Maxwell; "Raising a Modern-Day Knight" by Robert Lewis; and "Man Up! Nobody is Coming to Save Us" by Steve Perry.
His classes include lessons on attitude, purpose and passion, fear, failure and communication.
Monday evening's session drew more than 150 people from all walks of life, from company owners and CEOs to budding entrepreneurs and those who have dreams of leadership.
"I believe in life-long learning and Rich Pellar is a wonderful role model and man of God in the church," said Bill Harrington, CEO of Sterling Technical Services Group Inc. "We're learning from each other. It's not only good to get a refresher course in leadership; it's good to get different people's points of view on what makes us good leaders."
For Pastor Jim Watson and his wife, Tammy, the lessons on leadership are taken back to the Good Samaritan Mission Ministries that they run in Gary.
"I've been in leadership for 25 years," Jim said. "You're never too old to learn."
