Making major corporate decisions and managing an organization takes passion and a willingness to lead. Although the world is full of capable leaders, the unique ones have a clearer vision and desire to impact the lives of those they serve. Rolling out sat down for a conversation with Leon Rollerson, CEO, and founder of All Around Entertainment.
All Around Entertainment is a company of many facets, mainly specializing in Bar and Bat Mitzvah events. The company has found much success in this realm under Rollerson’s guidance, taking them from a small team to over 400 employees nationwide. Recently, Rollerson launched All Around Entertainment Cares, a 501c3 nonprofit organization that creates pathways for success for the less fortunate.
How did you transition from being a young promoter to becoming a party entertainment business CEO?
Who is your clientele?
It’s a Jewish clientele. When a young boy or girl turns 13, they have a celebration called a Bar Mitzvah. I started doing school dances, proms, and lighting; I was invited to a Bar Mitzvah as a lighting tech and a video tech. Suddenly, he handed me the microphone, and we just went out and started doing our thing. They wanted to party, and we became cool and excited. We flip and dance with the crowd. It’s just a little difference that made us famous. Now, if I can tell someone, sometimes you don’t even know what you’re going to get into. Sometimes you just kind of fall into it, and then you got to keep it going.
How would you describe your leadership style?
I’m very hands-on and structured with my team. We love to have fun, but every day we’re building. We have to have growth. I want to bring everybody up in the organization. Many gentlemen and ladies started with me at, you know, pretty much the bottom, and now they’ve stayed with me for 10 years. They’re at the top, so it’s all hands-on. So that’s my approach to how I do business. But I have to be that way because we can’t make mistakes. We have to be on point. We have to be on time. We have to make that party exceed everyone’s expectations. So this was something that we had to be able to do.
