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www.Aspatore.comAspatore publishes only the biggest names in the business world,including C-level leaders (CEO, CTO, CFO, COO, CMO, Partner) fromover half the world's 500 largest companies and other leadingexecutives. Aspatore publishes the Inside the Minds, Bigwig Briefs,Focusbook and Aspatore Business Review imprints in addition to otherbest selling business books, journals and briefs. By focusing onpublishing only the biggest name executives, Aspatore provides readerswith proven business intelligence from industry insiders, rather than

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Inside The MindsInside The MindsInside The MindsInside The MindsReal World Intelligence From Industry Insiders

www.InsideTheMinds.comThe critically acclaimed Inside the Minds series provides readers withproven business intelligence from C-Level executives (CEO, CFO, CTO,

CMO, Partner) from the world's most respected companies. Eachchapter is comparable to a white paper or essay and is a future-orientedlook at where an industry/profession/topic is heading and the mostimportant issues for future success. Each author has been carefullychosen through an exhaustive selection process by the Inside the Mindseditorial board to write a chapter for this book. Inside the Minds wasconceived in order to give readers actual insights into the leading mindsof business executives worldwide. Because so few books or otherpublications are actually written by executives in industry, Inside theMinds presents an unprecedented look at various industries andprofessions never before available. The Inside the Minds series is

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I N S I D E T H E M I N D S

Inside The Minds:Inside The Minds:Inside The Minds:Inside The Minds:The Entrepreneurial

Problem SolverEntrepreneurial Strategies for Identifying

Opportunities in the Marketplace For CorporateExecutives, Managers, Salespeople & Entrepreneurs


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Published by Aspatore Books, Inc.For corrections, company/title updates, comments or any other inquiries please [email protected].

First Printing, 200210 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Copyright 2002 by Aspatore Books, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the UnitedStates of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in anyform or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, except as permittedunder Sections 107 or 108 of the United States Copyright Act, without prior writtenpermission of the publisher.

ISBN 1-58762-229-7

Library of Congress Card Number: 2002091106

Cover design by Kara Yates & Ian Mazie

Edited by Jo Alice Hughes, Proofread by Ginger Conlon

Material in this book is for educational purposes only. This book is sold with theunderstanding that neither any of the authors or the publisher is engaged in renderinglegal, accounting, investment, or any other professional service.

This book is printed on acid free paper.

A special thanks to all the individuals that made this book possible.

Special thanks to: Kirsten Catanzano, Melissa Conradi, Molly Logan, Justin Hallberg

The views expressed by the individuals in this book do not necessarily reflect the viewsshared by the companies they are employed by (or the companies mentioned in thisbook). The companies referenced may not be the same company that the individual worksfor since the publishing of this book.

The views expressed by the endorsements on the cover of this book for the Inside theMinds series do not necessarily reflect the views shared by the companies they areemployed by. The companies referenced may not be the same company that theindividual works for since the publishing of this book.


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Inside the Minds:

The EntrepreneurialProblem Solver

Entrepreneurial Strategies for Identifying Opportunities inthe Marketplace For Corporate Executives, Managers,

Salespeople, and Entrepreneurs

CONTENTS

Gary L. Moulton 11LIFE LESSONS: BUILD YOUR TEAMOF ENTREPRENEURS

Douglas P. Bruns 29DID I SAY ENTREPRENEURIALISM?

I MEANT CREATIVITY!

Rodney Kuhn 45THE CONTAGIOUS ENTREPRENEUR

Peter J. Valcarce 55IT TAKES TWO: HUMAN AND FINANCIAL

ENTREPRENEURIAL RESOURCES

Dave Hegan 67STEEL DETERMINATION: HANGING TIGHT

IN A ROLLER-COASTER ECONOMY


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Aaron Kennedy 77ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT AND PASSION

FOR PASTA: A WINNING COMBO

Greg Wittstock 89ESSENTIAL NUTRIENTS FOR GROWING A

WATER GARDENING ENTERPRISE

Kurt Thomet 105TOOLS, TRICKS, AND TACTICS THAT

WORK

David Law 121SHOOTING FOR THE MOON

Patrick Smith 133SUCCESS MAKES YOU JUST LIKE

EVERYONE ELSE

Daniel A. Turner 147LEADING A VIRTUAL ORGANIZATION

FOR PLEASURE AND PROFIT

Russ W. Intravartolo 167BACK TO BASICS: SUCCESS THROUGHETHICAL AND SOUND FUNDAMENTALS


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Mark Esiri 179SEIZING THE GOLDEN MARKET

OPPORTUNITY

James D. Murphy 191LEARNING TO FLY IN BUSINESS COMBAT

Acknowledgements & Dedications 239


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The Entrepreneurial Problem Solver

11

LIFE LESSONS: BUILD YOURTEAM OF ENTREPRENEURS

GARY L. MOULTONGlyphics Communications

Chief Executive Officer


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The LIFE Method: An Overview

The LIFE Method will help your organization build and sustain ateam of thinkers, who, in turn, will bring to your business the

very thing for which the method is named life. Too manycompanies, through poor leadership, build an environment thatcan literally drain the life out of their employees. By focusing onfour areas, a leader can ensure he or she is creating andsupporting a working environment that breathes life into itsemployees. The four stages of the LIFE Method are:

LeadershipInformation

Follow-upExecution

Just as a plant needs a specific environment to develop and grow the right type of soil, light, water, temperature, etc. so doesthe entrepreneurial company. The LIFE Method will help createthe specific environment for entrepreneurial thinking within abusiness.

Leadership

Leadership is like the soil. If it is full of nutrients (motivation,creativity, integrity, etc.), it will support the continued growthand development necessary for business to blossom. If it is fullof poisons (control, finger-pointing, dictatorship, etc.), nothingcan or will grow. It all starts at the bottom.

I know what youre thinking. Dont I mean the top?

No.

Why?


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True leaders are great supporters. They are motivators. Anentrepreneurial environment requires great leadership. When youthink of leadership, throw out the old mindset of a hierarchicalpyramid with the executive at the top.Invert that pyramid.

Did you know the majority of Abraham Lincolns letters weresigned Your Obedient Servant? He didnt sign them YourCommander-In-Chief, nor did he sign as Your President. Thisspeaks volumes about the leadership style of one of the worldsgreatest leaders.

The number one killer of the LIFE Method is ego. I call ego themorning glory of leadership. Once it has been introduced into

your entrepreneurial environment, it can quickly spread, feedingoff the nutrients needed for more productive aspects of businessto flourish, until it has suffocated everything in its path. There isnothing wrong with taking pride in a job well done; in fact, youshould promote team pride because it leads to confidence. Youwant confident employees. But if pride and confidence turn intoego, if one becomes focused more on the me than the team,that pride turns into arrogance. Contrary to popular belief, thereis no such thing as an arrogant leader. There are only arrogantdictators.

I often hear people refer to entrepreneurial management, but Ibelieve that to be a contradiction of terms. Entrepreneurs thinkoutside the box, while managers work within it. Entrepreneursfocus on breaking barriers and developing new methods, whilemanagers protect barriers like guard dogs to ensure that onlyapproved methods are applied.

I prefer the term entrepreneurial leadership. This promotes anenvironment built upon creativity and thinking the two prettiest perennials that can grow in your entrepreneurial garden. Anentrepreneurial leader will continue to push for better processesand methods and encourage thinking outside that box.


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Information

You have probably heard the phrase, Knowledge is power.This is especially true with an entrepreneurial team. They have

to know the whys, whats, wheres, and whens of each project.Unless you want a garden full of mushrooms, dont fill it full ofmanure and keep it in the dark, because nothing else will grow.

Information is like water and, if your want life to continue, youmust keep it flowing. Without it just as a plant will wilt andultimately die so will your entrepreneurial team. You mustkeep them informed by giving clear objectives from the start andcontinuing that flow of information as each project develops.

Follow-up

Follow-up is like the gardener, and the gardeners tools are themeasurables established for each project. When I was a kid, Ihad to weed our family garden.

I hated it.

At the same time, I knew if the weeds went unchecked for anygiven period of time they would take over, and there would beno harvest.

Execution

This is where you reap what you sow. If you have been focusedon life in your garden, then you can ensure a great harvest if

not, well, you reap what you sow.


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Leadership: Step Up, Then Step Aside

Entrepreneurial leadership not management, but leadership isthe most important part of the LIFE Method. Attitude reflects

leadership, to quote a line from the movieRemember the Titans.There are a many traits I respect about leaders. Foremost, Irespect leaders with a passion about what they do. When you arearound these kinds of people, their passion is contagious; it helpsyou lift yourself to the next level. If youve been around peoplelike this, you know what I mean, because youve benefited fromit, as well.

Another trait of a great leader is integrity. One person who

exemplified both passion and integrity was Abraham Lincoln. Numerous books have been published about his leadershipabilities, and I highly recommend reading them all. He reallycared about people and led by example through makingsuggestions and telling stories. At the same time, he knew whento draw the line. If people wouldnt step up, he had no problemtaking the reins to get things done. Knowing exactly when thatneeds to be done can be challenging, but its one of the greatthings about being an entrepreneurial leader.

I learned an important lesson about integrity and its worththrough a stranger when I was about 19. I was in Californiaserving in the military and had lost my wallet at the beach.About three days later, I got a phone call from a man who spokeonly broken English. He told me his home address so I couldcome and pick up my wallet. He lived in a very rough, nearlyimpoverished area. Kids were everywhere, running in the streets,

and I couldnt imagine how the families were able to supportthem. I went up to the door, and the man returned my wallet. Ilooked inside to find that everything was there cash and creditcards all there. I had about $80 in cash in my wallet, whichcould have made a difference in his life, but he didnt take it. Itried to give him some money to thank him for returning my


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people for their successes. Recognition is critical to continuedachievement. The challenge in motivating people is figuring outwhat they need to get their motors running. Some people need tobe whipped to get the most out of them; that may destroy others.

Thats the most important part of employee motivation, andmotivation is key to getting your employees to think likeentrepreneurs.

Getting your employees to think like entrepreneurs is a goodthing. The entrepreneurial leader does not have the monopoly onentrepreneurial thinking; however, the entrepreneur is critical togetting employees to think like entrepreneurs. In this case it doesstart at the top. As I stated earlier, entrepreneurial leaders offer

leadership, not management. You set objectives, then back away.Its important to think through the entire process, and that needsto be conveyed to your employees. They need to look at a problem from A to Z, which means weighing the various andextended repercussions of their actions. Often, employees are notallowed the freedom to think, so all they do is follow directives.In that scenario theyre robots, not people, let aloneentrepreneurial thinkers.

At the same time, finding and hiring entrepreneurial people canbe a challenge. One element Ive found is key to the search is apositive attitude. I have never met an entrepreneurial thinker whodoes not have a positive outlook on life. Plain and simple, itsnot hard to convince yourself youll fail. When Im hiring, Iwant people who look for ways to succeed, not people who seeonly how things can fail. Just pay attention and youll see whatkind of people they are. What I notice most about people are

their personalities and personal drive. I actually pay moreattention to these things than their individual talents because youcan teach skills. Its not so easy to teach someone to have driveand maintain a good personal attitude. Once theyre hired, youhave to create an environment in which they can thrive withoutsquashing the entrepreneurial spirit out of them.


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Thats not to say that entrepreneurial thinking is something youhave or you dont have. Just as with leadership and specificskills, entrepreneurial thinking can be taught. If I haveemployees whom I want to take the next step toward

entrepreneurial thinking, I may give them assignments here andthere to see how they carry them out. If they pick up the ball andrun with it, then they fit the entrepreneurial mold. If theyreunwilling to step out of their comfort zones, then they will probably never learn entrepreneurial thinking. Entrepreneurialthinking is teachable, but not all people are entrepreneurial, andthe entrepreneur needs to accept that. Just pay attention and seehow each employee responds. Hire and cultivate the right typesof people, and they can help you and each other grow and

progress.

This may sound like common sense, but Ive seen plenty ofexecutives surround themselves with people who just praiseeverything they do. When this happens, its no longer aboutsuccess; the focus of the entrepreneur has shifted to stroking hisown ego. You dont want a yes man particularly whenyoure in a creative mode. You want people to questioneverything when its time to be creative. You want them to lookat a problem from all angles. Thats why I may not even attendmeetings where employees are evaluating a specific problembecause I want their true thoughts, not the ones they think I wantto hear. But when a decision is made, I expect the sameemployees to stand behind it and move forward.

This is an important distinction to make. When its time to moveforward, your organization must make progress. There is a huge

value in giving clear direction, and then letting your employeeteams make decisions and take action. At smaller companiesdecisions tend to roll up to the entrepreneur. The larger thecompany gets, however, the less feasible this becomes. Theentrepreneur needs to hire good people, but also ensure that good procedures are in place, with plenty of checks and balances.


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With appropriate checks and balances, an employee can make amistake, learn from it, and improve for the future without costingthe company too much time, money, or other resources. Withgood procedures in place, the entrepreneur can feel confident the

company is heading in the right direction as it grows, which willmake it easier to step back and let your people do their jobs.This, in turn, helps your employees take on a sense of ownershipin a project and loyalty to the organization.

In most cases I think being an entrepreneurial thinker showsmore of a sense of loyalty and ownership in a business. This canbe a very positive thing, unless people begin to feel things wouldnot happen without them. Thats ego, poking up its ugly head

again.

Nothing happens because of a single person. Every business ismade up of a team of people, and a true entrepreneur knowswhen to step aside. An entrepreneur is like a perfect Marine. Hestorms the beach and moves on. If he stayed, he would just be inthe way. Some entrepreneurs are great at storming the beach, butcant step aside and let their people do what they were hired todo. That damages any sense of ownership the employee mayhave developed. Entrepreneurs are great for creating, but trueentrepreneurs see the project through creation, then hand it offwhen the time is right.

Its not always easy. In fact, the worst part about being anentrepreneurial leader is that people are always looking to youfor leadership and everyones human. On some days you maynot feel like being in leadership mode. But you have to be.

To get around this type of block I try to find a situation in whichI have to take charge and take on a job, and then force myself toget past it. In other words, I force myself to get into leadershipmode. This is particularly important when things are not goingwell. Its easy to be a leader when things are good. When things


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are not going well, its hard to be the one in charge, but thatswhen its the most critical to do your job and do it well.

Information: Positive Input

The I in the LIFE Method can stand for two things:information both the gathering and the dissemination andinnovation, which can be reached through information. This isnot to say, however, that innovation only results from delugingyour employees with information; in fact, doing so can have theopposite effect. You want people to be able to see thingsthrough, but too much information shared too soon can fuel a

feeling that things never get done. I stated earlier thatinformation is the water feeding your garden. Remember that toomuch water can drown the very things youre trying to grow.

For example, there may be 500 implementations planned overthe next five years. But after two years, only two of the hundredsimplemented may have had an impact that employees could perceive, because they dont understand the big picture. As aresult they arrive at the conclusion that the executives dontknow what theyre doing. Although your intentions were good in presenting the big picture at the start of a long campaign, itended up having a detrimental effect on the company. In caseslike this the entire company may not need the whole story at theonset, but would be better served by receiving it piece by pieceover time. You water a plant every few days. Giving it a yearsworth of water all at once just creates a flash flood.

At the same time, if things are not going as planned and youreceive negative feedback, you need to acknowledge the intentbehind it. The employee went to the trouble of voicing his or heropinion, which shows the person cares at some level. Soacknowledging the employees input will go a lot further than


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saying, It will happen this way or not at all. This approachlends itself to an environment free for the sharing of ideas.

Your job as the entrepreneur is to create the environment in

which people can ask for input and share their thoughts withoutfear of reproach or ridicule. If people ask for input, provide it, but be careful not to get into a situation where someone willnever make a decision without your input. I avoid this by askingquestions to guide the employee toward a solution. I know it canbe difficult, but calling an idea foolish or useless kills a personsincentive to try. Asking questions and guiding them toward amore effective solution teaches them to go through the sameprocess on the next go-round without coming to me. Next time

they may bounce ideas off other managers or their coworkers,rather than the entrepreneur, getting everyone more involved.More direct involvement then results in more personal vestedinterest. More vested interest in a company and its projects is agoal in itself. You want your employees to care. You want themto take initiative. How to foster these types of behavior should bepart of a companys strategic plan.

True entrepreneurs look forward to strategic planning. It can bedifficult, and it requires discipline, but there are ways to developthe needed discipline. One way to look forward to strategic planning is to anticipate the chance to fix things that may nothave been executed well in the past. The start of every strategicplanning session should begin with looking at where you wereand where your planning may have been off the mark. Then gointo an information-gathering mode, and dont underestimatehow much time this might take. Never assume anything. You

may learn that the realities of providing a product or service arevery different in the trenches than at the conceptual level. Youneed that information so you dont move forward with a half-baked plan.


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Gathering and understanding information is critical to being anentrepreneur. If there were two golden rules for maintainingentrepreneurial thinking, Id have to say theyre as follows:

1. Dont be afraid to ask questions. Many great things comefrom people questioning the way things are done. Why?How? Cant it be done better? Its not being difficult orabrasive; its looking for ways to improve.

2. Be aware of the situation around you. Look for or create aniche. Ive had the opportunity in a short time to surroundmyself with some talented entrepreneurs. If there is onething they all agree on, it isfind a niche and fill it. Just pay

attention and keep looking for opportunities.

Once the information is gathered, go into a creative mode. Thisis where it gets to be fun you have the opportunity to turn apast shortfall into a success story.

When entering the creative environment, I implement cross-functional teams, where the people hit a project from all angles.In the development stage even negative people can help point outweaknesses in a project that others may overlook. When I assignteams, I make sure they understand the end goal. I appoint achairperson for the team and ensure the chairperson has anassistant or backup. I also require that every meeting have anagenda. The chairperson and his or her backup are criticalbecause, even in a team environment, someone needs to be heldresponsible. I personally believe people will grow and innovatenaturally if you give them the room to do so. If they need help,

you give them help, but you dont do the work for them. Theteam, however, does not need to hold the reins the whole rest ofthe way. When the project moves out of the creative mode, thecross-functional team may do more harm than good. Once thecreative stage is complete, the teams need to be more focused onsucceeding stages, such as development, financing, and sales.


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Youre simply not going to hit the mark 100 percent of the time,but with proper planning up front, your misses will be closer tothe mark.

Information feeds not only your employees, but also theentrepreneur. This is another trick a few of my mentors taughtme early on read, read, read. A ton of reading helps me stayon top of my knowledge base, which helps me keep my edge.And most of my reading is not business-related materials. I likehistorical books about presidents, generals, and leaders;inspirational and self-help books; and of course, newspapers andtrade magazines. When choosing my reading material, I use alittle trick a close friend taught me. If the book doesnt require

you to have a pen in hand (for underlining the important stuff),then the book probably isnt worth reading.

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of positive input inyour daily life. There are so many bad things going on in theworld that I honestly cant see how people get through the daywithout seeking out some positive message. If you can makesomething this important to maintaining your sanity part of yourpersonal work ethic, youre already a step ahead of the game.

Why?

Because being positive is crucial to selling your vision. Beingpositive results from confidence. The best way to start buildingthat confidence is to ensure you understand the visioncompletely. If you dont understand it, then you cant sell it.People need to buy into your vision. Your personality can play a

big part in this. Two of the most useful classes I took in collegewere public speaking and acting. They taught me how to delivera message in ways people would understand and feel on apersonal level. For example, using a little humor to warm up theaudience is something businesspeople often overlook. Humorhas its place in business, just as it does in life. You have to be


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real. You have to be. If youre not passionate, then you need togo into a different business, where you can be passionate, because people will see through you if you fake it. People aresmart. Theyll know if youre not sold on it which will make it

next to impossible for you to sell it.

Follow-up: Measure and Reward

I stated earlier that follow-up is where you weed your garden. Itcan be tedious and may not be the most fun part of the LIFEMethod, but its absolutely critical.

Ensure the strategy is shared and communicated accurately. Alsoensure the phases of implementation can be measured. Businesswriter Barcy C. Fox wrote, What gets measured gets done.What gets rewarded gets done repeatedly.

Establishing measurables for each project is critical to success.Unfortunately, I had to learn this the hard way. I know that onthe surface you may think every organization understands thissimple technique, but the reality is just the opposite. Consultantsaround the world get paid a lot of money to teach companies thissimple strategy measure your successes and failures, and alignthem with your corporate strategy. You also need to create areward system for individual and team performance. This doesnot necessarily have to be a financial reward. It can be simplerecognition for a job well done. Numerous studies show peoplecrave public recognition. It also never hurts to tie performancebonuses or other incentive programs to executing well.

Of course, having measurables in place to quantify success willhelp you see improvement and focus on execution. You needobjectives at all levels individual, team, and corporate. Youshould first establish corporate objectives and expectations thatfall within your corporate strategy. Then set objectives at the


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individual and team levels to outline how you will reach yourstrategic goals. You also reevaluate your goals periodically toensure they remain in line so you dont get off-track.

So it follows that the measures attached to performance are trulyquantifiable. Theres nothing wrong with challenging people; infact, I think people enjoy it, as long as the challenges are fair,and the goals are understood. Assigning goals to employees thatthey cant achieve will only act to demoralize them, and nothingpositive can come from it.

Execution: Go for Continued Improvement

You reap what you sow. Just as a farmer receives satisfactionduring a bountiful harvest, so should you when a plan isexecuted to perfection. Remember that great entrepreneursmeasure success by continued improvement, not by financialaccomplishments. To progress means to learn from eachexperience, whether it was a success or a failure. I think it wasLouis LAmour who failed to get a book published 16 times before his 17th attempt was finally accepted. What lessons doyou think he learned at each failure? Yet, because of his tenacity,he continued writing and making submissions to publishers and look what he accomplished. Another lesson from this is thatsome failures are simply caused by bad timing. What do youthink happened to those 16 unpublished manuscripts, once LouisLAmour became a published author?

Always realize that execution is a dynamic not static process.

You may find that you move back and forth between follow-upand execution as you implement a project, learn that somethingneeds to change, go back, make adjustments, and relaunch. It canhappen 20 times. Or it may be a perfect plan, executedflawlessly, resulting in the birth of a new leader in yourorganization. These are the moments that make it all worth it.


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The greatest reward a leader receives is to watch the progressionof individuals as they blossom into great leaders themselves.

How you can help is by being clear in what you expect from

your employees, then backing off and letting them do their jobs.If you have set clear objectives and offer them the support of atrue leader, then they will find a way to accomplish them.

Entrepreneurial Legacy

I do not recall where I heard it, but isnt it interesting that a six-foot-tall man can have all the agility in the world, while an eight-

foot-tall man can barely move? It is the same in business: Largecompanies tend to be lethargic. They get caught in the corporateweb, where employees are simply faceless numbers. This is sad.Tapping into employee wisdom is tapping into one of thegreatest assets a company has; yet so few take advantage of it.

Because of the rapid changes in technology, companies thatthink entrepreneurially will thrive, regardless of size. The bigthing today wont be the big thing tomorrow. Entrepreneurialcompanies will make adjustments to shifts in the market andmake necessary changes to accommodate new technologies andneeds. Doing so will ensure that the company will survive andthrive.

The best entrepreneurs are those who can see a project from the50,000-foot level. There are a lot of ideas in the world, but theyget nowhere unless they are put on paper. Translating the idea to

paper forces the entrepreneur to think it through in detail; then heor she has to communicate it well to the employees. I have met alot of people with amazing ideas, but, sadly, they end upjustifying why its not the right time to move forward with them.Justification is the great killer of entrepreneurialism. If you can


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think of one reason something should not be done, look againand think of five more reasons it should be done.

Gary L. Moulton is cofounder of Glyphics Communications, Inc.,where he currently serves as its chief executive officer. In this

role he is responsible for developing and implementing

corporate vision and strategy. He also plays a critical role inestablishing new products and maintaining client relations. With

his extensive experience in operations and customer service, hebrings a unique perspective to the companys overall directionand vision for the future.


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Creativity Rules

I do not practice entrepreneurialism, whatever that may be. Iunderstand that in a book about the mind of the entrepreneur, this

is heresy. But the word is heavy with meanings about which Ifrankly am not sure. Like many overused words and phrases, ithas lost something in the generalities of common usage.

It is my nature to reduce things to a simple level. The wordentrepreneur is derived from the French word meaning toundertake and is closely related to the word enterprise. Allundertakings are acts of creativity. A journey, a career, amarriage they are undertakings creative in nature; that is, at the

outset you cannot be sure of the end result. And getting fromoutset to completion will test your resilience and your discipline,but most of all your creativity. The undertaking will be rife withchallenges, over which only creativity masters.

That is my long-winded way of saying that creativity rules in the business arena. This was first impressed on me when I wastoying with the idea of starting a business. Over beers with asuccessful business owner, I was inspired with the simple advice:Make something out of nothing. If ever there was an idea tocaptivate an imagination! It was the best advice I ever received.Thinking creatively is the standard at our company. Allchallenges are subject to passing the creative test. I have yet tofind a challenge (read: problem) that cannot be solved by acreative approach.

You Can Be Creative So What?

For purposes of this monolog, if we agree the word entrepreneur(with its derivatives) is synonymous with creativity, we canperhaps approach our business questions from a different (dare Isay, creative?) angle. For instance, how do you make a business


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creative (entrepreneurial)? Or how do you find people who arecreative? Or my personal favorite: How do you think creatively?

Once I was bitten by the challenge of making something of

nothing, I had to wrestle with the realities of the task at hand.Sure, you can fancy being a creative thinker, but how does thattranslate into paying the rent? History is filled with stories ofstarving artists. Being a creative businessperson is hardlydifferent. Statistically, start-ups fail at an alarming rate.Eventually all businesses have to sell something a product, aservice, an idea, or even a vision. Identifying an opportunity is afancy way of saying you need to sell something and arewondering how to market it. And the sooner you figure this out,

the sooner your business will start to generate its own red bloodcells that is, cash flow. (Cash flow, which results from sellingor billing for something, is the blood of all business.)

The biggest trap in the early stages of start-up is to forget theinspiration of creativity and fall into the trap of thinking likeeveryone else. We started our business in one of the mostsaturated markets in the country, home to two of our industriesgiants. Competing on their terms was not an option. Now, afteralmost a decade of successfully practicing business, weunderstand we are and will remain most successful whencompeting on our own terms. Going to market in a mainstreamway was not a creative option for us. The moral of the story?Staying the unique course, being creative, and competing in afashion of our own design consistently wins the day for us. Thecreative challenge is: How can we be different in a better way? Ifyou base your answer solely on a product platform, you will

eventually be disappointed. Products are static. They remainunique for only a finite period. Creative organizations aredynamic, ever challenging the pull toward the static.


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Embrace the Challenge of Change

Change forces creative choices. It creates opportunities. It seemsthat organizations, like people, either like change or are afraid of

it. Fear of change is related to control: If things change, will Ilose control and lose business? If there is a competitive change, acustomer change, or a marketplace change, will my companylose business, market share, or money? We teach the opposite.We practice the theory that change creates opportunities, thatcontrol is ephemeral in a dynamic market. The only constant isthe ever-moving target of opportunity.

Lets say, for example, that a company with which you have no

relationship acquires your largest customer. The immediateconcern is that you have lost a customer, that you have lostcontrol a natural reaction. The discipline to look at the situationcreatively requires effort but is worth it. The situation is rife withopportunity, obviously oriented toward expanding market shareto a new customer, rather than losing share. So pull your teamtogether, share knowledge and information, develop a strategy toapproach the new customer, publish some marketing informationspecific to the acquired customer, touting your companys pastperformance or products. In other words, accept the challenge ofchange.It is good to remember as an organization that control is elusive.You will never get everything buttoned down, never have yourarms around it all, or get everything set. It is like squeezing aballoon: Squeeze it here and it will bulge there. The sooner youunderstand this, the sooner you can peer into the future of changebefore you and search for the opportunity you know is out there.

The Creative Leader

In the spirit of being contrary, we dont think much aboutmanagement or management style. We focus on leadership. We


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practice under the impression that everyone has an element ofthe leader in them. Some people are comfortable with their personal sense of leadership, others less so. It is theresponsibility of those in charge to discern individuals with a

sense of leadership about them and nurture that sense. Thestronger the leader, the more risk the individual is capable ofassuming, and the more responsibility that individual mustmarshal to creatively (and successfully) manage the risk.

People talk about entrepreneurs as risk-takers. On the contrary good entrepreneurs are masterful at identifying risk anddeveloping a plan to manage and offset risk. They must becreative to think in this fashion, and they must convince others

(leadership in action) of the correctness of their perception andplan. The more frequently they practice this discipline, the betterthey become at it.

There is much banter about empowerment in the workplace.This is especially true in what are deemed entrepreneurialenvironments. It is our opinion that individual leadership equalsempowerment. That is, the more leadership an individualexhibits, the more responsibility they will assume. Responsibilityis what makes an individual feel empowered. People likecreativity. Creative people are often leaders for that reason.When such an individual emerges in your organization, exploitthem! Or, to be more PC, encourage them.

Good leaders are made. Great leaders are born. If you find agreat one, more power to you. In the meantime, make leaders bychallenging the creative instinct in your workforce. We have all

heard stories of the line worker who engineers a better way toinstall a widget, takes the idea to management, and subsequentlyreduces the manufacturing time and cost. The line worker isprofiled in the company quarterly and gets a raise or some otherreward. The workers creative insight into the manufacturingprocess is an act of leadership. He was thinking about a process


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and improving it. He was challenging the status quo. And he wasdoing so because he worked in an environment that encouragedand rewarded such energies.

Good leaders get better and better. Creativity, like ambition,feeds on itself. The more you experience it, the better youbecome at it, and the more frequently you want to exercise it. Itis clich to say good leaders inspire, but as with all clichs, thereis an element of truth to it. Leadership by definition does notwork in a vacuum. It requires interaction. Leadership is a wavethat shapes the beach it breaks against. It is extremely satisfyingto see the results of good leadership. Confidence in the goodleader is always present. A good creative leader will understand

perceptions that are not apparent to others; they will see andthink in a way that distinguishes them from others. This comeswith experience and confidence. A leader will assume the riskfor decision making. Once risk is identified and managed, it isminimized, and the leader will stride forward with confidence.Risk aversion will hinder the creative leader.

Leadership is a responsibility not to be taken lightly. Theunderstanding of risk to the project must be identified and a planfor management designed. It requires discipline and warrantsseriousness. The idea that the creative leader (i.e., entrepreneur)flies in the face of risk and, damn the torpedoes, movesforward is outdated. Believing too much in ones individualeffort creates an ego that negates the value of good leadership.Good leaders know they are good because of the people whofollow them. Without a team, there is no leader.

The plan to address and manage the leaders understanding ofrisk is the leaders first team project. Guiding the team to victoryover risk to the successful completion of the project is theultimate goal. Creative leaders will always be on the lookout forchanging conditions and will respond quickly. That is why manysmaller companies are the envy of large organizations: They can


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respond quickly and are guided by creative leaders who have thecapacity to address risk and change efficiently.

A good leader is a team builder. Teams are built on shared goals

and aspirations. It is the job of the leader to creatively show theteam how the goals will be accomplished and how the team will personally contribute to the process. If your business were asports team, who would write the playbook? The creative leaderwould. Who calls the plays? It depends. Some plays get called infrom the sidelines, but the best calls are made on the field, wherethe view of the goal line is most direct. In this manner goodmanagers and good employees are developed, as they are theones not only running the plays, but calling them, too. If the

leader/coach calls in all plays from the sidelines, the team willalways depend on the leader/coach. But the true team workstogether most effectively and creatively addressing thechallenge on the field. This is how vision is shared andleadership is passed among the team. Moving forward the mostdiverse team of decision-makers will be the most successful.

Prepare for the Climb

As I noted earlier, the general perception of entrepreneurialendeavors is one of risk taking and independent thinking. I havea friend who is a high-altitude mountain-climbing guide. He hasby all accounts an occupation with a very high degree of risk.There is no question that this is the case compared to, say, beinga receptionist. Mountaineering is inherently more risky thananswering a phone. But the mountain climber has not set about

his task recklessly. He simply must have a more risk-inclusive plan than the receptionist. The good climber, like the good business leader, will be prepared with a plan to address whatcould possibly go wrong. The good climber will not set out for asummit push until conditions are on his side in favor of victory.He is not reckless, despite the general perception to the contrary.


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The good creative leader, the superior entrepreneur, will belikewise prepared for unknown challenges. He does not set outrecklessly on his endeavor.

All industries and even most businesses are different and unique,each with its own time line and business cycle. We joke that ourcrystal ball gets cloudy beyond six months, which, for our planning purposes, defines long-term thinking. Our cycle isdefined by our sales cycle. Other businesses are subject to theirown terms. The cycle does not matter. What matters is that anorganization, lead creatively, will attempt to manage identifiedrisk within its working time frame. The climber takes enoughfood and supplies for the allotted time to summit. Should

conditions within the time frame change because of weather orinjury, for instance, the climber will have a contingency plan:bail, set about a different route, or bivouac until the storm clears.The creative organization is no different. It will have set out onits defined route anticipating potential problems and challenges.For instance: Is cash flow sufficient? When will this competitivewindow close? How long will it take to make the widget or writethe code? Asking the questions is important. Having a plan toanswer them is absolutely necessary for survival. The better theleader, the more insight he or she will have when considering therisks that might arise as the business moves forward.

Lastly, there is, of course, no way to fully anticipate all potentialrisks. Many are outside your control. In mountain climbing thisis called objective danger. Objective dangers are the things thatcan potentially go wrong over which the climber has no control a loose rock, an avalanche, a deadly storm. As in climbing,

objective dangers in business present unique challenges to thecreative leader and to the organization. Objective dangers mightinclude a lawsuit, a distribution shift, or a technology breakthrough. Properly viewed, some objective dangers, likechange itself, present opportunities for creative thinking andaction, but some, frankly, will force you off the mountain to base


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camp. Some will force you to hunker down and weather thestorm. This is not a failure of leadership or a breakdown of theorganization. It is a fact of life. Survival is paramount, and suchconditions will bring out the best in the leader and the

organization.

We ask what our goals are. The balance of risk against rewardapplies here, too. The most difficult summits, the most technicalclimbs, are the most rewarding. They also carry the most risk. Isyour organization fit for the goal you, the leader, have defined?Has your team trained sufficiently? Are they technically capableof the goal you have chosen? If the answer to any of thesequestions is no, then you have either not chosen a realistic goal,

or your team is lacking. Face it, any leader worth his or her saltwill aspire to lofty goals. There is nothing wrong in this, with theunderstanding that the goal and the time frame are in balance,and that the risk and the risk-management plan are in sync.When the balance is off, the results will be off, too.

I have heard of failed start-ups that were undercapitalized.There is no such thing as being undercapitalized. The reality isthey overspent. Or, as grandma was fond of saying, Their eyeswere bigger than their stomachs. We are speaking in financialterms, but being undercapitalized is a not only a problem ofdollars. The goal must fit the resources and the vision. Thefitness level must equal the challenge for success to happen.Vision and resources are types of capital, too. The creative leaderwill know what is within reach of his team and stretch them tothat goal. If the goal is out of sight, the leader has failed. If theenergies necessary to accomplish the goal (not enough capital or

manpower or time or talent the list goes on) are insufficient,then the goal is unrealistic. Knowing the capacity for challengeis the leaders responsibility, as is being a good route finder ormap reader. Being creative and of sufficient vision to determinethe route within the teams capacity is the mark of the goodleader.


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Nurture the Creative

I mentioned finding individuals with a sense of leadership andnurturing them. I could as easily talk about getting people to

think creatively, or entrepreneurially. Leadership and theability to be creative are not universal qualities. Some people arenot meant to be leaders. Some people, even if they could thinkcreatively, would rather have someone else do the thinking forthem. There are places for such people, but they are not usuallyfound in a highly creative or strongly entrepreneurialenvironment. They tend to migrate to the largest of organizationsor government agencies. Creative people seek out opportunitiesto be creative. If a leader develops an organization sensitive to

such people and their needs, feeding them opportunities toexpress their leadership and their creativity, they will flourish,and so will the organization.

My friend, the mountain climbing guide, recently turned backfrom a summit attempt with a client. He didnt want tosucceed, he said of his client. Physically, he was capable, butmentally, he did not want it enough. He went on to say that inclimbing, every quality good and bad is on the surface,exposed. In business, things are more subtle, but the perceptiveleader will still discern the good and bad. And the excellentleader will filter the bad out of the organization and replace itwith good. That is the first step to nurturing the creative: Knowwho wants the summit. Second, make the aspiring creativeleader work hard; that is, give the individual tasks in excess ofthose given to his or her peers. Dont be afraid to test theirmettle, challenge them, and force them to exceed in ways they

had not previously thought possible. Force them to conditionthemselves for their summit bid. Third, reward them. Pay themwell, and give them authority. Be slow to give them advice whenthey seek it. What do they think? Tell them to act on theirintuition. Be candid with them. Share information. Include themin discussions. Ask their advice. Every turn in their direction


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builds their confidence, underscores their authority, and teachesthem to stretch themselves. Soon the summit will be within theirreach. When that happens, stand back: You have a creativeleader on your hands.

These are simple ideas, really. The focus is no more complicatedthan bringing out the best in people.

Hire for the Best Fit

Hire everyone who walks through your door who brings youvalue. Practice this even if you dont have a position for them at

the time. A good hire, someone who is creative and ambitious,will find a place in any organization that values creativity. Wehad an early hire, a person of value, and we couldnt figure outexactly how to pay him. We both knew it was a good fit, but themechanics were uncertain. He came in on Monday, holding hisRolodex, and said he was ready to work, trusting we would workout the details. Five years later, he remains a valued employee,making, incidentally, more money than he ever made before.

I share this story because it speaks to a number of qualities wevalue, qualities that have served us well. First, all parties thenew hire and the company must be confident of the fit.Hemingway described a writers most essential gift as a built-in, shock-proof shit detector. Hiring is very much the same. Alot of people interview well but disappoint later. Whoever ishiring must know the real thing when it walks through the door.In the example I shared above, the hire was first and foremost

based on shared values, not economics. So hire first because youare convinced of the persons intrinsic worth to yourorganization. This is a difficult thing to determine through theinterview process; consequently, whoever is doing your hiringneeds a pretty good you-know-what detector.


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Second, the hire noted above was a creative risk-taker. Thisspoke volumes to us about his ability to function and performwithout having to have the job laid bare for him. The best hiresare the ones who understand the position will be different

tomorrow than it is today. Most important, they accept thechallenge of changing it directly. Base the hire on theindividuals commitment to change the nature of the position, thedepartment, and ultimately the organization.

Last, build teams. Our early hire saw a position where both of uswere putting skin on the table. It was less a company hiring anemployee than it was two people rolling up their sleeves andgetting a job done. We dont have people working for us; we

have people working with us an important distinction.

Loyalty Through Ownership

One can be loyal to a company, a person, a country, or even anidea. A process will garner loyalty, too, as will a method.Loyalty is created when a person believes in someone orsomething. The process of creative hiring rewards theorganization with loyal employees. They believe in theorganization because they deem their individual contributionvaluable to the organization as a whole. We all like to be loyal toa thing we have helped create. It is in our nature to believe in our portion of that which we have helped create. The organizationthat is filled with individuals who have been challenged tocontribute in creative ways is an organization filled with peoplewho believe in the organization and share in its goals. Like all

things of value, work is required to ensure the success of thisendeavor. Upper management, owners, and every leader in theorganization must on a regular basis demonstrate their interest in,and commitment to, the contribution of others in theorganization. Some organizations pay lip service to this idea.


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Such practices are quickly sniffed out, though, and cynicismgains a foothold.

Take notice when creative practices are employed by those less

likely to contribute. It will send the message that everyone is partof the process. We have a practice of putting our servicemanagers in front of potential customers. In our business, theservice managers are where the rubber meets the road. Theymake it happen, often taking months of effort in design and salesand putting it into action on the customers site. Who can besttalk about creative solutions to potential customers? There is aplace for the executive sales pitch, but is there a person in yourorganization whom your competition will overlook in their effort

to impress with their suits? Dont underestimate your resources,resources which for entrepreneurial organizations are often lessdeveloped than larger and less dynamic organizations. We have been told on many occasions that meeting our in-field guysfinalized a deal for us, usually at the expense of ourcompetitions failure to do so. Obviously, securing the businessis important. Of equal or even more value is the enthusiasmeveryone in the process experiences.

Here are some golden rules that briefly summarize the art ofbeing an entrepreneur:

Be creative. Imagine What if? Challenge the status quo. Train for the summit every day. Quest for leadership where it is not apparent.

Where leadership is apparent, strive to make it better. Do not give up until it is physically impossible to satisfy abusiness need.

Fill the organization with complementary talent. Be lean and never spend more than you have. Honesty will earn trust.


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Expect more. Have fun.

The Entrepreneurial Difference

Creative people are different from most people. Most people arenot creative, so to be creative is to be different. As Ive argued,entrepreneurs are creative people in a business environment. Ithink you can learn to become creative, just as you can learn topaint or garden or cook, all having elements of satisfaction forthe creative individual.

Business is a disciplined approach to puzzle solving. Thecreative practitioner of puzzle solving will learn to see thepicture from the fragments on the table before him or her. Just asthere are people more or less talented at painting, there areentrepreneurs who are more or less creative puzzle-solvers.Therein lies the distinction, measured in degrees of marketplacesuccess. Often the individual who starts the business, the originalcreative founding member(s), is not the leader who grows thecompany beyond the mature stages of start-up. Management ishired, not only because the organization requires additionalleadership, but also because the talent that started theorganization is the not the talent necessary to move it forward.

Lets say a business problem presents itself a competitivethreat, a takeover, a distribution challenge, or a logisticalproblem the nature of the problem does not matter. What doesmatter is the approach to the problem taken by the individuals

charged with solving it. The world rewards the creative thinkerin the business environment. Better mousetraps are built bychallenging conventional design. If the same or a similar problem presents itself to several organizations, or, say, to anindustry, the most creative approach to solving the problem willrule the day. Of course, government and legal intrusion will


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THE CONTAGIOUSENTREPRENEUR

RODNEY KUHNEnvision Telephony

Founder and Chief Executive Officer


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You become a successful entrepreneur first and foremost byfocusing on the customer. I believe if you focus on the customer, believe passionately in solving real customer problems, andexecute well-designed plans, then you have the road map for a

successful growth strategy. The customer must always remainthe focus, and helping solve their problems must drive your business across all departments. Solving problems in anentrepreneurial manner requires the ability to think flexibly andadopt the perspective of the customer. You can choose from onlya limited number of options, and you must explore them,evaluating the risks in the face of the rewards and making yourdecision. An entrepreneur must be able to trust his or herintuition when making decisions. The entrepreneur must

remember that intuition is the competitive edge that assists withdecisions. Sure, you might make a mistake or two along the way,but people who live through failure come out of it stronger and better able to identify risk and reward when making futuredecisions.

Being an entrepreneur also means encouraging anentrepreneurial culture within your company. The longevity of acompany lies in building the right culture. You must create aculture that allows other people to help identify opportunities.Risk must not be feared. It must be a culture focused ondelivering value to customers, and your employees must knowthat every idea needs to support this priority. Companies with anentrepreneurial spirit are more nimble, more customer-driven,more innovative, and better positioned to add value for thecustomer. They are more likely to diversify, grow, and continueto add more customers. From this, the company will provide

better returns to employees and shareholders and be moresuccessful. Create value for your customers first; value for yourshareholders will automatically follow. This will provide a deepfoundation for the long-term survival of the company.


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Details, Details

To be an entrepreneur, you must want to be a leader. Anentrepreneur always wants to erase a need, improve a life, or fix

a problem. This takes massive amounts of drive and passion thatcannot be taught. You must have a high tolerance for failure andnever become a critic of yourself. These qualities must fall intoline when the right opportunity presents itself.

As an entrepreneur, you must have the knowledge necessary todeliver the product or service and the business skills tounderstand what it takes to build a business model. It isimportant to build a solid business model, one that takes into

consideration financing, planning, hiring, and managing, and tobe able to execute against that model. Build a model that startssmall and can grow large. For example, profits are often left asan afterthought in many entrepreneur business models, but it isabsolutely critical that you have a well-defined plan to achieve aprofitable business, or you will fail.

After youve established a business model, it is essential toexecute the business plan as efficiently as possible. Executionmust be stressed from the top of the corporation down. Keepyour eyes on the details. This requires the ability to rallyindividuals to execute according to the model. I am a firmbeliever that the devil is in the details and that good businessesare run by managing details. Managing details while stillfocusing on the customer is the key to running a good business.

The first thing I do to ensure efficient execution is to establish a

clear and direct process. The goals must be articulated simply,and there must be a clear way to measure progress. An integral part of any execution is the management team. I believe that behind every great entrepreneur is a strong management team.There are too many details for an entrepreneur to do it all alone.


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A successful entrepreneur knows his or her strengths andweaknesses and hires top-notch people to help execute the plan.

The Entrepreneurial Team

An efficient management team must be made up of people whounderstand and know their particular parts of the businesses verywell. If the entrepreneur does not have marketing professionalswho really understand marketing, sales professionals who cansell, or product development people who know what it takes todeliver a quality product, then the vision will never be realized.It is necessary to build the skills of the team and empower them

to do their jobs to the best of their ability, according to the goalsof the company.

To be an entrepreneur, you must always be planning for thefuture, and that means keeping communication open andcontinually reiterating the business goals. While engulfed in day-to-day business, entrepreneurs sometimes do not take the time toput a plan in place to ensure the business remains on track. As aresult, a company may lose its direction. You must executetoday, but you must also plan for tomorrow. In planning for thefuture, it is important to ensure growth by doing several things.First, I believe it is crucial to have regular off-site meetings withthe management team, where you can escape, take a step back,and assess where you are and where you need to be. You need toask: Where are we going? Are we on the right track? Should webe here now? What alternatives do we have? If you are luckyenough to build a company so that it has a long future ahead of

it, then getting away from the daily details to plan for growthwill become that much more important. Break down yourobjectives into financial, market share, and customer satisfaction.Put plans in place to grow; then communicate the plans to theentire company and execute.


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Next, for each department, you have to set clear objectives thatsupport the overall corporate goals. And it is important toconsistently measure progress. For example, I have set a goal tohave 100 percent customer reference-ability. To achieve this,

we communicate a clear customer lifecycle that defines the stepsevery department and employee will take when working with acustomer. We have also developed a program to measure thelevel of customer satisfaction. Having well-defined objectivesand continually reviewing progress are vital to achieving results.

Communicating objectives to the company is also critical. Thecorporate vision must be clear, concise, and easy to understand,or your employees, customers, and investors will not grasp the

direction of the company. Goals must be clear and objectivesmeasurable. This is essential, no matter the size of the company.When you are a small company, you are primarily striving tocreate the niche that will gain your initial customers, or what Icall launch customers. As the company grows and more peoplebecome involved, the entrepreneur loses the direct contact that brought early success. This is a hard transition for theentrepreneur because he no longer has daily contact with peoplewho are now integral to the execution of the initial plan. Now itis vitally important to expose every part of the company to everyaspect of the business. This is why there must be regularcompany meetings that inform employees about the financialprogress of the company and outline short-term goals, as well asthe long-term plan that keeps the company on target for optimumopportunities. This will ensure people are not isolated. Whenemployees are isolated, they will start to play politics and focusinternally on their own career paths, rather than externally on the

customer, which is where the focus of an entrepreneurialcompany should be. Good entrepreneurs are excellent atarticulating corporate objectives and understanding how thecompany as a team is performing to reach these objectives. Theymust then make sure the employees keep an external focus onthe customer and work as a team to succeed.


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Building Entrepreneurial Spirit

Acting entrepreneurial is essential in pursuing opportunity andbuilding a flexible company that can achieve both initial goals

and those developed along the way to sustain the future growthof the company. The opportunities you pursue should be onlythose that make good business sense. Is there a customer? Can Ireach them with my current infrastructure, or do I needadditional capital? Can a profitable business model be built toaddress the opportunity? It is important always to put yourself inthe customers shoes when determining whether to pursueopportunities. For example, if there is something that needs to be bridged, simplified, delivered, or provided I constantly ask

myself if it makes sense from the customers point of view. Ialways ask the question: Would I buy it if I were thecustomer? If the answer is yes, I will pursue the opportunitywith due diligence. Then if the initial hunch continues to makesense, and it fits into the overall business goals, I will pursue it.

Acting entrepreneurial means managing both people and the business entrepreneurially. For me, this means touching everyaspect of the business. It means keeping in touch with customersand traveling with the sales force to understand how we are positioned competitively and what our customers are facingwhen trying to reach their customers. It also means beinginvolved in the financial details and getting the productdevelopers to understand the big picture of where the product isgoing and how important their contribution is. You have amanagement team in place, and you must trust them implicitly, but always reserve the right to go further to understand how

things are working and to help identify how they can workbetter. A successful entrepreneur is interested in all parts of the business and is involved in building the entrepreneurial spiritthroughout the business.


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Building the entrepreneurial spirit has to be contagious. This iswhy it is important to ensure that the vision and spirit arereinforced in every employee in the company. Innovation iscritical not only to the growth of a company, but also to the

effectiveness of employees. Employees who have theentrepreneurial spirit take more initiative and tend to have moreefficient approaches to doing their jobs. This is difficult toinspire; it requires keeping the right perspective. Again, ifemployees become isolated, their goals will turn in onthemselves; whereas, if they stay focused on the big picture andcommon goals, they will be more productive and more willing toinnovate and succeed. Employees cannot adopt an islandmentality. They must all be out touching the customers in some

way. For instance, the marketing team must not get away fromthe customer and start viewing the market as an entity instead ofas people. Building entrepreneurial spirit throughout thecompany makes for innovative employees who promote growthby bringing new products and new ideas to the people who buythem the customers.

A leader can do many things to set the tone for the company.You can, for example, bring product developers to visit acustomer so they know that what they are developing is for anindividual, a person who uses the product daily and whose use ofthe product is critical to their success. The customer puts his orher livelihood on the line to do business with us, and everyoneinvolved in the process must understand this. I believe the wholeorganization must be focused on the customer to keep itentrepreneurial.

The entrepreneurial spirit must also be reinforced by thewillingness to take risks. Employees must be encouraged toinnovate and change. I try to make sure our employees knowtheir ideas will be challenged along the way, but any good ideathat will make things better for our customers will be pursued.


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This is why it is critical to hire employees who are innovativeand willing to take calculated risks to drive forward. These areA players, and they are vital to an entrepreneurial company.They must be drivers, be self-motivated, and have a strong work

ethic in combination with a high degree of integrity.

An entrepreneur can build a great company with great productsand people. Once this is established, the entrepreneur should build for the future. As the company grows, too many newopportunities will arise for one person to make decisions alone,and it will be up to the individual employees and their ownentrepreneurial spirits as to whether or not they pursue certaincourses of action. It is sometimes hard to find those willing to

take risk, but its important to surround yourself with those withan entrepreneurial spirit who will keep the company fresh andexciting. The great minds within the company will sustain itsentrepreneurial pulse and allow the company to maximize itsability to provide the best possible products and services for thecustomer. These types of employees make the differencebetween a good company and a great company. Hire the smartestpeople you can find.

Overall, fostering support for a vision is most difficult at thestart, but success breeds dedication and commitment among theemployees. Everyone likes playing on a winning team.Entrepreneurs should know that what they do is contagious.

Getting people to believe in the vision of an entrepreneur takestwo things. First, it takes a high degree of credibility built byexample. And second, it takes a huge amount of humility,

combined with passion, to transcend failure and the fear offailure. Remember, nothing can teach you aboutentrepreneurship except experiencing it for yourself.


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Envision Telephony has been built from the ground up throughthe vision and leadership of its founder and CEO, Rodney Kuhn,

a pioneer in the field of computer telephony integration (CTI)and call-center technology. Throughout his career Mr. Kuhn has

identified industry trends to create first-to-market solutions insupport of Envisions mission: To provide software applications,

knowledge, and expertise to help Envisions customers maximize

every contact with their customers.

Mr. Kuhn introduced Envision Telephony to the market throughthe launch of its initial product, SoundByte Enterprise, in 1996to improve the performance of customer-facing agents.

In seven years, and several industry awards later, includingProduct of the Year and Users Choice Award distinctions, Mr.

Kuhns vision continues to help some of the worlds mostcustomer-focused organizations retain loyal customers andachieve optimum performance in their customer contact centers.

Before founding Envision Telephony, Mr. Kuhn helped developcomputer telephony standards while developing CTI-enabled

voice-messaging products for Active Voice, a leadingmanufacturer of voice processing systems.


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IT TAKES TWO:HUMAN AND FINANCIAL

ENTREPRENEURIAL

RESOURCES

PETERJ. VALCARCEArena CommunicationsPresident


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A Tale of Two Resources

In any organization there are only two types of resources human and financial. Managing them appropriately, especially at

a companys inception, is a difficult, but entirely necessary, taskfor a company to be successful.

If a company is funded correctly it can hire the right mix of people. But many times a company does not have sufficientfunding and must rely on finding people who will become part ofthe enterprise on an ownership or commission basis. Letsexamine some of the issues surrounding the two basic types ofresources and ways to make them both more cost effective and

efficient.

Entrepreneurial Thinking - Finding and Keeping the Right

Employees

I never liked working for someone else. I need to makedecisions. My first job out of college was working for a veryconservative U.S. Senator who was surrounded by severalpower-hungry people who jealously hoarded all the power anddecision making in the politicians office. I remember beingreprimanded by my superiors on several occasions for being, asthey described it, overly aggressive. I always felt they werethreatened by what they saw as an ambitious, young politicalnerd with a college degree.

The result of this lack of power-sharing was a stagnant,

unproductive office, where staff was intimidated into being quietfor fear of being reprimanded. Junior staffers were not allowedto have contact with the Senator without one of the senior staffpresent. It is a great irony in the political and business world thatone who hoards power ultimately loses that power because theylose the loyalty of subordinates. The great leaders of today and


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yesterday seem to be those who know how to delegate and allowothers a role in decision making.

Take a look at past presidents of the United States. Americans

routinely list John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan among thegreat leaders of the 20th century. It is no coincidence that both ofthese men believed in the power of delegation. They routinelydelegated tasks to staff members who participated fully in thedecision-making process. They trusted people, and in return, thepeople who worked for them trusted the leaders and served themdiligently.

When I started my business I vowed I would follow the

leadership models of Reagan, Kennedy, and so many others. Theaxiom goes, give a man enough rope to lead but not enough tohang himself. At Arena Communications we have tried to createan environment in which employees are given a task, with justenough information to get started on it but not so much thatcreativity is stifled.

The next lesson is to create a culture that is employee-friendly,fun, and non-threatening. If its a slow day at our company, welet our workers take the afternoon off. Liberal leave is given toemployees in the slow months that follow an election. I alwaystry to remember how much I disliked the structure and stiflingenvironment of my first job and treat my employees the way Iwish I had been treated during that first employment experience.We give our employees a task and say, Here is the bottom line;see what you can come up with to get there. While succeedingat a task empowers employees with the knowledge they can do a

good job, failure can also be a valuable experience. Employeesneed to understand most failures can be fixed, albeit with a pricethat is either emotional or financial in nature. But we make surethat with each failure an employee is given the incentive to learnfrom the failure and strive for a greater level of success.


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We also try to get our employees to think entrepreneurially byoffering incentives. Election-year bonuses have become anintegral part of our employees overall take-home pay. We wantthem to feel they are an integral part of what is going on daily.

This is easier in a small company, because everyone can have atleast some idea of everyone elses role in the functioning of thecompany. In a large company there are so many facets to whatgoes on that flexibility is lost. We, however, can be nimble andflexible.

The niche of our business is so specific that it is critical once wefind the right mix of employee skills, we make sure thoseemployees stay. We must retain the services of those who are

willing to eat, sleep, and breathe politics.

In our friendly environment we hope we have stimulated ouremployees in such a way that they know there is no limit to whatthey can do and what they can make. They have a personal stakein the growth of the company. We let our people know that ifthey work hard, and the business prospers, they will gain thefinancial success they desire. This creates a sense of ownershipin our employees. We recently had our first employee dismissalin the company because the worker did not fit the entrepreneurialmode of the rest of our employees. We want employees whounderstand there will be benefits for them if they participate inthe process of our business enthusiastically and passionately.Financial incentives are the best and most tangible way to inspirea personal link between an employee and the company. This, inaddition to an office atmosphere that fosters creativity andfreedom, creates an enthusiastic entrepreneurial spirit that

continues to bring success to our company.

When hiring new workers we look for those who will enjoypolitics which is our niche. No matter what you do, you needto surround yourselves with employees who believe in what youdo and who are motivated by the importance of your product or


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first experience allows me to be a better employer. In the business of creating businesses, it is always important toremember that failures and bad times are important ingredientsin learning how to succeed.

Entrepreneurial Maneuverings - Finding and Creating

Opportunities for Success

Simultaneously to creating a positive and productiveenvironment for employees, a company must obviouslyconcentrate on making money. This sounds blatantly simple, butit is amazing how much activity is pursued that is not dedicated

to the basic goal of making money.

Before Arena Communications, I participated unsuccessfully in a public relations venture with a man who saw the creation of a business more as a source of personal pride than as amoneymaker. This man was vice president of a large steel mill,where his position gave him prestige and was a source of great personal pride. Not wanting to lose any of his communitystanding, he made sure his lifestyle was maintained in thecreation of his business. The result was a company where,instead of paying the employees, all income was used for his personal assistant, a country club membership, designer officefurniture, and a Lexus payment. These things are all fine, but acompany should consider them all luxuries to be pursued as thereward of success. I see many small businesses that put personaltriumph over financial success. Personal triumph must followfinancial success. To reverse the order of these two things is to

put any new venture in harms way.

It sounds simple, but making money is matter of looking ateverything from an opportunity standpoint. Every activity of a business must be analyzed in the context of whether it makesmoney for the company. Before you spend money on


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advertising, make sure the advertising actually reaches theintended audience. Join a trade association only if it adds to thevalue of the company by providing training unavailable fromother sources or it if gives you a network of potential clients.

Create a plush conference room only if it gives you credibilitywith potential clients. Everything you do must be done with aneye toward eventual return.

If something will not add to the bottom line, dont do it until itbecomes a need. If something adds to the bottom line, it is a high priority. Early in my career I used to do pro bono work for political campaigns to network. That was important to showpeople our organization had the ability to get the job done. Pro

bono political work is no longer a necessity; in fact, it is aliability because it distracts from paying clients and cheapens ourservice. Now we spend all our time on directly finding andkeeping a strong client base. It is a matter of identifying correctlywhat is needed to increase the bottom line of the company at anygiven time. Once customers are gained, it is necessary to pleasethem first and foremost. This is the most important thing you cando to ensure business success. A happy client will recommendyou to others, while a disgruntled client will do all he or she cando to keep business from coming your way.

When you have a new marketing idea, experiment with it. Dont buy 12 months of advertising until youve tried one or twomonths. Carefully measure

2002 - inside the minds-the entrepreneurial problem solver

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