After being elected governor of New Hampshire in 2003, Craig Benson realized that entrepreneurial practices are as important to success in government as they are in the business world, he told a Princeton audience Oct. 4.October 10, 2007 by Hilary Parker (permalink) (watch the video)
After being elected governor of New Hampshire in 2003, Craig Benson realized that entrepreneurial practices are as important to success in government as they are in the business world, he told a Princeton audience Oct. 4.
"Entrepreneurship works in whatever business you're in," he said, kicking-off a five-workshop series that explores the application of entrepreneurial principles in a variety of settings beyond startup ventures. The series -- "Harnessing the Power of Entrepreneurship" -- is sponsored by Princeton's Center for Innovation in Engineering Education.
Prior to becoming the first high-tech entrepreneur ever elected to a U.S. governorship, Benson co-founded one of the first major providers of computer networking equipment -- Cabletron Systems -- in 1989. Six years later, he and his partner took the company public, learning the ins and outs of Wall Street on the job.
Using a variety of anecdotes, Benson offered four entrepreneurial practices for success in any endeavor: making decisions, taking calculated risk, understanding the power of culture and striving to be the best.
"Ninety percent or higher of people rely on somebody else to make decisions for them," he said. "To be a leader, you've got to make decisions." Even the best decision-makers aren't right all the time, he said, but their willingness to try new things often leads to success in the end. Recognizing this, he said he encouraged senior executives at Cabletron to share their mistakes with him as proof of their desire to enact positive change.
But there is a difference between foolhardiness and taking careful risks, Benson said, telling a story of his hang-gliding days while an undergraduate at Babson College, where he now teaches in the business school. While admitting that all hang-gliding is dangerous, Benson said he always came prepared, working with an instructor and taking safety precautions to minimize risk. This willingness to understand and prepare for the risks involved in new ventures served him well when Cabletron acquired Digital Equipment Corp.'s network business, he said.
This acquisition also drove home to Benson the power of culture, he recalled. At the time, the Digital employees were accustomed to a leadership style very different from Benson's. Benson said he realized the importance of creating a culture that worked for all of his employees and strove to build an environment where everyone could prosper. He later used this experience to engage state employees in New Hampshire, he said, such as with awards programs established to recognize innovative workers.
These workers demonstrated craftsmanship -- one of the most important principles in entrepreneurship, according to Benson. Defining a craftsman as "somebody who wants to be the best at what they do," Benson said a desire to succeed and constantly improve is "a real differentiator."
Professors Ed Zschau (left) and Julian Lange, Dean's Visiting Professor of Entrepreneurship. (Photo: Frank Wojciechowski)
Prior to Benson's talk, workshop series organizer Julian Lange offered a brief introduction to entrepreneurship. Lange, a professor of entrepreneurship and public policy at Babson College, is currently serving as the inaugural Dean's Professor in Entrepreneurship in the Center for Innovation in Engineering Education.
Entrepreneurship is about creating new ideas, putting them into action and creating value for stakeholders, he said. While value is often equated with money, Lange encouraged audience members to broaden their definition of the term.
"Nothing is wrong with creating companies that produce useful goods for society, but there are many other organizations that entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial ways of thinking can benefit," he said. These include governments, large corporations and non-profit organizations.
Lange earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Princeton in 1965 as well as an M.B.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University. He is the founder and president of the Chatham Associates management consulting firm. Previously, he served as president and chief executive officer of Software Arts Inc., which created VisiCalc, the first electronic spreadsheet.
Future guest speakers include Peter Kellner, a 1991 Princeton graduate and co-founder of Endeavor, an organization that supports entrepreneurs in developing countries; Francis P. Pandolfi '65, Consultant to NGOs/Non-Profit Organizations and Former Chief Operating Officer, U.S. Forest Service; Walter Skowronski, president of Boeing Capital Corp. and senior vice president of Boeing Co.; Edward Felten, Princeton computer scientist and director of the Center for Information Technology Policy; Princeton professor of genomics, David Botstein and director of the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics; and Nancy Malkiel, Princeton's dean of the college.