BrownHEN / BrownHEN.org

Interview with John Andersen, Great Lakes Director, The Nature Conservancy

BrownHEN interviewed John Andersen, Brown '79, Great Lakes Director, The Nature Conservancy, Chicago, IL

1. John, you went from a large and highly respected real estate company to a leadership position is another widely respected organization—this one dealing with the environment. Please comment on the advantages and disadvantages such a career path. Is a leader at a not-for-profit organization significantly better prepared by working for a for-profit company first?

There are many similarities between non-profit and for-profit organizations, so one's skills and experiences can translate well. Of course, the rigor of market competition hones ones business skills, so I believe successful for-profit business leaders have much to offer the NGO community. These managers may have a level of credibility and contacts with the private sector that can aid the establishment of key partnerships to advance one's mission.

2. Please describe some of the entrepreneurial opportunities open to you in a fairly large organization. Can an entrepreneur feel at home in an established organization?

Absolutely. If one is afforded the opportunity to lead a dynamic business, it can grow in many new directions, supported by the resources of the larger organization. I often say the Land Group at LaSalle Partners (now Jones Lang LaSalle) was like a small dynamic tribe within the great nation of LaSalle. There we helped opened up new client sectors (e.g., government—privatization of military base housing), new services (including accelerated asset dispositions), and new markets, such as China.

At The Nature Conservancy, I lead a regional program focused on the Great Lakes with ties at scales that span local watersheds to the globe. We also are developing innovative conservation services/practices (e.g., aquatic invasive species program to address the top threat to freshwater biodiversity worldwide), growing the markets or geographies of engagement (e.g., throughout the great lakes and as far away as Mongolia), and initiating key new client/partner relationships (e.g., establishment of Notre Dame's new Center for Aquatic Conservation).

3. How do you encourage the people working for you to be entrepreneurial?

Ask them what we should do. Support their decisions. Work with them to set a challenging goal, debate strategic direction, and set them loose.

4. In your present position do you have many opportunities to get out in the field? Do you think such is necessary for an effective manager?

Yes. It helps one understand the business by engaging first hand in the landscape, with scientific experts and partners, and working with them to resolve problems and achieve tangible results. One of my favorite trips was in the Jack Pine forest of Michigan where I helped Dr. Ewert band Kirkland's Warblers on their migration back from the Bahamas. This recovery project is having success—bringing back North America's rarest songbird from the brink of extinction.

5. Paul Hawken has recently written a book arguing that people are now more concerned about social and environmental issues than they were a few years ago and are more willing to join groups addressing their concerns. Is this willingness consistent with your own experience? Do you have an explanation?

Today there is increased awareness of the challenges we face, in part due to the urgency of the threats. Recently climate change has gone from a topic in scientific literature to the front page of the Chicago Tribune every week. Thank goodness, because it will take a collective societal effort to correct some our past and present practices so that we can retain many of the important environmental services that for too long have been taken for granted, or simply not understood. 

6. You have been around Brown for a long time, in the beginning with your father, also a Brown graduate. Do you have concerns about this recent interest in entrepreneurship?

Dad, brother David, and I all attended Brown and we all cherish the experience. We all went into business, where we sought to provide solutions to compelling problems and serve. The entrepreneurial world affords opportunities for many to make a difference with their professional lives; I am so grateful to Barrett and his program, and to my Dad, for showing me this avenue. When at Brown, Barrett asked me to join him on a grant to create his advanced program by accessing Harvard case material. We can't have too much entrepreneurial spirit at Brown University, in business/organizational management, or the many other wonderful disciplines there.

7. What are the top five qualities you would ascribe to an entrepreneur / business leader?

• Creativity
• Resolve to persevere and solve problems
• Relationship development
• Strength in communications
• Insight / judgment

8. Would you speak about fear as a motivation or hindrance toward accomplishment? How has that played a factor in your path, if any?

Fear creates anxiety, which diminishes performance. One needs confidence, the willingness to face great challenges with resolve, to accept setbacks, learn, and move on. One also needs to adapt to change.

9. What is the latest insight (about life, work, play) that you picked up and would like to share with BrownHEN?

We are happiest when we are serving others and focused externally. It’s not a new insight, but one recently reinforced by a nice book that Matthew Ricard wrote, appropriately entitled, Happiness. I can think of few who exemplify this as well as Barrett, and all of us have benefited from his example.

10. Now that your football days are over, how do you keep physically active? Do you think keeping active is important?

Body-Mind-Spirit. Each nourishes the other. This morning I ran along Lake Michigan's shores and then took a quick swim in the lake to cool down; that's an important start to making my day a positive one and to me feeling good. Weekends find me biking and playing tennis with buddies; I find that comradeship and varied exercise are equally important. Sundays, I lift a few weights and row (on an erg) like I did at Brown, but lightly. My favorite time is in the wild, so once a year, and if I'm lucky more often, I go for hikes/ mountain climbs/ kayak trips with friends.

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© BrownHEN.org – 2007

Interview with Chad Billmyer, Director, Nelnet, Inc.

BrownHEN interviewed Chad Billmyer, Brown '01, Director of Peterson’s High School Solutions, Nelnet, Inc., Lincoln, NE

1. Chad, your startup Foresite Solutions has merged with a much larger organization, Nelnet. Do you feel you can still be entrepreneurial in the context of a larger organization, and if so, how?

Absolutely. Part of the attraction to Nelnet—the company that acquired our startup—was their entrepreneurial culture. In fact, we were merged into a division that has a charge to develop new products and businesses. Not all companies embrace entrepreneurial spirit or have the risk tolerance to innovate from within as Nelnet does. For every business opportunity, we analyze whether to build, buy, or align. I have had ample opportunities to pitch new business from within the walls of our new parent company.

2. What advice would you like to share with aspiring entrepreneurs?

You will need partners to support you. Daily obligations and needs grow quickly. A good set of partners can balance the enviable tensions that exist in every decision that the start-up will need to make. For some decisions, emotional influences may lead to a non-optimal decision. A good partner can offer objective decision-making when one partner gets too emotionally invested in a particular decision.

You should also sign a founders’ agreement early. From the first date of inception, each day that passes the company will inevitably get more and more successful and more dollars will be involved. With each day that passes, it will become harder and harder to agree to and sign a founders’ agreement. A simple founders’ agreement can cover basics such as whether inventions belong to the company and when and how a founder may exit the company. The agreement can always be amended, but far too often, the absence of an agreement does more harm than good.

3. When you were at Brown you were a leader in campus activities. How did that experience relate to your entrepreneurial success? Do you recommend people wishing to be entrepreneurs be active on campus?

I highly recommend active campus activity involvement for prospective entrepreneurs. I would argue that there isn’t a class at Brown that can teach you how to get the people around you to perform at their highest potential. In many ways, this is what leadership is about: setting up your peers for success. Leadership skills grow from experience, and a campus activity—the Brown Daily Herald in my case—is a great laboratory to develop leadership skills that will be critical for the business to succeed.

4. What areas of software look promising for entrepreneurial ventures now?

I like to read the blog techcrunch.com on a daily basis to track some of the newest and most innovative Web-based software ventures. I am often inspired by start-ups I read about and try to find ways to apply bits and pieces of their business models to a business issue I might be working on. I also get a daily Venturewire.com e-mail each morning to track what is getting funded.

5. What are the top five qualities you would ascribe to an entrepreneur?

I can’t help but reference a few of the qualities found in a great document on this topic authored by Fred Beste at Mid-Atlantic Venture Funds. The document is titled, “The Twelve (Almost) Sure-Fire Secrets to Entrepreneurial Success.” Fred includes qualities like: “they have a sound knowledge of their marketplace, they’ve got fire in their bellies, they hire smart, and they have a sound knowledge of the financial dynamic of their companies.” I’ll add one of my own: they know when not to reinvent the wheel. 

6. Would you speak about fear as a motivation or hindrance toward accomplishment? How has that played a factor in your path, if any?

In general I see fear as more of a hindrance than a motivator with one exception. I sometimes find that I am motivated by the fear of failure. I am not coming up with an example of how fear has played a factor in my path. I presume that means that fear doesn’t play a major motivating or hindering role for me.

7. What is the latest insight (about life, work, play) that you picked up and would like to share with BrownHEN?

A recent boss would often say, “I see it as my role to set you up for success.” To date I have led a few teams of a decent size. I find this motto to be a wonderfully concise way to describe how to make choices as a people leader. 

8. What are the biggest differences between life on the East Coast and the West coast?

I grew up and obviously went to Brown on the east coast. I moved to the west coast three years ago. In a business sense, it feels like the west coast business day is shifted forward. It starts later and ends later. This doesn’t apply to me since I work with many people on the east coast and often join calls at 6 or 7 AM. Life runs a few beats more slowly on the west coast than the east coast. People walk a few beats more slowly and have a slightly less urgent sense about life.    

9. Do you still drive a Hybrid?  Is it the same one?

Yes, I still drive a hybrid car. Back in 2001, I was the first person I knew with a hybrid. It was a two-seater Honda Insight. I now drive a Honda Civic Hybrid. I found I needed a back seat on occasion. I bought the hybrid more for the engineering than for the environment, not that there’s anything wrong with lower CO2 emissions.

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© BrownHEN.org – 2007

Interview with Terri Cohen Alpert, CEO of Professional Cutlery Direct and of Uno Alla Volta, Inc.

BrownHEN interviewed Terri Cohen Alpert, Brown '85, CEO of Professional Cutlery Direct and CEO of Uno Alla Volta, Inc., North Brandfort, CT

1. Terri, How did a physics concentrator at Brown end up managing a jewelry / luxury items company?

First of all, unlike all the other physics majors of my day, my dreams were always entrepreneurial. There’s no short answer to your question of how I ended up doing what I’m doing today, but I’ll explain my attraction to physics and then my career may make a little bit more sense to you. The appeal of physics was four-fold:

One, physics provides incredible training in problem solving. In physics, as in life, all exams are open book. You are often faced with problems not quite like any you’ve seen before and you need to pull together all of your resources and think of a way through.

Two, I tend to be holistic in my thinking about things and I am very interested in interconnections and in all things interdisciplinary. Physics struck me as being at the center of so much and connected to everything.

Three, I’m attracted to things I find really difficult. It is what some call the “mountain climber” personality where one looks for the highest mountain she can find. Believe it or not, this is really not so much “risk-taking” as it is “risk-avoidance”—at least risk to the ego. Given the magnitude of the challenge, if one proves unable to succeed, one can always chock it up to the difficulty, give oneself credit for trying, and remind oneself of how few others might have tried to scale that mountain in the first place.

Four, once I was in, I simple had to stick with it to prove that someone without scientific aspirations could do it, and to prove that woman could do it. (I was the only woman to graduate with a concentration in physics in the classes of 1984, 1985, and 1986 and as far as I know, I was the only concentrator who wasn’t planning on going on to graduate school in physics or some other science.)

2. You were an Information Technology manager for a large New York bank. Do you believe being a woman affected your professional opportunities in IT?

In the 1980s on Wall Street there were actually a lot of women in IT and a lot of women in IT management.  Going from Brown’s physics department to a corporate department with 30-40% women was a pretty easy transition.

3. You have worked extensively with the student-led Brown Entrepreneurship Program. Based on your observations, how do you think Brown undergraduates can best prepare themselves to be entrepreneurs?

• Be sure you want to be an entrepreneur and are not using “entrepreneurship” as a substitute word for “business.” Unfortunately, the word is misused so much today that it has lost its meaning. Answer the question: Are you driven by the need to create something from nothing? Do you view this as a path to acquire something else you want or need—such as fame, wealth, whatever? If it is a means to an end, find a different path. The end is too far away, too elusive, too hard to achieve and you can’t get there if you are not passionate about what you are doing every day. Furthermore, life is just too short. It may be cliché but there is profound truth in the statement that “life is a journey and not a destination.”  This is something for which many of us need constant self-reminders (me included).

• Find a business that speaks to your own personal passions and takes advantage of your strengths. Corollary: Find one where your personal weaknesses aren’t too much of a liability.

• Remember, ideas are cheap. I find most young entrepreneurs (and the general public) think it is 90% the idea. I’ve got news for you, it is 1% the idea and 99% the execution.

• Constantly work at trying to know what it is you don’t know. Surround yourself with experience or get experience first before starting your own company. (Come work for me – as long as you’ll promise me a few years before launching out on your own!)

4. Is it important in your business to keep up with social and cultural trends? How can a person in a fashion-related business keep up with trends?

Absolutely, it is. As in any business perceiving trends is really just pattern recognition. You sponge information from a huge variety of sources and you do it all the time and the brain discerns the patterns. You look at people who resemble your customers in interests, in demographics, etc and you watch them and their behaviors. You look at the world around you: what’s in shop windows, what people are wearing, what magazines are showing, etc.

I also don’t have to be an expert in the trends myself. My lead merchant does. But, even with her feel for the trends and mine, it is all about testing things in the marketplace with our customer base. We’re careful about how we allocate printed space to new tests vs. new products which are “freshened” versions of things clearly supported by the data vs. repeats of strong performers from the past.

5. Do you believe your deep background in IT gives your company a competitive advantage? In general, how deep a knowledge of Information Technology is necessary for an entrepreneur in the retail world?

Yes to both, but, and it is a big but—technology must serve the needs of the business and never the other way around. This is where my IT knowledge actually helped. It allowed us to create a direct-to-consumer company that wasn’t a slave to our software package. When you run your business to someone else’s software, you run your business to the model inherent in the business rules of the people who developed that software.

When I started the original business in 1993, I couldn’t find software that would run the business the way I knew I needed to run it, especially given the way I was going to need to manage inventory in order to grow from cash flow. So we built our own. It was originally meant to be a stop-gap measure, but it turned into a true competitive edge. We’re continuously investing in our proprietary platform. (In 2000 we won a “CISCO Growing with Technology Award” in the Innovating Customer Service Category.) But, it is never technology for technology’s own sake.

6. What are the top five qualities you would ascribe to an entrepreneur?

• Imagination
• Passion
• Perseverance
• Thick skin
• Ability to be optimistic about the long term while anticipating various pitfalls in the short term

7. Would you speak about fear as a motivation or hindrance toward accomplishment? How has that played a factor in your path, if any?

Excessive fear is a hindrance to entrepreneurship.  But, a little a little fear can prevent hubris and help lead to sound management of risk.

It is popular to describe entrepreneurs as risk lovers—but while we as a breed may have a lot higher risk tolerance than the average person, gamblers we are not. We take risks, but we manage risks.

At the time my first business was at its most successful, my partner and I developed a fear that the success wouldn’t last. We saw the underlying flaws in our business model long before they could be seen from the outside or show in our financial performance. That fear led to the development of a much better model in a different market space, but one which could leverage our experience and our substantial infrastructure. Our strength today is a direct result of the way in which we pivoted and I have to admit that fear played a positive role in making us realize what we needed to do.

8. What is the latest insight (about life, work, play) that you picked up and would like to share with BrownHEN?

Don’t miss out on life while you are building your business. Balance is hard for people of our personality, but it is necessary, and it is family that truly matters. It is great if your family can be supportive of your entrepreneurial ambitions, while always reminding you of your priorities and keeping you humble.

While you are focused on your long-term goal, never forget that most of life occurs in the little moments and that so much of the impact we make in this world comes from the smallest of actions.

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© BrownHEN.org – 2007

Interview with Kevin Hazel, Vice President, Strategic Purchasing, Siemens Power Generation

BrownHEN interviewed Kevin Hazel, Brown '77, Vice President, Strategic Purchasing, Siemens Power Generation, Orlando, FL (USA) and Erlangen, Germany

1. Kevin, how did a civil engineer become a leader in the electric power industry?

The path to any leadership position is often indirect, including experiences in multiple business areas.  For me, that path included engineering, technical management, project and program management, quality system design, organizational development, strategic marketing, and supply management.  At the end of the day, I have always felt that if you are trained to think well ("Thank you, Brown University!") and freely apply yourself with energy and passion, opportunity finds you.

2. You know a great deal about electric power generation. Please predict what it will be like in 10 years.

Centrally-based power generation using fossil fuels will remain the primary source of satisfying a continuing growing market globally. In this segment, efficiency of energy conversion will both improve output and address environmental concerns. Fuel gasification (i.e., coal-to-gas) will also rise in response to cleaner emissions demands. Renewables will play an increasing role, as in segments of Europe where commitments are to generate 10% of the total electric power demand in the next few years. Nuclear energy, already on the rise in many regions, will also make a return in the USA.      

3. How can a person be entrepreneurial within a large corporation?

Entrepreneurial opportunities frequently present themselves in the corporate world. One has to be open to seeing and capitalizing on them. In my career, most often the change opportunities came from recognition that a person is multi-dimensional and can create value by increasing the “sum of the parts.”

4. You worked at least one summer making sugar in a factory on the East River. Do you recommend that an engineer gain experience working on the shop floor?

The experience at the Domino Sugar factory was, as they say in the commercials, "priceless." Technically, I learned the importance of the man/machine interface and of training after getting a 440V shock while resetting a circuit breaker. Organizationally, I learned that unions play an important role in the labor/management relationship, but that all roles need membership-driven balance. I saw that first line management, in this case the shop foreman, has a tremendously difficult role and that good performers here can make or break an organization. Practically, I learned the value of hard work. Loading a rail car with 100-pound bags of sugar by hand or scraping an industrial filter after the initial processing of raw sugar inside a four-story boiler are constant reminders of respect for true labor. 

5. Please comment on working for an enterprise that has been purchased by a European company.

In 1998, Siemens AG purchased the power generation segment of Westinghouse. We were blessed with two factors that made the integration of two companies with long legacies (over 110 years each) possible: good leadership and a robust market. The leadership philosophy, backed by action, was that we would not make Westinghouse a German company nor Siemens an American one. The goal was to take the best elements of each company into a globally-managed, regional-acting enterprise. The market boom in the US from 1999 to 2001 then gave us a great platform to implement the philosophy. Fulfilling customer orders distracted us from the inertia preventing change; perhaps this is why some other multinational integrations failed.

6. How is your German?

Thankfully, the official language of Siemens PG is English. Early in the integration, I tried to learn German. This was as unsuccessful as my learning French in high school. At this point, I can manage in a restaurant but little else. 
   
7. As you move into management, do you worry about losing technical expertise?

It is important in this context to decide what career path you desire. Personally, I always looked at career progression as gaining expertise.

8. What are the top five qualities you would ascribe to an entrepreneur?

• Intellectual curiosity
• High energy and passion
• Ability to inspire others
• Determination
• Business-minded sensibility

9. Would you speak about fear as a motivation or hindrance toward accomplishment? How has that played a factor in your path, if any?

Some years ago there was a movie called "Defending Your Life". While a comedy, the premise was that fear prevented us from using the full potential of our minds and prevented us from going to heaven. This makes sense to me. In a personal context, when running track in high school it was wanting to win that drove me rather than fear of failure. I still subscribe to that philosophy today.   

10. As you know, the entrepreneur’s path is filled with trials and errors, and also failures. What’s a valuable insight for entrepreneurs to keep in mind when they’re experiencing setbacks?

You have already given the answer in the question.  Entrepreneurs inherently accept that failure is part of—and not the end of—the process. 

11. What is the latest insight (about life, work, play) that you picked up and would like to share with BrownHEN?

The Asian concept of yin and yang—of balance in all things—has always been attractive to me. Doing is far different from knowing, however. Stephen Covey's "Seven Habits" and his 'roles and goals' exercise in the book is a good tool to organize your behaviors with your intentions. From that exercise, my faith in God has taken a more important position in my life balance. And interestingly, my career accelerated with this improved balance.

12. Who are the three individuals who have influenced your development significantly?

Jesus Christ, my parents and my wife have had the greatest impact on my development as a human being. Professionally, it would be Dean Hazeltine (for giving me an opportunity to grow); my first manager at Westinghouse, Don Akey (for giving a fellow civil engineer a job in mechanical engineering); and Brother Vanard, a teacher in high school (for assuring that intellectual curiosity would be a part of my DNA).    

13. Senior year at Brown you lived among farms in Seekonk. Do you live in a rural area now?

For a person who grew up in Brooklyn, NY, nearly everywhere is a rural area. But seriously, we now live in Oviedo, FL, which is a suburban area northeast of Orlando. My job requires me to spend roughly 140 days per year in Erlangen, Germany, where I maintain an apartment in a rural area—very much like Seekonk. Again, an example of the balance objective.   

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© BrownHEN.org – 2007

Interview with Charlie Kroll, President & CEO of Andera, Inc.

BrownHEN interviewed Charlie Kroll, Brown '01, President & CEO of Andera, Inc., Providence, RI

1. Charlie, You have taken a company that was started when you were an undergraduate into one with 30 employees, 50% annual growth, and a revenue run rate of $4 million. You were featured in the Providence Journal as one of "Rhode Island's Outstanding Entrepreneurs." You were named by the United States SBA as the Young Entrepreneur of the Year in New England. Does it get any easier as one achieves more success?

It doesn’t get easier, but the challenges certainly change. We’re still a small company, but we’ve evolved from pure startup mode into execution mode and as a result, we’ve needed to evolve our thinking and strategy. Early on, it’s much more about getting everyone to buy into the vision and believe you can do what you promise. In execution mode, it’s more about managing limited resources to deliver on your promises. Neither mode is easy and both are rewarding when you start to feel things click.

2. Some of the money you raised come from Rhode Island state agencies that are set up to support entrepreneurial activities. Please comment on dealing with such organizations.

The state agencies have been tremendously supportive of us, but my experience is that they need to believe you can in turn help attract talent, money, and jobs to the state. Our biggest supporter has been the Slater Fund, which has both invested directly in us, as well as brought other angel investors to the table. We’ve also found the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, the Providence Economic Development Partnership, and the Business Development Company of Rhode island all to be helpful, providing us with much-needed working capital loans when we needed them most (and traditional lenders wouldn’t touch us).

3. Banking is perceived as a conservative business lead by people a good deal older than you. Do you believe your youth (and youthful appearance) is an asset or hindrance in promoting Andera?

It probably helps in most circumstances today, now that the company has a more experienced management team and a solid track record. A few years ago, before we had as deep a team or customer base, I think my inexperience was an obstacle, particularly in the years right after the bubble. Today, I think people are more accustomed to seeing young entrepreneurs succeed—the trick is knowing what you don’t know and filling those inexperience gaps with a great team.

4. Andera's business model has certainly evolved from the early days when you designed web sites for FM America—a radio station in Japan—and Trinity Repertory Theater in Providence. Please comment on how you learned of new business directions and recognized their potential.

We did a complete 180-degree turn. We started the business during the bubble as a Web development firm. Once the bubble burst, it was clear we’d need to develop our own intellectual property if we were going to grow. Fortunately, two of our Web development clients (both banks) had engaged us to build them custom online account opening applications nearly simultaneously, and the idea grew from there. That was early 2002, and our first month with zero Web development revenue was August of 2006 – a four year transition that seemed like forty. We needed that much time since we didn’t raise a lot of outside capital to finance the transition. Almost all our initial product development, sales, and marketing was funded out of Web development revenue during that four-year period.

5. How were you able to attract a very strong staff?

It’s never been easy to recruit good people, including today. We haven’t benefited from a lot of the characteristics that typically attract great people, like a billion-dollar exit potential (we’re trying to build a focused and successful business, but not the next Google), a sexy location (we’re in Providence, not Silicon Valley), a lot of money (we’ve never raised significant capital), or until recently even a strong vision (people used to see us as a Web development firm). These were definite headwinds to team building. Gradually, as our vision crystallized over the last few years, and our customer base and reputation grew, we were able to recruit a few people that became key contributors, and it evolved from there. Today, we have almost no luck with job boards, limited luck with headhunters, and extraordinary luck with employee referrals, which is the way I think it should be when things are humming.

6. You must get nibbles from larger organizations that want to buy you out. How do you respond?

Simple. We are focused on building a successful company, and we’re happy to listen to ideas but are not looking for them. We have a lot of growing to do before changing that orientation.

7. What are the top five qualities you would ascribe to an entrepreneur?

I second Ralph Rosenberg’s answer to this question.

For BrownHen readers, Ralph’s Rosenberg’s answers from our August 2007 interview were:
• Can deal with rejection/disappointment
• Good “big picture perspective”
• Even-tempered disposition
• Good sense of humor, and
• Ability to lead and motivate people.

8. As you know, the entrepreneur’s path is filled with trials and errors, and also failures. What’s a valuable insight for entrepreneurs to keep in mind when they’re experiencing setbacks?

Failure is the best (and arguably, only) way to learn. I think I’d be better equipped to lead a company if I had previously been part of one that failed. Short of that, I’ve had plenty of lesser failures that guide me in the decisions I make every day.

9. Would you speak about fear as a motivation or hindrance toward accomplishment? How has that played a factor in your path, if any?

To me, fear is a very passive word. Are you afraid of missing a payroll or losing a deal to a competitor? Well, that implies that you have no control over such things, which usually isn’t the case as an entrepreneur.

10. What is the latest insight (about life, work, play) that you picked up and would like to share with BrownHEN?

An insight would be for entrepreneurs or company leaders to start a blog and maintain it regularly. I started mine last year and have found it to be a great way to personalize the company and provide context to the otherwise black and white world of marketing collateral and press releases. If you’re balanced in your message, exposing your blemishes as well as bragging about your strengths, THE BLOG humanizes the company and gives the impression you’re open and not hiding anything. It goes a long way.

11. Has becoming a father significantly changed your life?

Absolutely, having a son is the best thing that ever happened to me. He just turned five months old, and my wife and I are having such a blast learning how to be good parents.

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© BrownHEN.org – 2007