Babson Entrepreneur Professor: If It Ain't Broke, Break It

Julian Lange

Dr. Julian Lange, a professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College, Thursday urged several hundred fast-growing technology solution providers to break the established business model that has made them successful.

Successful companies are willing to reinvent themselves by turning the conventional wisdom of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" to the entrepreneur's mantra: "If it ain't broke, break it!," said Lange. Too often, business leaders are lulled into a "false sense of security" and are unwilling to take the next big risk, he said.

Lange was the kick-off keynote speaker at CRN's Fast Growth awards event in Boston, which featured the fastest growing technology solution providers from around the country.

"The biggest risk of all is not taking risks," said Lange, who advises companies around the world on how to drive entrepreneurial skills throughout an organization. "The world is not going to stand-still. If you are not constantly trying to innovate and do better, many companies are going to get ahead of you. There isn't an option to stand-still."

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Business leaders that are willing to take risks can drive a new era of growth based on changing customer needs, said Lange. At the heart of the entrepreneurial company, he said, is a drive to motivate employees to take risks and make mistakes. "If you are not making mistakes it means you aren't trying new things," he said. "It means you aren't trying to constantly innovate. That is why it is important to establish a culture in a company where mistakes are OK."

Next: Are You Doing What It Takes To Delight Customers?

Lange is not only the the Craig R. Benson Professor of Entrepreneurship & Public Policy at Babson College, but a successful entrepreneur himself, having worked as CEO of Software Arts alongside the inventor of the personal computer spreadsheet Dan Bricklin in the early days of the PC industry.

That early experience driving the PC revolution gave Lange first hand insight into some of the key traits of successful entrepreneurs. Those traits include a drive to "anticipate customer needs" and not just "please customers, but truly delight your customers," said Lange. He said successful leaders are not just willing to walk a "mile" in their customer's shoes, but 10,000 miles in their customer's shoes, said Lange.

Lange pointed to Apple Chairman and CEO Steve Jobs as an example of a leader that is willing to break the mold to "truly delight" customers.

Lange, who worked with Jobs in the early days of the PC industry, said Jobs has always been "fanatical about pleasing customers and anticipating customer's needs." The iPod, he said, is a great example of a product that not only anticipated customer's needs but "truly delighted" customers.

Next: How Much Time Are You Spending With Your Customers?

That kind of breakthrough comes from walking in your customer's shoes, Lange said. "A question you should all ask is how much time do you actually spend with your customers?" said Lange. "Not just meeting with them and selling to them, but really spending time inside their business and seeing what their pain points are, what they really care about and therefore what will they really pay for."

Lange said it is essential that business leaders pull themselves away from the day-to-day pressures to think about where the industry will be five years from now. "What are you going to do over the next year to make sure that you are one of the fastest growing companies five years from now?" he asked solution providers "Often, we don't take the time out to do just that by rolling up our sleeves and confronting some of those tough questions."

Lange said business leaders as a practical matter should meet with a colleague on a regular basis to discuss their vision for their company and how it fits with the industry. "It really pays huge dividends," he said.

Lange told solution providers to think about driving a bus as a metaphor for running a business. "First you have to get the bus pointed in the right direction," he said. "That is your vision. Then you want to get the right people on the bus and make sure they are in the right seats to implement what you are doing."

Next: Secrets From A Fast Growth Company

Lange's final piece of advice to attendees was to "be passionate" about your business. "That is a crucial success factor," he said.

Albert Saxon, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Vision Technologies, a Glen Burnie, Md. company which was number 18 on the CRN Fast Growth list with an impressive 136 percent sales growth rate over a two-year period, said Lange's comments struck a chord with him.

Saxon said his company gets its employees together as many as five times a year to make sure that it is asking the tough questions to drive the next wave of sales growth.

That entrepreneurial spirit throughout the organization is critical since nearly 100 percent of its $70 million in sales come from services rather than product sales. "We're a services company," he said. "Our people are our product."