RE3EL STANCE

A few years ago while in Business School on the east coast, I found myself on a quick vacation to San Francisco. With a little extra time in my schedule, I contacted a business hero of mine that owns a small winery in Mendocino County. I wasn’t sure what I was going to ask nor was I sure what I was going to say. What I did know was that the knowledge and inspiration I would gain would be well worth the time and the gas money getting there no matter how much of a starving student I was at the time.

Paul Dolan has a lot to teach about Sustainable Business. As a winemaker, entrepreneur, and visionary he has inspired the wine industry and the world of business to be more sustainable and has worked tirelessly to spread the message that you can indeed do well (very well - he built Fetzer Vineyards into one of the most successful and profitable brands in the hyper-competitive wine industry) by doing good. I had contacted Paul out of the blue to chat about business and sustainability in my own efforts to become a better businessperson and citizen of the world.

As I arrived at the winery well ahead of our meeting I decided to take the time to put together a list of questions that I could ask Paul so that I could get as much wisdom as possible in the shortest amount of time. I walked in to my meeting with him ready to ask him questions, push for knowledge, and gain as much insight from his experience as possible. But, as my meeting began I found myself being the one being asked questions. Before I knew it, our conversation blossomed and I found myself completely at ease sharing my own knowledge as much as I was learning from his. At the end of the conversation, Paul’s parting comments were “Ryan, whatever you do, just be sure to continue having conversations.”

I have taken Paul’s parting words to heart. I do my best to have as many conversations as possible with entrepreneurs looking to build great companies, a better world, or both. In some instances my invitations for conversations are welcomed while in other instances my invitations go unanswered or are turned down because the entrepreneur is “too busy.” So, it got me to thinking…are the companies run by the many entrepreneurs that have embraced my invitations for conversations been more successful than those run by people that haven’t returned my invitations or were “too busy” to take 15-minutes to spend with an up-and-coming entrepreneur? And, indeed:

Those companies run by entrepreneurs, businesspeople, and change agents that have taken the time to have conversations and have truly been engaged in the conversations have the following in common:

• They are significantly more innovative than the rest of the industries in which they operate (Chip Conley - Joie De Vivre)
• They better create models that balance a pursuit of profit with a pursuit of social good (Muhammad Yunus - Grameen Bank)
• They seem to have companies that are more loved by customers (Rob Vandermark - Seven Cycles)

Those companies run by entrepreneurs that don’t take make a commitment to engaging in conversations with a diverse range of entrepreneurs often (I have chosen to not include the names in the, mostly unjustified, faith that someday I will be able to meet with those entrepreneurs):

• Have companies that are more followers in their industry than leaders
• Tend to have a more “corporate feeling” brand with people that use their products or services but don’t necessarily rave about them
• Often get lost in the competitive landscape as “just another company”

Still unconvinced. Well, it’s a pretty simple conclusion:

• Having conversations with a wide range of entrepreneurs will expose you to more ideas
• Having more ideas will lead to greater and more innovations
• Having greater and more innovations will lead to greater success

So, in pursuit of your own entrepreneurial rebel-ness, I urge you to have a lot of conversations with entrepreneurs at all levels and in a wide range of industries. Listen. Talk. And, most importantly, have fun with the knowledge that every conversation you have is making you a better entrepreneur and giving you more ammunition for your own rebel journey.