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It's about time entrepreneurs got what was coming tothem--an exhibition hall celebrating their efforts. Last October,the Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship opened at BabsonCollege in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
"It's a celebration of entrepreneurship," saysWilliam D. Bygrave, the center's director. Members ofBabson's Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs, Babson alumni,and winners of Babson's John H. Muller Jr. Business PlanCompetition, among others, are featured in product exhibits andvideo interviews in the exhibition hall. Current exhibits include aLEGO model, an L.L. Bean canoe and the first Bose hi-fi speakers."It's not just a series of stagnant exhibits, but storylines about entrepreneurs getting started and about how they createwealth," says Bygrave.
In addition, the new center will house a 40-seat lecture hallwired for satellite broadcasting to allow remote teaching, andeventually there will be an archive of entrepreneurs' importantpapers, such as business plans and initial public offerings."The purpose of the center is to get young people excitedabout entrepreneurship," says Babson, "and to [showforeign] professors and policy makers how we teachentrepreneurship." A little inspiration for seasonedentrepreneurs couldn't hurt, either.
Post Haste
The U.S. Postal Service goes electronic.
It's d-day for mechanical postage meters, as the USPS slowlyphases them out in favor of digital and electronic postage metersthat are more difficult to tamper with. Businesses are required totrade in their mechanical meters for electronic ones by December31. The deadline for switching low-speed meters (meters imprintingfewer than 45 mail pieces per minute) is March 31, 1999.
Today, the majority of the 1.6 million meters in use areelectronic. To encourage holdouts to switch, the USPS plans to takesuch measures as no longer accepting mail stamped with mechanicalmeters and no longer offering a refund on returned mechanicalmeters after the deadline has passed.
Food For Thought
"Lunch room" takes on a whole new meaning.
By G. David Doran
Asked to picture a typical office setting, most people envisionDilbertesque cubicles occupied by isolated souls.
In contrast, the offices of Mitchell & Co., a Toledo, Ohio,marketing agency, are anything but typical. An airy, loft-likespace built around a fully equipped kitchen, Mitchell's"wall-less" office is designed to bring employeestogether.
While a kitchen-centric office may not be right for, say, aninsurance agency, marketing is a creative business, says presidentMark Mitchell, and this kind of setup is just right forunstructured, collaborative efforts like brainstorming sessions."I want to make sure we aren't [using] solutions from lastweek," he says, "so I use the kitchen to stimulate peopleto think differently. And that extends into how we solve problemsfor clients."
There's no leftover tuna casserole on the menu inMitchell's kitchen--the firm has three people on staff(including Mitchell himself) who double as master chefs whenthey're not cooking up marketing campaigns for clients likeGenFlex Roofing Systems and Owens Corning.
Although Mitchell hasn't conducted a detailed study of hisemployee turnover rate during the 12 years that Mitchell & Co.has occupied this unique work space, he believes the kitchen andthe company culture it represents have helped slow hiscompany's brain drain. "It's hard to find and keeptalented people," says Mitchell. "Money isn't themain motivating issue anymore. If I can provide a great environmentwhere people want to come to work and feel that they're part ofsomething, it makes it much easier to attract and keeptalent." Besides, who can resist the smell of brownies bakingin the oven?
It's Who You Know
Broaden your business contacts the easy way.
By Elaine W. Teague
Being a big fish in a small pond can be all it's cracked upto be when you join Business Network International (BNI). One of agrowing number of referral organizations designed to promote theexchange of business contacts, BNI members enjoyprofession-specific exclusivity: "Each BNI group has only onereal estate agent, one mortgage lender, one financial planner andone chiropractor," says 12-year BNI member Kelli Holmes.Holmes and her husband, Mike, are Diamond Bar, California, paintingcontractors whose business relies entirely on referrals.
How does it work? At weekly meetings, members give 60-secondpresentations about their businesses, including the types ofbusiness referrals that would be helpful to them. "It's alot more fun doing business relying on referrals than it is goingout and cold-calling or spending a fortune on advertising,"says Kelli. "We're not in the phone book, and I betwe're one of the busiest painting contractors around."
Call (800) 825-8268 or check out http://www.bni.com for the BNI groupnearest you.
Contact Sources
Babson College, (781) 239-4420, http://www.babson.edu/entrep
Mitchell & Co., (419) 243-7600, mmitchell@mitchellco.com
