Overview
Dr. Jeff Shuman, a leading academic and industry expert on emerging business, discusses the process in his upcoming book called “The Rhythm of Business” that articulates the actions of natural born entrepreneurs and their abilities to start multiple successful ventures.
Do You Have the Rhythm?
Does nature or the environment create the entrepreneur? This question has been posed many times by professionals and academics in an effort to understand what makes a successful entrepreneur.
So why is it that some people can step up to the plate and hit a home run every time, some get one good base hit and never do any better than that, and others spend their entire lives trying and never even get up to bat? Wayne Huizenga of Waste Management Inc., and Blockbuster Video fame seems to have the Midas touch when it comes to starting companies. His string of successes has spanned from the trash removal business to video rental and music sales to professional sports, and most recently, to automobile sales. Entrepreneurs, such as Steve Jobs, present an interesting case. His monumental success with Apple Computer did not continue with his follow-up company Next, which was acquired recently by Apple in an effort to assist both of their performance woes.
One man who has spent his life practicing, learning, and teaching Entrepreneurship, has written a book outlining the processes and philosophies of entrepreneurs who time and time again have created successful businesses. Dr. Jeffrey Shuman, Director of Entrepreneurial Studies at the Bentley College Graduate School of Business in Waltham, MA, has nearly finished his latest book that details over two decades of his experiences and observations in the areas of emerging business. He “describes the business development process which intuitively all natural born entrepreneurs use to start, build and run a business.” Dr. Shuman feels this is the framework that current and new businesses will have to practice to stay competitive in today’s ever changing business environment. “As we enter the 21st Century the world of business has changed fundamentally. All businesses of any shape and size will have to think entrepreneurially. Because of the global marketplace and the Internet, business and the requirements for success are rapidly changing. Large companies are increasingly competing for customers and realize they need to think entrepreneurially to stay competitive.” This process he has defined that consistently exists in people who are considered natural born entrepreneurs is what he calls the “The Rhythm of Business.” It is this “Rhythm” that he strives to present to the ever growing world of emerging business.
It Comes from Experience
Since the early 1970’s Dr. Shuman has worked in emerging business, both in practice and in study. He has started four companies, with two becoming multi-million dollar ventures. Furthermore, he has taught graduate level courses at two different business schools. Dr. Shuman was involved in the founding of the renowned entrepreneurial program at The Babson College Graduate School in Wellesley, MA. Babson has been ranked as a top graduate, entrepreneurial program in the United States by U.S News and World Report.
Dr. Shuman earned a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Design, and then an MS in Management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. After a brief career at General Electric, he returned to Rensselaer to earn his Ph. D. in Management, concentrating in Strategic Management.
After completing his Doctorate, Dr. Shuman joined the faculty at Babson College, and shortly thereafter started his first business venture. Over the next eight years, his giftware manufacturing and distribution company became so large that he resigned his tenured teaching position to work at the company full time. The company employed up to 30 people, and was grossing nearly $2MM annually with over 5,000 accounts worldwide. He eventually sold the business in 1981, and started his second venture with a Japanese manufacturer to establish a U.S. distribution system for its stationary products. When he completed this venture, Dr. Shuman resigned to join the faculty at Bentley College in 1983.
These two ventures, plus a third in the software publishing business, led him to his most recent entrepreneurial venture. In 1989, he became involved in a start-up with Michael Shane, who was coming off of a venture called Leading Edge Products. At the time, Michael Shane was considered to be an entrepreneurial visionary by many leading U.S. business publications. Shane wanted to start a computer manufacturing company called Model American Computer, and he wanted Dr. Shuman to be its president. Dr. Shuman left Bentley for a year on sabbatical , and then took a leave of absence to commit two years to the venture. Model American did not become one of the principal computer manufacturers during the 1980’s. Dr. Shuman and Michael Shane went their separate ways in the early 1990s, and Model American licensed its logos to another computer manufacturer.
Dr. Shuman considers his background and training as essential factors to help him to identify and describe a process for successfully building a business. It is also what he considers to be his competitive advantage over other academics and industry experts who have published their own procedures and philosophies for starting successful companies. “In my experience no one in the world had been able to identify and describe this process. I feel I was able to do it is because not only have I had the traditional academic experience looking at entrepreneurship from the outside, but also have had and continue to have intimate entrepreneurial experience from the inside.” Having worked with Michael Shane, who had successfully started five companies, he feels there really are natural born entrepreneurs who know what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, and why it needs to be done. “I feel fortunate to have been in Michael’s shirt pocket for two years at 168 hours a week as president of the company where he was the CEO. I was able to develop an understanding of the intuitive process that the natural born entrepreneurs utilize.”
Dr. Shuman continues to practice his entrepreneurial skills by working as a consultant and advisor to several large and growing ventures. Most recently, he joined the advisory board of Streamline Inc. which is a pioneering company in the home delivery of consumer goods and services. Founded by serial entrepreneur Tim DeMello, Streamline was featured in the November,1996 issue of Inc. Magazine, Streamline has earned significant attention and early success because of its innovative way of offering services such as dry cleaning and grocery delivery to a consumers’ home. It also has several board members of note including Faith Popcorn, author of The Popcorn Report and Clicking. “I feel my differentiation from other college academics in the entrepreneurship area is that their experience is largely from the outside. My past and ongoing experience allows me to continue with the experience of venture creation from the inside as well.”