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Exec urges students to use entrepreneurial tactics

XU grad addresses Entrepreneur Conference

11/19/09

The president of a global consumer products company challenged business students at Xavier University to use entrepreneurial skills to achieve success in the business world.

Even though he helps to run an established company, Pete Henseler, president of RC2 Corp., said he encourages his employees to use approaches usually associated with entrepreneurs.

“I don’t think anybody is born to be an entrepreneur,” Henseler said. “I think you make yourself an entrepreneur.”

Henseler spoke Tuesday, November 17 at the Entrepreneur and Ethics Conference and Competition at Xavier’s Cintas Center in Norwood. The Williams College of Business held the event for the second year.

The event drew more than 200 students from 11 colleges and universities, mostly from Ohio. It is Ohio’s only collegiate entrepreneur and ethics conference and competition.

Henseler is a 1980 Xavier graduate who worked in marketing management jobs for several companies, including McDonald’s, before joining RC2 in 1996.

He has helped transform RC2, based in Oak Brook, Illinois, from a start-up company selling racing car collectibles into a consumer products company with $425 million in annual sales. It distributes hobby, toy and infant products in 60 countries, including products marketed under the Thomas and Friends, Lamaze and First Years brands.

Henseler said inspiring employees, customers and himself everyday is important to business success. “If you can keep inspiration alive,” he said, “that goes a long way to succeeding.”

He also said he encourages employees to:

-- Bring potential solutions to his attention, not problems.

-- Change their actions when goals are not being met, not to try to change the goals.

-- Act with a sense of urgency after setting priorities.

In another speech, Todd Dieffenderfer, a special advisor to Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, emphasized the need for students to act ethically when they enter the business world. Cordray’s office has initiated lawsuits against financial institutions for allegedly concealing tens of billions in losses and secretly paying billions of dollars in bonuses to executives.

“This lack of transparency shakes the public’s confidence in the fairness of the markets and discourages people from investing,” Dieffenderfer said.

In another highlight of the conference, teams of students competed to see who had the best entrepreneurial skills. The competition used computers programmed with business models. The top score went to a team from Bowling Green State University. A Xavier team took second place.

The Williams College of Business is one of three colleges at Xavier. It is ranked as one of the nation’s top business schools for entrepreneur programs.