I’ve met with mentors, coaches and advisors my entire life. It wasn’t until I met a provocateur that I realized the kind of impact one person could have on someone else’s professional career.
A provocateur is essential in any innovator’s journey. They resemble a mentor — someone to ask questions to as you build your business — but are an entirely different resource. Provocateurs don’t answer questions; they ask them. They analyze your situation, and then they ask questions that push you to think differently, to question your beliefs, to strive for new heights.
Back in 2009 I sat across the table from Bo Fishback — then VP of Entrepreneurship at the Kauffman Foundation — and tried to convince him to let my startup, KR Legal Management, into a new mentorship program he founded. I bragged about the $75,000 in revenue we generated in our first year and our plan of growing to $100,000 in revenue the following. I didn’t get the reaction I was anticipating. Bo looked extremely unimpressed. He sat back in his chair, thinking for a second and then said, “I don’t really care about $100,000.” He paused. “I’ll let you into the program if you can [generate] $1 million [in revenue next year].”
Expressing as much false bravado as I could muster, I agreed. I was thrilled but the elation quickly gave over to a sense of dread. What had I gotten myself into? I thought, “I can’t do $1 million in revenue; that’s impossible!” But I decided to run straight at it. I climbed into my car, pulled out my notebook and started adding up the numbers. At 110 percent capacity, I could probably generate $140,000, maybe. So how on earth was I going to get to $1 million?
So I started working backwards. I flipped to a new sheet of paper, wrote $1 million at the top and started breaking down what kind of customers I would need and what kind of services I would have to provide to get there. My strategy had to be completely different. I didn’t have the capacity to grow my current customer segment to a high enough volume, so I was going to have to go after a different type of customer — one that would generate substantially more revenue. It seemed crazy, but I decided it was worth a try. The next year — my second year in business — I didn’t hit $1 million, but I did generate $800,000 in revenue. That’s more than 1,000 percent growth in one year. All because of one little question: “Can you do $1 million in revenue next year?”
It was the first time in my life that someone completely pushed me out of my comfort zone, forced me to think in a brand new way, and made me believe in something I would have previously thought was impossible. Over the next few years, KR Legal Management generated millions in revenue and was eventually sold.
Here are a few things to look for in a provocateur:
Has a personal record of business success. Provocateurs can’t inspire big ideas unless they’ve had experience growing a company themselves. A provocateur should be able to reflect on their own experiences of failure and success and channel those experiences into thought-provoking questions for your company. Choose someone you respect for his or her business savvy, someone you’re sure would say no, and ask anyway.
He/she works outside your chosen industry. The whole purpose of having a provocateur is to find someone who will make you think about your company in an entirely new way. A great provocateur can offer a set of fresh eyes. They can look at your company and identify holes in your plan or opportunities for growth. By challenging the ways your industry traditionally works, a provocateur can offer a completely new perspective.
Effective at holding you accountable. A good provocateur doesn’t simply ask you challenging questions; they hold you accountable to help you achieve your new goals. They become invested in your success by checking in with you on a regular basis to see what kind of progress you are making.
No matter if you’re an entrepreneur or a corporate innovator, you can benefit from this type of provocation. A provocateur can help you achieve successes you didn’t even know were possible. If I hadn’t been challenged to grow my company exponentially, it wouldn’t have even occurred to me to try.
So who’s pushing you? Who’s asking you questions that force you to shift your entire paradigm? I’d love to hear your examples in the comments.
Diana Kander is a successful entrepreneur and Senior Fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the largest nonprofit in the world dedicated to entrepreneurship and education. She is also a New York Times best-selling author, public speaker, consultant and writer and advises founders and Fortune 500 executives on her methodology for launching customer-focused products and services. For more of Kander’s story about finding and eventually becoming a provocateur, visit her blog.
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