Blaze new trails
Doug Kridler shies away from boundaries to find opportunities
A few years ago Doug Kridler, president and CEO of The Columbus Foundation, was alarmed by what he read on several message boards. A handful of young entrepreneurs felt Columbus’ leadership was inaccessible and that they had to go outside of the area to get the capital they needed to build their businesses.
“A few people were talking about moving their business elsewhere and so forth, and I only had to read that a few times to say, ‘Wait a minute, that doesn’t have to be the case and certainly we want to do our part,’” Kridler says.
The Foundation organized a series of dinners that not only communicated the sense of being valued, but also provided resources.
Kridler used his connections to invite business leaders who had “walked the walk in building and leading businesses” and were either experienced at assessing and making a case for capital or were themselves in a position to invest capital.
“What was great was it was nonprescription; it was non-agenda,” he says. “We just created an environment where if those young business owners and business builders wanted to create or build a relationship with any one of the resource titans in the room, they could on their own elect to do that, or not.”
It’s untraditional for a community foundation to take on that kind of role, but Kridler says the organization isn’t just a gifts and grants business. It’s a platform for community progress.
Blaze new trails
The Foundation doesn’t follow a traditional model, which is something Kridler has advocated throughout his professional life.
He started in the arts and entertainment business — never thinking he’d end up in a career in philanthropy. And when Kridler became the president of the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts, leaders at Minnesota Public Radio and the Guggenheim Museum inspired him.
“They took their operations and took them to other cities, using the core competencies that they’d built in their home shops to make them available elsewhere,” he says.
Kridler oversaw the expansion of CAPA from one theater to owning/operating six theaters in Columbus, Chicago and New Haven, Connecticut.
“There were precedents outside of our field of endeavor, but there were no precedents inside of our field of endeavor,” Kridler says of CAPA’s expansion. “I wasn’t following any model, and we’re not following any model here (at the Foundation).”
“I also didn’t read the trade press in my former field and don’t read the trade press in this field because I don’t want to become a product of the field,” he says. “I want to keep us thinking without boundaries about how to build business success.”
Run toward opportunity
Keeping an open mind and staying away from tradition also applies to young entrepreneurs and prospective business people.
Kridler says when people come out of school they quickly realize what they can do, tested outside of a classroom.
“The key is to stay open enough, long enough, so that you don’t underestimate what your abilities are, and that you don’t limit yourself too early,” he says. “Opportunities can look messy, sometimes. They are not just neatly packaged opportunities. They can look messy and off-putting.”
Kridler says it’s important to have the courage to run toward opportunities, and not overthink it.
He also says that the not-for-profit world is just as much a part of business as for-profits.
“When it comes to investment performance, service or community knowledge, we don’t get a nonprofit discount on expectations,” Kridler says. “We must deliver in a best practice way, period, full stop.”
It takes just as much business acumen, but there is a bonus — the passion of purpose.
“The word nonprofit sounds like it’s business-minus, but if it’s a well-run company it’s actually business-plus because it’s business plus purpose,” he says. “And that’s immensely inspiring, motivating and valuable to a community.”
How to reach: The Columbus Foundation, (614) 251-4000 or www.columbusfoundation.org
