Blog post by Michael Connell: Monmouth College President Mauri Ditzler was the St. Patrick’s Day guest speaker in the Midwest Entrepreneurs class. The festive nature of the holiday and the presence of the College President in the classroom made for a memorable day that those in attendance will not soon forget.

Mauri began de-tasseling corn when he was a young boy on the farm in Indiana. De-tasseling was to become a 35 year love affair that saw the relationship grow and change over time as Mauri’s life changed and his management expertise grew. At first, it was a way for a teenager and college student to earn extra summer income. Later it became an intense, 16 hours a day, month long passion that saw an East Coast chemistry professor and his high school coach partner employing and supervising over 1000 teenagers at time – anyone who can employ over a 1000 teenagers at one time deserves whatever profits he earns. Mauri was in business to supply specialized labor to enable seed corn companies to produce high value seeds for a hungry world.

Ditzler started by explaining to the class that he wanted to find a business that would allow him to maintain his academic job and supplement the meager wages of a college professor. He quizzed the students to get them to identify the desirable characteristics of a suitable business – together they came up with a business model. The students quickly suggested that the business should be 1) seasonal, 2) only require labor that could be trained quickly and cheaply, 3) have a quick start-up each year, 4) have low capital requirements, and 5) offer high profit potential per day. A seed corn de-tasseling operation fit all the stated requirements.

Ditzler’s business operated as a classic middleman – his smaller company provided a specialized service to a larger company that found it beneficial to outsource one step of the production process to an expert. Like all outsourcing companies, Ditzler found a niche in the value-chain where he could perform a task more efficiently because of specialized knowledge, increased efficiency, learning curves and economies of scale. The old saying of “do one thing and do it right” accurately describes Mauri’s highly specialized business. By focusing on this single task and searching for constant efficiency improvements, Ditzler’ s company was able to increase benefits for the seed corn company, himself, his partner and their employees – the seed corn company saved money, Ditzler earned profits from his entrepreneurship and the workers had more consistent work opportunities and higher wages. Over time, Ditzler learned that his business could be more efficient and more profitable if he also managed the food, lodging, and transportation for more a smaller, more efficient workforce. The seed corn companies realized the benefits of a dealing with a specialized company that could supply consistent, high-quality, workforce on short notice over a wide geographic territory. Every business needs an identifiable market niche and that was Ditzler’ s niche – consistent, high-quality performance that was highly mobile over a service area that was several hundred miles wide.

Over the years, Mauri learned many business and life lessons that he shared with the class. He learned that “you can win an argument or you can solve a problem but you cannot do both on the same day.” He learned that a business must always pay “productivity justified wages” – in the early years, he paid low wages to workers and supervisors that had low rates of productivity; but in later years, he found that the business ran better if he paid higher wages to more productive workers and supervisors. He learned that it was money well spent to pay bonuses to supervisors because a better compensated workforce produced a stable, high quality set of employees that avoided costly mistakes. He and society both changed some of their unfounded 1970’s stereotypes about “men’s work” and “women’s work.” He took pride in the fact that he personally de-tasseled few rows of corn every day and at least once a year he took the time to do every job in the business so he would know the issues and conditions his employees faced on a daily basis. He learned that every new problem required changes and that ultimately it was those same changes that lead to constant improvement, increased efficiency and higher profits. Being able to constantly re-think things kept the business alive and profitable.

Since he became the President of Monmouth College, he has not been back to see the business that his partner is still running – seeing your old love again can be a painful experience that wisdom tells us is better avoided. Over 35 years, the seed corn de-tasseling business taught the chemistry professor turned college dean that the world is a dynamic place that requires flexibility and problem-solving skills to survive – these are the qualities of a successful entrepreneur; funny how it sounds a lot like the foundations of a liberal arts education. Welcome home Mr. President and thanks for a memorable class.