The word entrepreneur conjures up distinct opinions based on your particular vantage point. Some believe it applies only to a person who starts his/her own business. An entrepreneur is a professional daredevil, an explorer, and one who has risk-taking running through his/her veins.

Other folks may view an entrepreneur as a wild and wily cowboy, shooting from the hip, taking over everything in his/her sight with little regard for the establishment.

There’s a bit of truth to both.

That said, I believe all of those characteristics can live symbiotically in professionals who care deeply about what they do. And I think it’s critical that everyone in our industry adopt an entrepreneurial spirit as we face more and more challenges to the network.

That’s why OSP^® magazine went searching for executives who embody that entrepreneurial spirit to be our co-keynote presenters this year at OSP EXPO^® 2011. We found two such people who just happen to be CTOs at progressive IOCs: Frontier Communications, a leader serving the rural communities who deserve exactly that which we suburbanites have in terms of broadband speeds; and Cincinnati Bell, one of the largest independents that is more than proactive in delivering what their customers want via mixed network architectures. (Can you say it almost doubled its Fioptics subscribers in 2010?!)

These two individuals inspire those around them and take on the network with a positive attitude.

                             
Jeff Carr                                                                                                  Michael P. Golob
Chief Technology Officer,                                                                       Senior Vice President of
Cincinnati Bell                                                                                        Engineering and Technology,
                                                                                                                  Frontier Communications Corporation

Be sure to catch my interviews with each of them in the July and August issues of OSP magazine. And then, make your way up to the stage to shake their hands after they present on September 13 at the Duke Energy Convention Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. I’m serious. You deserve to catch their entrepreneurial energy. Make up your mind to meet and network with them this year. Trust me, they are just like us -- and they like positive feedback just as we do.

Speaking of entrepreneurial, I dare YOU to adopt a bit of this attitude as well. Attend OSP EXPO 2011 for your dose of entrepreneurial “juice” and watch the energy come your way.