What does it take to build a company in the 21st century? James Curleigh, chief executive officer, president, and chief product tester at KEEN, Inc., in Portland, Oregon, addressed that question on October 5, 2010, as part of the Dean’s Distinguished Lecture Series hosted by the Oregon State University College of Business.

The lecture series brings dynamic business leaders on campus twice a year to talk with students and the general public about how their companies have achieved or sustained a profitable business operation. It is just one small part of the college’s ongoing commitment to connecting students with working professionals.

Curleigh shared his insights on what it takes for a company to be successful when it is “born this century.”

“Being born this century means taking risks, and taking risks means having some innovation that gets backed up by execution,” said Curleigh.

KEEN was founded in 2003 with the introduction of its flagship product: a trekking sandal with patented toe-protection technology. The company might not have been born at all had the sandal’s design not been rejected by nine major footwear manufacturers because they thought it was ugly.

Fortunately for outdoor enthusiasts, the founders believed in their vision and were willing to take risks to realize it. They launched the Newport sandal at a winter tradeshow—defying traditional manufacturing cycles—and went on to birth the concept of the “HybridLife,” which has become a branding strategy and an operating philosophy. Today, the company offers more than 500 products and has a distribution network that spans the globe.

An underlying concept of the Hybrid Life is seeking balance in all areas, Curleigh said. For example, it is important to find the balance between innovation and execution, risk-taking and patience, control and chaos, today’s and tomorrow’s needs, economics and environmentalism.

Curleigh inferred that surviving in the 21st century also requires rethinking some tried and true business strategies. “A lot of companies start by understanding wants and needs and trying to find better solutions,” he said. Although he admitted that such an approach is not “wrong,” he suggested another possibility. “At KEEN, we give people what they didn’t know they needed, but when they get it, they can’t live without it.”

He also suggested re-imagining the idea that a product should target a particular use or user. “America is over segmented,” he said, noting that product manufacturers tend to seek extremely narrowly defined customers. He said demographics and psychographics definitely play a role in KEEN’s strategic planning, but the company’s general philosophy emphasizes inclusivity. For example, KEEN never suggests a use for their products, such as a specific sport.

“It’s super liberating—for us, for the brand, and for people who just want to use [our products] every day,” he said. “And if we’re not sport specific, we don’t have to go after the best person on earth for that sport to build a pyramid of influence.” Building a pyramid of influence refers to the concept of finding a celebrity sponsor for a brand or product. “The pyramid of influence works, but when you’re born this century, you can’t chase those people. You can’t afford that.”

Although environmental sustainability is now a foundational philosophy in KEEN’s branding, Curleigh said that value evolved over time. “We didn’t start out saying ‘let’s be the most sustainable brand on the planet,’ ” he said. “But then we discovered there were all sorts of opportunities to build sustainability into our world. Some of it was really interesting and innovative and some of it was just that we were accidental environmentalists.”

He said KEEN uses many materials that would otherwise go into a landfill. For example, the company melted blocks of aluminum harvested from a manufacturing plant to make eyelets and the grommets for shoes. “Two-thirds of the cost of a shoe can be materials, and if you can get it free, it makes good economic sense. And if it’s going to a landfill and you rescue it, it makes good environmental sense,” he said.

In keeping with its model of sustainability, the company is poised to announce a major shift in its manufacturing strategies soon.