Wise words of advice from some young entrepreneurs

I recently hosted a retreat for some great young entrepreneurs and their spouses. Besides having fun, we spent some quality time networking and learning from each other.

These young business leaders are successful and are all under 30 years of age. Their companies have existed fewer than three years — some less than a year. One is a B-to-C (business-to-consumer) service company, three lead B-to-B high-tech enterprises, while the fifth member of the group works with social entrepreneurship organizations.

On the last day of the retreat, I asked each one to present to the group the most important principle they had learned from their business experiences. Working at the university, I expected to hear some common strategy themes from the group that are taught in business schools such as, "create a first mover advantage," "establish a dominant market share" or "build a great team."

Their presentations focused on a much different and refreshing mix of concepts. Remember, these are not all of the principles required to run a successful business, but they were the ones deemed most important by these young entrepreneurs.

Here are the five principles, one from each entrepreneur:

• Be honest. Do not be afraid in any business setting to stand up for what you believe to be correct behavior. Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts said, "Integrity is consistency between actions and values. A person of integrity lives in conformity with his or her principal values. Their word is their bond."

Romney goes on to relate this concept to business: "If enterprises don't honor their commitments, substantial commerce is impossible. The essential commercial concept of contract, where one party provides a good in reliance upon a promise that the other will make future compensation, cannot exist if promises are routinely disregarded."

• Serve others. Be kind and nice to others. Stay humble, and associate professionally with everyone in the company, even the "little person."

• Be an example. One rule that this entrepreneur embraced was to always surround himself with others who have more talent than he possessed, an example that he wanted all employees to follow.

• Relationships are important. You need great partners, individuals who complement you and your talents, professionals who will stick with you through the good and the bad times.