January 1, 2001

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Innovators And Influencers 2001

From Old Line To New Economy

Carolyn Osborne switches from CIO to entrepreneur

By Eric Chabrow

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arolyn Osborne's entrepreneurial spirit is no longer trapped in an old-line business. For 28 years at Carolina Power & Light Co., Osborne, 51, moved up the corporate ladder from programmer to CIO. She operated as an intrapreneur, championing dot-com-like ventures within the Raleigh, N.C., utility, now renamed Progress Energy Inc. Among those ventures are Statusgo.com, an application service provider that furnishes asset-management services, and Pantellos Corp., an E-marketplace for the utility industry.

Two months ago, Osborne left CP&L to create consulting firm GoBeyond LLC. As president, she says she'll have more influence working with a number of businesses than with a single company. "Putting alliances together and creating a new way of doing work is an adrenaline rush for me," she says.

Osborne understands that the IT-business relationship is evolving to one in which technology is a catalyst for business opportunities. "Carolyn is one of the few executives who has one foot squarely planted in IT and the other in the entrepreneurial arena," says former CP&L colleague Kent Hudson, now CEO of Indus Industries Inc., which provides the asset-management software Statusgo hosts. "She brings that solid, CIO understanding of big project management yet understands the emotions, dynamics, and workings of an eight-person entrepreneurial team starting something up."

Rod Ellsworth, Statusgo's managing director, credits Osborne with helping persuade Sears, Roebuck and Co. to use the company for asset-management services. "She begins conversations with questions rather than statements," says John Mengelson, director of facilities management at Sears. "Once she understands customer needs, she evaluates what she can do."

MUST-HAVE TECHNOLOGY : Voice mail keeps her in touch and has advantages over E-mail. "You can hear reflection in the voice. With E-mail, all the emotion, passion, frustration, and fear are stripped out."

RECENTLY READ BOOK: "Jesus, CEO: Using Ancient Wisdom For Visionary Leadership," by Laurie Beth Jones. "I'm a spiritual person, but hopefully my feet are anchored on earth."

MOST ADMIRED BUSINESS LEADER : GE CEO Jack Welch. "He's not afraid to push ahead and invest in new areas, and, if they don't pan out, to divest them."

CHARITABLE WORK : Plans to spend three weeks this year overseas building homes for the needy with Habitat for Humanity. "It's the farthest thing from high tech."

Where does the Nashville, Tenn., native find the inspiration for her work? In her leisure activities as a soccer mom whose daughter won a college athletic scholarship, Osborne sees parallels between the game and business. In soccer, she points out, a player kicks the ball to an "empty space" in anticipation of a teammate receiving the pass. Similarly, she says, business managers must aim for the space that falls between industries, customers, and suppliers to succeed. "Winners know how to go to that space and move the ball ahead of competitors, and know the capabilities of teammates, so they will be there when they pass the ball," she says.

A not-so-leisurely activity that influenced Osborne's professional life was a 1999 wilderness survival trip in the Sierra Nevada mountains. "It forced me to find a way that's not on a clear path," she says.

Another influence on the direction of her career was finding out she had breast cancer four years ago. "As a cancer survivor," she says, "you learn to face fears and realize that nothing can't be overcome."

As Osborne sets out in a new professional direction, she seeks to couple the discipline she developed at old-line Carolina Power & Light with the creativity required by New Economy companies. "The ultimate survivor," she says, "must blend them together."

Continue on to Rusty Braziel, founder and chairman of Altra Energy Technologies Inc.

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