From wireless infrastructure to a natural food store, Craig Snyder has built a career blending family business entrepreneurship with innovation.

His businesses, VIKOR Teleconstruction and Pomegranate Market, show how to adjust, adapt and evolve to meet changing markets.

Snyder shared his insights at a webinar hosted by Prairie Family Business Association, “Fostering Innovation in Your Family Business.”

From fostering a culture of innovation to keeping the spirit of innovation alive in employees and the next generation, Snyder will share his experience navigating rapidly changing industries for more than 30 years.

We sat down with Snyder to learn more about how his companies approach innovation..

Innovation is a broad term that’s open to interpretation. What does it mean to you in the context of your businesses? 

To me, innovation goes along with my lifelong personal theme of vision. It is having a vision of what is possible. It’s standing on one mountain peak and seeing a distant mountain peak and determining I need to see what is over there. And then having the determination and fortitude to conquer that next peak. In business, that means always thinking about the next opportunity and being willing to take calculated risks to grow and expand and become. I have a poem that hangs on my wall about sticking to your task. To me, it is key in business and everything else in life. Don’t ever give up. It starts by saying “Stick to your task until it sticks to you; Beginners are many but enders are few.” It ends with this line: “For out of the bend and the sweat and the smile will come life’s victories after a while.” I love this poem. Its message has served me well. It will serve anyone who follows it well.

It’s easy for longtime business, especially multigenerational ones, to get used to “doing things the way they’ve always been done.” How have you fostered a culture of innovation in your businesses to keep evolving and positioning yourself for the future? 

Innovating in business has to start at the top. The top leader has to be willing to foster a culture where innovation is encouraged and rewarded. For me, I’ve strived to foster that with my children. So rather than resting on our laurels, we together are thinking of ways to think outside the box. A practical way of doing that in business is implement an innovation committee where new ideas can brew and be presented. Elon Musk once said if you’re not failing 20 percent of the time, you’re not trying hard enough.

Is there a particular innovation at either VIKOR or Pomegranate Market that you’re especially proud of? 

In 2003, our sales at VIKOR dropped by over half after the tech bubble burst. Before that, we had all our eggs in the cellular basket, and it really hurt us. After that, we began to diversify into bolt-on other telecommunications infrastructure opportunities. Since that day, we have seven different business units other than cellular.

Another example is turning lemons into lemonade. We had a tower unexpectedly fall due to underground corrosion. For a couple years thereafter, we educated the industry on the problem, but when no one stepped forward with a solution, we created a solution called AnchorGuard. That was years ago. Because of that innovative product, tens of thousands of towers have been protected against failure due to underground corrosion, and the profits from that business have blessed many.

Sometimes one generation’s idea of what’s innovative in business can be at odds with either the previous or the future generation. How have you worked between your first and second generation to achieve consensus around how and when to innovate? 

I love to read the stories of second-generation businesses that took the bootstrap mentality of the founding generation to the next level. Chick-fil-A is a good example of that. Had Chick-fil-A been a first-generation business only, very few of us would even know about it. It was the second generation that propelled it to national status. So for me, I have encouraged the second generation to double and triple what I started. Pomegranate Market is a good example. I started this natural food store ahead of its time in Sioux Falls and sort of ran out of gas when it finally caught hold. That’s where my children stepped in and with determination are leading the charge on a second store with even higher visions for the future beyond that.

What are you hoping attendees take away from the upcoming webinar? 

I hope that first-generation business owners will get a vision of what is possible by turning loose their next-generation children. I hope that business owners will hear one thing that strikes a chord in their mind about how they can innovate for growth.

How have your family and your businesses personally benefited from your relationship with Prairie Family Business Association? 

I’ve said several times that PFBA is the best-kept 30-plus-year-old secret, meaning I hadn’t heard about it until the last few years. It came into my view at the perfect time.

Since then, they have helped guide our  family to the creation of family governance plans, creation of a true independent board of directors and helped my second-generation children see more clearly their role in succession of our growing family businesses.

Members, to watch the webinar recording via Members Central, click here.

Non-members, we help family businesses thrive for generations. You should join! Click here.