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21 FEATURE ISSUE ONE company would be greater than before. Within seven weeks, Generac had returned to normal operations. The next dozen years saw the company grow rapidly in retail, opening several new facilities and hiring thousands of employees. While the United States struggled through the sluggish economy of the early 1980s, Kern focused on ways to navigate into new markets by anticipating economic and social trends. Within a year, Generac shifted into the industrial market, challenging international giants such as Caterpillar and Kohler. Kern’s new designs, willingness to change and diversify, and ability to see the big picture kept the company moving forward. “In today’s world, there are many factors that have to come into play for any idea to be successful,” he says. “The goal is the much broader understanding of how your thought processes, your ideas are going to fit into the world that you’re looking at and anticipate what’s coming over the horizon.” Through the 1990s, Generac continued to adapt and expand. Partnerships with major retailers such as The Home Depot pushed Generac products into American hands at an increased rate. Strategic business moves navigated the company deep into the industrial market, while the Y2K computer scare spurred unprecedented calls for private generators. Development of the multiple generator system – another innovation of Kern’s – the Bi-Fuel generator, low sound and fuel emission systems, and movement into the technical training field brought Generac to the top of its field in 2006. After 47 years, the Kerns sold Generac and shifted their focus to the work of The Kern Family Foundation. If you ask him today, Kern will tell you that cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset in today’s increasingly technical, diverse world is more important than ever. “Based on my experience, technical engineering training is not the beginning and end all,” he says. “Our version of entrepreneurial activity is not that what most people think of – starting your own business – but it is preparing students so that they can think entrepreneurially whatever environment they’re in.” The history of Generac (clockwise from top left): A barn where early generators were manufactured; Founder Robert Kern; the Generac plant in Waukesha; Patricia Kern with the young couple’s first jalopy; the early Generac logo; Robert Kern’s first start-up business.