IRVINE, Calif., July 1, 2023 —
Scott Hamilton, president and chief executive officer of Executive Next Practices Institute (ENP), never shies away from a challenge – whether it is Half Dome at Yosemite National Park or helping large and small companies in Orange County. 
This avid hiker and climber solves common business challenges through ENP’s collaborative services that unite minds from across the entrepreneurial community.
ENP is a network of business leaders who hold meetings and forums to review promising innovations in business and leadership strategies throughout the United States. For UCI Beall Applied Innovation, ENP connects Wayfinder teams with established companies through events at the Cove – Applied Innovation’s headquarters. ENP aims to establish entrepreneurial mindsets within larger companies and encourage forward thinking in startups. Their efforts in this endeavor earned ENP a nomination for the 18th Annual Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award this year.
“These larger enterprises have resources, mentors, capital to support what the Wayfinder companies, for example, are doing,” said Hamilton. “This is all what we are trying to do.”
Hamilton, a seasoned entrepreneur, first moved to the West Coast from Georgia to work with Golden State Foods, an American food service company. From there Hamilton progressed toward other corporate leadership roles, including vice president of DIRECTV, where he implemented strategic planning, marketing and organization effectiveness – especially in large industries and enterprises.
Hamilton has woven his diverse leadership experience into a singular attitude – which he encourages in businesses that use ENP resources. Before ENP, CEOs and other business leaders were unhappy because they brainstormed solutions within their peer groups, but lost access to various perspectives and ideas.
“It would be the same people over and over, their peer group – CEOs talking to CEOs and CFOs talking to CFOs,” said Hamilton. “There’s a time and place for that … however, if you’re benchmarking against others or talking to yourself, so to speak, you’re not really learning anything.”
Hamilton’s passion for entrepreneurship gives him a keen eye for promising inventions and concepts. He enjoys that startups are inherently innovative and especially appreciates their original technologies and solutions. With this enthusiasm for early-stage companies, Hamilton and the ENP team educate startups about scalability, market value, infrastructure and growth, among other things, to guide them in the right direction.
Hamilton believes Applied Innovation’s collaborative space gives ENP more educational opportunities with startups – like collaborations with large-scale companies, informational events and business consultations. At the Cove, ENP hosts workshops like the Growth U Summit, an event that features top development experts who discuss building and sustaining market dominance for companies.
“We tend to tell our startups to think big and the enterprise companies to think small,” said Hamilton.
Visit ENP to learn more about their services or to attend a workshop.