Can Entrepreneurship be taught?
Dec 06
Recently a very interesting dialogue has been going on in a LinkedIn group of which I am a member concerning the question of whether the art of entrepreneurship can be taught. Fifteen years ago when I was chairman of the Management Association of my country at the time I took the iniatiative and helped establish the Entrepreneurship Club and later I served as its President for eight years.
So,I thought I might submit in my blog some of my experiences and thoughts on this subject and will try to answer two questions: “ Can entrepreneurship be taught?” and “Has the government any role to play in facilitating entrepreneurship?”
This is the entrepreneurial age. Entrepreneurs are driving a revolution that is transforming and renewing economies worldwide. Entrepreneurship is the essence of free enterprise because the birth of new businesses gives a market economy its vitality.
New enterprises generate most of the new jobs. According to some estimates, a thousand new businesses are born every hour of every working day in the United States. Within five years, small, growing firms with 100 or fewer workers generated 7-8 million new jobs in the U.S. economy, whereas firms with more than 100 workers destroyed 3.6 million. By the way, since we are experiencing one of the worse recessions of the century we and the goverments around the world should exercize great care not damage this job creating machine. If anything goverments should go out of their way and encourage in every way new entrepreneurs
Anyway, coming back to our subject: an entrepreneur is someone who perceives an opportunity and creates an organization to pursue it.
The entrepreneurial process involves all the functions, activities, and actions associated with perceiving opportunities and creating organizations to pursue them.
But can the art and science of entrepreneurship actually be taught? Or is the birth of a new enterprise just happenstance and its subsequent success or failure a process based on chance?
Although ten years ago many business school gurus maintained that entrepreneurship could not be taught, entrepreneurship is today the fastest– growing subject in the business school curriculum.
Today the process of creating a new business is well understood and most of us believe that entrepreneurship can be taught. One cannot guarantee that by itself the teaching of entrepreneurship in our business schools will produce the tycoons of tomorrow, but students with an urge to start a business will receive education that will make them better entrepreneurs.
Addressing the role governments can play in facilitating entrepreneurship, I can only mention what we have repeatedly recommended to our government officials.
The first recommendation has to do with how the government can influence the imagination and inspire its citizens to consider starting a new business thus creating a higher number of nascent entrepreneurs. This we believe can be achieved through the educational process starting with lessons from the early years and continuing through high school and technical and university years. We have to recognize the fact that in many countries, including mine, our youth was exposed for decades through the educational system to views that were, to say the least, not positive towards the role of the business and the entrepreneurs. To the contrary there was a kind of propaganda against it.
The second recommendation was to grasp the opportunity that the European Union and other central goverments are offering for funding and gear most of these programs towards funding new entrepreneurs.
The third recommendation is an obvious one: goverments should remove all the barriers and bureaucratic obstacles that a new entrepreneur faces when it comes to establishing a new business and believe me in many countries this is a real nightmare.
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Dec 06 at 18:45
Sir ,it was really a wonderful topic to write on and you did full justice to the topic.
As being a management grad i can feel the things illustrated by you ,by teaching it certainly we produce better entrepreneurs and also it imbibes a zeal and also motivates us to go for it.
SIR thank you very much for writing on this type of subjects.
Dec 10 at 10:32
I believe no body comes with any knowledge from the womb of mother. It is here what he learns. He learns from his family, friends and education. So I beleive it can be taught. You can have a fair idea about how things happen, but to gain perfection, you need to learn the methodologies and ways of doing the things.
Posted by Anuj Sharma
Dec 10 at 10:33
Entrepreneurship needs natural aptitude towards ‘the art of entrepreneurship’. Resources act as catalysts in enhancing the productivity of a professional impregnated with this spirit. Spirit cannot be taught. It got to be present in a person as a divine gift. For instance, the captivating voice of a singer is a divine gift. We cannot teach someone how to transform his or her voice and enable that person to become a singer.
Posted by Zaheer Babar
Dec 10 at 10:33
Every business is different. Although, there are a few things that entrepreuner can learn from others, Most of it comes from his experience and on-job training. In fact, i had to “unlearn” a few things that i had learnt in my MBA class. For ex: I had got an impression that VC’s fund good ideas even if it is on the back of the napkin.Nothing is further from truth. Risk Analysis is another thing that you have to unlearn otherwise you will never dive into being an entrepreuner.
In entrepreunership, Mentors and not teachers are valuable. Every situation is different and needs specific advise.
Posted by Ranjit Sawant
Dec 10 at 10:34
You cannot teach someone to be an entrepeneur (ie through a degree or MBA). Instead, on such courses, you are taught business models & skills.
A self-starter, ingenious, creative, determined [complete etc....] business person needs more than just industry acumen; but an innate ability and a big scoop of luck.
Posted by John Lewis
Dec 10 at 10:35
Can Entrepreneurship be taught? Well in my opinion it cannot until unless the subject has zeal inside for entrepreneurship. Person who wants to be an entrepreneur will always have different viewpoint than a normal person. Entrepreneur always looks for performance gaps where normal individuals do nothing except criticizing. Entrepreneurship can be taught and will be helpful to those who have longing for their own venture (can also be referred as their baby). Entrepreneurs are learners and teaching them will be fruitful. Teaching concepts of entrepreneurship to those who only walk with crowd will be fruitless and yield nothing.
Above mentioned was only my opinion. I still have to learn lot from lessons of life. I have due respect for comments of all great people out here.
Posted by Balwinder S Arora
Dec 10 at 10:36
I think Entrepreneurship is a natural inclination . It doesnt matter , how secure your ground is – if its there in you , the worm will wiggle !
Also I dont think the concept of “teaching” applies here . Its more of a “gut” feeling . It cant be taught .
You can be taught how to start a business and run it . But thats NOT entrepreneurship . Thats education of business .
Someone who doesnt have a natural inclination for doing something of own , would take this education and get a JOB in consulting people how to do it !!
On the other hand the guy-with-the-worm will actually do a business and probably fail also because he didnt have enough knowledge . But guess what , he would try again
) . Thats Entrepreneurship – Freaky belief in oneself .
Posted by Mayank Sharma
Dec 10 at 10:37
Entrepreneurship can’t be taught – it is usually the square guy who can’t fit into a round hole – but it certainly can be supported through mentoring and refined through studying the success ( and failures ) of those who have gone before.
An MBA degree may help to better understand budgeting, goal setting, legal constraints, etc – but it is no substitute for the ” fire in the belly ” – that is in the genes !!
Harold Fues
Internova North America
The House of Nova Cool
Dec 10 at 10:39
I believe entrepreneurship can and should be taught. I completely agree with your thoughts that children should be exposed to it from an early age in order to make it the “norm”. We grew up in a generation when “getting a good job” and keeping it until retirement was the norm. We were taught in school to listen, do what we’re told, follow directions to the letter and not to question. This created good employees to meet the needs of big business.
We can just as easily teach problem-solving, out-of-the-box thinking and creating a personal source of livelihood so our children learn to make a life instead of just a living.
We’ll get what we focus on and allocating resources to facilitate entrepreneurship is a much better investment than pouring billions of dollars down a rat hole trying to bail out business behemoths with an insatiable appetite for money. Imagine how many businesses (and jobs) could have been created with that money!
Thanks for your great insight. I look forward to your next post
Posted by Lori Snyder
Dec 10 at 10:40
Entrepreneurship can be taught. Everyone and anyone can develop the neccesary skills and knowledge to be successful in business.
It is all about having the right attitude. You can learn any other skills that you may need or alternatively you can build a team of people with the neccesary skills.
The main skills that you require to be succesful in any business are the emotional intelligence skills such as self awareness, confidence, intiative, determination, empathy, leadership, relationship and communication skills.
I have a form of dislexia but still had a business with over 30 book stores. I have to get my neighbour in to put up shelves but I built 24 apartments 3 years ago.
Until we develop the emotional intelligence and business skills in schools we are going to miss yet another generation of kids who do not have the neccesary skills to be an entrepreneur
Posted by Richard Norman
Dec 10 at 10:40
Dimitris, I also blogged about this a while back (the mind of the entrepreneur: http://bit.ly/8R7L8P ) with focus on players in the high tech world. This also spurred a lot of discussion on LinkedIn with the interesting outcome that everyone views the definition of entrepreneurship differently.
Here’s a definition from dictionary.com: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/entrepreneur
According to this, every small business owner is an entrepreneur, making the concept less “jazzy” (think about every plumber and taco stand owner who starts their own “enterprise”).
If you define it by the amount of risk taking appetite involved, you include a lot of crazies into the group.
If you define it by the success factor, you exclude a lot of true entrepreneurs (who happened to fail).
So before figuring out whether it can be taught, I’d be interested to see how everyone defines the term “entrepreneur”.
By the way, in my blog I mentioned it can’t be taught but I’m open to persuasion.
Posted by Kat Shoa
Dec 10 at 10:41
Hi Dimitris
I think firstly, we need to define what an Entrepreneur is. How would you define one?
Posted by Chris Green
Dec 10 at 10:42
Of course it can be taught, and it is by many organzations.
How well it is taught is the more important question. Every aspect for the entrepeneur can be learned and someone is doing it already. I like CEO Space the best. MBA programs cover many details of running a business, but fall short on the preparation that needs to occur for a winning business.
Posted by Carl Schattke, CID+
Dec 10 at 10:43
Yes and no. Certain components of entrepreneurship can be taught, while others cannot. How to create, analyze and manage a balance sheet (a skill most entrepreneurs must know) can be taught. Determination and toughness (another skill you must have) cannot be taught. It must be acquired through adversity.
I’m really getting off on a tangent, but this is precisely the reason I’m worried about the next generation (i.e., 20 years from now) of entrepreneurs. Because so many of them have been spoiled and pampered by parents, I’m worried that the critical trait of working through very difficult situations as an entrepreneur will be lost.
Posted by Gregg Kimmer
Dec 10 at 10:44
Entrepreneurship can definitely be taught.However successful Entrepreneurship cannot be. I beleive your question should be “Can successful Entrepreneurship be taught ”
An analogy to this is can swimming be taught yes….you can read books to learn swimming , you can watch videos …one step higher you can learn from teaching swimming in a pool but does it compare to swimming in a fast running river or ocean ???
In simple terms Ability to access risk only comes by experience and is critical to any job. Anticipating risk and dealing with it is key for success in Entrepreneurship and that cannot be taught.
Look at what formal management lessons in Entrepreneurship that successful people went through …nothing..steve jobs ,Gates…larry ellison…
Education fosters Entrepreneurship but intuition sparks Entrepreneurship
Posted by Sriraman M
Dec 10 at 10:46
Few people can be entrepreneurs; and, even those who have all the necessary qualities, either (a) fail to apply their skills or (b) are lost for bad luck.
It can not be taught but, for those who have it, it can be nurtured!
Posted by John Lewis
Dec 10 at 10:47
A simpler question is, can the propensity toward entrepreneurship be identified. I have some research on the subject – if you are interested I can be reached at jpresser@thegabrielinstitute.com. In my youth, all my answers on the ’should you be an entrepreneur’ tests were rather negative. Having neither entrepreneurial family, nor inheritance, (nor Y chromosome, which was an assumed requirement that long ago), I never considered it until it became undeniable that it’s the only job I’m really a fit for. The most recent study I read, via innovationamerica.us (highly recommend their Innovation Daily newsletter) said the most important characteristic is that successful entrepreneurs jfdi. (Think Nike with an edge if you don’t know the acronym.)
Posted by Dr. Janice Presser
Dec 10 at 10:48
Enterpreneurship cannot be taught..but the inner quality can be fine tuned to become future successful enterpreneur. We find most of the talented individuals across Universities/colleges & firms, it’s the collaborative responsibility of the HRD ministry/ the Govt to take efficient initiatives to attract the talent for an effective enterpreneurs… At the current economy & global recession the need & use of an effective enterpreneur is always…there…
Hope the users will agree with me & I welcome for any suggestions..
Regards
Aditya Donepudi.
Dec 10 at 10:59
This is a great discussion. Let me start with Entrepreneurship can be taught, I took the course in college and was also in SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise). However, attending the class and making an “A” doesn’t make me an Entrepreneur. I made an “A” because it reinforced what my gut had already taught me.
Being an Entrepeneur means:
That you desire to build a better mousetrap.
That you are innovative.
That you dare to go where noone has gone before.
That you won’t be told “You can’t”
That you would rather jump of a cliff to “Soar” rather than crawl on the ground to “Exist”
That no matter how many times you get bucked of the horse — you get back on it.
Entrepreneurship and Business are two different animals. What about the artists? They could care less about business but yet they are entrepreneurs. They brand themselves and market their products and hopefully make a profit before they die.
Business is Business & Talent is Talent. Entrepreneurship is a Talent.
Entrepreneurs are Business Artists.
Posted by Melinda Keeney
Dec 10 at 11:01
We can teach many of the things that an Entrepreneur will need to know to succeed e.g. opportunity recognition, building a team, raising finance etc. We can also inspire potential entrepreneurs by exposing them to the successes and failures of nascent companies that have gone before them. By doing this, I believe we will increase the number of latent entrepreneurs that make the transition, and we may also increase the success rate for the ventures that they create.
Posted by Prof. Donal O’Mahony
Dec 10 at 11:59
Merchant’s son, very likely will become a merchant. Simply by observation, by the way of thinking of the family, by teachings.
Systematic modern business courses will ignite to those inclined, the entrepreneurial spirit.
Government can systematically boost the spirit, by
-Language: Quite often, entreprenship is suppposed to be promoted, but the language used is sending out opposite signs. In Greece, the word entrepreneur, when used by the media, connotates doubious businesses, like night clubs.
-Subsidizing initiatives of the young or the experts
-Promoting businesses abroad: Anglo-Saxon embasies around the world consider as their main “raison d’ etre” to facilitate their country’s business chieftains to expand. Greek officials are hunted by guilt syndroms. They always act in fear of not being associated too much with any individual business.
(Milton is writing from Evangelismos hospital, in horizontal position for more than a month, after a car hit his right foot)
Dec 12 at 23:20
The mechanics of entrepreneurship, like anything else, can be taught. You can teach someone how to play a sport, you can teach someone how to play an instrument, and you can definitely teach someone how be an entrepreneur.
But learning how to be an entrepreneur does mean that you are an entrepreneur. Knowledge can make you better, but it needs to be coupled with drive, creativity, determination, competitiveness, and innovative thinking.
Dec 18 at 11:54
Gilles Gambade has sent you a message.
Very interesting subject as I had the occasion to work with many Greek entrepreneurs in the last 20 years in Greece.
Main feature of entrepreneurship, in my opinion, is about risk taking and business risk assessment. “Born” entrepreneurs have a natural talent for that and can take important business decisions based on few informations, trusting their instinct. Can it be taught? I do not think so, but you certainly can develop some entrepreneurship behaviors with leaders as far as the environment will allow them to apply such behaviors.
Regarding the role of the government, I strongly believe that its role is mainly to provide mechanisms in order to facilitate the access to financing instruments, the guarantee fund for SMEs in Greece is a good example for that and to simplify administrative procedures for developing new business
Dec 18 at 23:02
Entrepreneurship is a make-up of two things, knowledge, and drive. Many businesses are started by a talented person that is working for another company. Thinking that they can do the same thing working for them self, they set out to start a business. Soon it is learned that there is more to running a business than performing the actual work. At this point they are forced to learn the areas of the business that they were lacking. In most cases people that start a business are able to learn what they need to know or contract the needed services such as accounting, and taxes. The other needed skill is drive, and many do not have this skill and find it hard to work without someone directing them on what to do. This too can be over-come as there are a number of businesses that do executive coaching. They are in business to help direct and also most importantly provide accountability to the entrepreneur that may be struggling to stay on task. The resources that are available to help an entrepreneur succeed are there if they are willing to get the help that they need.
Posted by Richard Gertz
Dec 19 at 17:45
I am an entrepreneur and have owned and operated my own companies since 1989 when I stepped down from a VP of Sales position within the consumer electronics industry.
Most of my companies were started up from a grass roots effort (another way of saying that I was under funded). Due to this I have looked for like-minded people who could help me grow my company with sweat equity and enough money to keep the lights on until we “hit the home run”. The interesting fact is, I have only found a few people with the following traits that I believe are crucial to meeting the profile of an entrepreneur.
1) A huge amount of risk tolerance…
2) The ability to KEEP getting up after being knocked down over and over or an innate ability to persevere…
3) A passion for what you are trying to accomplish and the knowledge to back this up…
4) Impeccable work ethics and the understanding that your JOB is 7.5 days a week!
5) The knowledge and understanding that the average entrepreneur fails a dozen or so times before succeeding…
6) Funding is a nice thing to have but this will not stop a true entrepreneur…
In 1999 I became an executive recruiter and in May 2001 I was one of the top billers in the industry. It was this day I quit and once again pursued the no money, 7.5 days a week work hours and risked everything to build my own mouse trap…
I believe that we should encourage entrepreneurship and that we all have a little entrepreneurship in us if we know it or not (most don’t). I believe this is the foundation of society. We used to have more of this element in the U.S. but the big guys have gotten bigger and the little guys are now working for them (correction, they are laid off because of share holder profits and razor thin margins). It seems to me that pride of “the best job done” has been stripped away and we’re left with a strip mall environment – TOO BAD! If we are going to encourage entrepreneurship I suggest a trip to Italy or perhaps France. Here you can find family owned and operated businesses that offer perfection to a high degree.
Posted by Ron McManmon
Dec 20 at 16:13
I see primarily two lines of thought in these discussions, i.e. can be taught vs. cannot be taught. One important point that we are missing here has temporal bearings, which actually is leading to this confusion.
We cannot produce entrepreneurs by a course/ teaching classes/coaching. Entrepreneurs cannot result from any MBA or similar programme.
However, the entrepreneurship can be nurtured in a kid from his/her very early days. The traits of an entrepreneurs can be imbibed through the discussion in dining table, interaction with family members, exposure to society, stories of successful entrepreneurs and nurturing the talent for creativity, risk taking ability, communication skills, willingness to do something of ones own etc. This is generally the reason why certain sections of society have more entrepreneurs than others. It is not the DNA but the exposure from the early childhood days.
Posted by Bharat Lohani
Jan 07 at 19:29
Excellent questions and replies and how many people are we talking about? I mean how many people are we talking about that can be entrepreneurs?
First by using the correct data and asking the right kinds of questions we can arrive at whether the entrepreneurs are born or made?
First I agreed that the entrepreneurs are born with this ‘risk’ predisposition and that it definitely require time to think, and the true entrepreneurs will sacrifice everything for this precious thinking time unless one buys a franchise, and then can this person be called and entrepreneur?
Look at how many people who made money directly off of the thoughts and works of Nikola Tesla who died penniless can these financial manipulators be considered entrepreneurs simply by starting public companies using the others thinking time?
What if 2 or 3 people came together around the idea of a thought leader and 2 merely ride this idea to the IPO can these 2 persons be considered entrepreneurs?
What if these 2 along for the ride gave a few million from the IPO to their son or daughter Johnnie can the Johnnie’s be considered born or are the Johnnie’s made entrepreneurs without thinking or risk?
According to SCORE there are 29 million businesses in the USA and another source list the number of public companies in the USA at 18,600 so clearly the percentages of the number of people that can be entrepreneurs in the USA are between .000061 and .09477.
Soon to be published research identifies the potential entrepreneurs by blood groups.
This research demonstrates clearly where the people are that have the propensity to be entrepreneurs.
And no it is not racial profiling!
Paul Katchings
Jan 07 at 20:08
In this dynamic world and changing economic senerio I don’t think the argument of entrepreneurs are born is no longer valid. In earlier day when the business empires are small, operating in fewer places either controlled by families or smaller groups ..yes, there is inheritence from one family member to other or from one group to the other group…But, today we are talking about transnational companies with huge operations and companies are mostly held by public rather than private or smaler groups, ro manage these companies we need a different breed of entrepreneurs with modern outlook and out of the box thinking…these can be acquired by sheer experience, education and training…So I believe entrepreneurs made.
Posted by Kurapati Krishna
Jan 15 at 18:14
I know for 100% that IT IS entirely possible to teach entrepreneurship as we do exactly that with Blastbeat and we have been successfully doing just that for 7 years now in Ireland, the UK, USA, SA and now in Japan to many thousands of teenagers. It is all about giving teens the personal experience and feeling of self worth and that magic ” Yes I can do it” feeling though having a positive experience, being a member of a team that does put together and run a start up our of their high school-this is what Blastbeat gives, as part of their curriculum or as an after school programme.
This is a life changing experience for most of the kids that participate in Blastbeat – but don’t take my word for it- see what the kids, teachers say on our you tube channel at blastbeatuk.
Anyone interested who wants’ to give this experience and programme to a schools near them, anywhere in the world, can do so for FREE – and maybe they would be interested to have the wonderful personal experience of mentoring kids in their neighborhood school? This works for kids of every background as it is build around the two most Universal languages, Music and Business!! You can email me robert@blastbeat.org or contact me through linkedin.
Blastbeat Education is an NFP that has developed a fun & exciting Music & Multimedia Business / social enterprise progamme offered to teens and schools around the world.
Blastbeat leverages young people’s passion for music, multimedia, social media, making and sharing friends and money as they have fun learning and experiencing first hand business,technical, inter-personal, intra-personal, team-work, communication, music, social, media & related skills.
Teenagers organize themselves into Music & Multimedia Companies (MMCs) to compete in the business programme, planning, promoting and hosting a live music event. Within the Blastbeat programme there are two competitions in one that help encourage a true sense of real life, exciting social entrepreneurship and creative skills.
A) the social enterprise competition- winners receive mentorship and investment
B) the music competition for competing artists – winners get managed and recorded.
Each member of the company taking on a different job role which include CEO, Company Secretary and managers in Sales, Marketing, Public Relations, Ecology/CSR, Art & Design, Finance, Event, Talent scouting, Web content creation & Video crew, Photographers, Journalist etc ultimately producing a Battle of the Bands concert in order to identify the best musical talent in their neighborhoods.
By participating in the Blastbeat Programme, teenagers self-confidence, self-belief, self-esteem, social and life skills are boosted enormously. Blastbeat teaches real life creative and business-skills, where teens are creating, learning, and sharing in a structured online & offline environment that is centered on the music & multimedia business.
These empowered teens then donate 25% of their profits from their gig to charity, making them young social entrepreneurs.
Blastbeat Education is also looking for partners to provide the programme to young people in care who are not in school.
Blastbeat Education is seeking to bring Blastbeat programme into schools, youth organisations, or youths in care or to at risk youth groups anywhere in the world. We wish to particularly help undeserved teenagers and those of every social and economic demographic gain real useful and relevant life experiences to promote their personal, social, educational and vocational development preparing them for their role as autonomous, participative and responsible members of society and cross “class” barriers in the process. e.g We have successfully brought kids from township schools together with kids from wealthy schools
The programme is supported by educators and facilitated by Blastbeat employees and student mentors giving added value to the student’s school experience after
I look forward to hearing from good people – and those who want to make a difference to kids in their hood..
Jan 16 at 17:22
We are all different – not only fisicaly but on the way we respond to external facts.
We all have differents personalities which can be defined according to Wickham(20011) as `the consistent, and persistent, profile of beliefs, feelings and actions which makes one person distinct from another`.
I agree that an entrepreneur has an innate ability to see things in a different way, as well, to make things happen from nothing. The entrepreneur is a person with characteristics such as: self starter, resilience, comfortable with power, leadership among many others. The entrepreneur makes the business happen anywhere he sees a gap or, has a new idea to be applied.
However, acquired skills such as learning, training, experience in incubator, organizations, leadership among others are very important as well.
Have said that, is important to mention again Wickham (2001). He mantains that a combination of these acquired experiences with social issues such as birth order, experiences in family, life socio-economic group and parental occupation, social and culture, as well, the innate factors such as intelligence, personality, motivation among others, are important to be considered to build the entrepreneur`s personality, skills and characteristics .
If a combination of internal and external factors is relevant to try to definy the entrepreneur, to what extent can we state that only the DNA is responsable to make one the `great person`?
Posted by Fernanda Garcia Miranda
Jan 16 at 17:23
I disagree with Dimitris, while entrepreneurship may be able to be taught; there needs to be a spark of something within us to make take (which may be to some) that leap of faith. From what I understand, and you can disagree if you want; we are a product of not only the society that we are born into but the gift of our forebears down through the ages. One day something happens to ignite that spark and we begin traveling down a different path.
Posted by Ruthie Bently
Jan 16 at 17:39
think true Entrepreneurship is an instinct that you are born with. True entrepreneurs instinctively look at business and become inspired by the challenge of making it all work. The trial and error is what makes it fun. Some entrepreneurs put all the pieces on the first try and make it look easy, some don’t. There are many business owners out there that I would not consider true entrepreneurs.
Posted by Kelly Olcott
Jan 16 at 17:40
Yes and no. What kind of entrepreneurship are you talking? For the individual starting something visionary, the fundamental ability to develop that kind of vision comes from within. For the small businessperson who wants to approach their enterprise as a venture and not a job, those are skills that can be taught. For the employee in a company that wants to encourage its workers to approach new opportunities in a more entrepreneurial way, a lot of that can be taught too.
The question is: why do we want more entrepreneurs? If the only value is to have more visionary, different, game-changing companies out there, I believe there’s only room for so many of those at once. If the value is to be more dynamic as a society, then there’s room for components of the entrepreneurial skillset in many places.
Posted by Wade Armstrong
Jan 16 at 17:43
I will weigh in too.
Traits can’t be taught but skills can.
The question isn’t what does it take to be wildly successful as, say, Michael Jordan but simply can entrepreneurship be taught, presumably to any level of success. The answer to that one is yes.
However, most businesses never stay in business long enough to become proficient in the skills required in all the areas of successful business. Consider that it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill – roughly 5 years of full time application of your time. Yet over 1/2 of all business cease operating in less than 5 years.
Our research shows that most businesses are started by technicians – those highly trained in their area of specialized skill. Bakers open bakeries, mechanics open auto repair shops, dentists open dental offices, etc.
Yet this can be seen as only the ‘production’ side of the business. And every business needs expert production.
But to stay in business, all businesses need customers and revenue. Creating these is a completely different skill to be mastered.
The solution is to acquire or buy that skill. By the way we provide a completely effective and affordable solution for this which is at http://www.greensteadgroup.com
The point is that there are many 10,000 hour skills that an entrepreneur must acquire. It is simply impossible for any one person to do this.
So the trait that must come naturally to the entrepreneur is the insight to know their limitations and check their ego. The skill is to find the best people/suppliers/partnes/etc.and employ them properly.
Posted by Peter D. Morris SCSM, SCMD, CLS
Jan 16 at 17:44
Entrepreneurship is a combination of experience, education and networking. However, even with these eliments, if they do not have the passion for what they are doing, they will certainly fail.
Can someone be taught? I tend to believe they can not. Can they be given the tools, resource and experience? Certainly. But they can not be given the passion, drive, insticnt, and intuition to be a successful entrepreneur. That is up to them! Experience is not always the case. Some people have become successful entrepreneurs without experience. However, they had and have the other eliments. However, most have all of the eliments.
LUCK? I am sorry, but I do not believe luck has anything to do with it.
Posted by Larry Dean Latham
Jan 16 at 17:46
To me, it all boils down to one thing.
Do you want to sign your paycheck or do you want someone else to sign it. Entrepreneurs want to sign their own, most people want someone else to sign theirs.
An old man told me when I was young:
There are two types of mentalities in business
type 1
Those who want to make money (legally honestly and morally) are generally self-employed or commission based or entrepreneur or company owners.
When you this type in a “making a living ” situation they will become unhappy bored and leave.
type 2
Those who want to make a living who are generally looking for jobs, going to college to get a good job. Everything they do will end with three letters J.O.B.
When you put this type in a “making money” situation they will fail because they only want enough to “make a living” entrepreneurship reguires more energy and focus than just making a living.
I have met many people with good ideas and products. They simply do not want to work hard enough to make it profitable.
translation- they were happy “just making a living”
Posted by Garry williamson
Jan 16 at 17:50
Entrepreneurs are not self taught. To be ‘one’ you need passion, grit and determination. Lastly you must have fun! Well – most days that is but live life on the edge – it’s not for everyone – hence the number of first year startup failures. Lastly without angel or VC funding the journey can prove very financially restraining. Are you prepared to take a risk and learn from your mistakes? If the answer is YES – join the mad community for Entrepreneurs right now!
Posted by Julian Evans
Jan 16 at 17:50
Careful. All the romance will fall out of being a self professed entrepreneur if the illusion of magic is removed by the belief starting a business can be taught.
I’ll give you that very few people do it, and even fewer know how to do it well. It’s cool to create something successfully and should be applauded.
Still entrepreneurship is defined as simply “starting a new business”. Most of the people I know who have started successful business would not describe themselves as entrepreneurs. They’re just people running a business they started.
Starting and running a business can be taught.
Posted by Mark William
Jan 16 at 17:52
I try to speak from my experience rather than from a belief. As serial entrepreneur, one time Entrepreneur of the Year in the state where I lived and an angel investor the last few years my experience is that entrepreneurs are all different. Some are mad scientist, some are rebels, some are conformist, some are post graduate educated and some never got out of high school. Some have deep skills in the area of business they are starting, some do not. All of them have the ability to work like a farmer in the dustbowl. The ability to work long and hard even in the face of all the evidence saying you will fail, failing and then working even harder seems to be about the only commonality I can find. Can you teach that work ethic? Can you teach dogged determination? Can you teach critical problem solving? Can you teach drive? I think you can learn them, can they be taught? I don’t know how to teach those things short of time in the trenches.
Posted by Charles Higgins
Jan 16 at 17:56
One more thought and I’ll stop.
Is it possible most new ventures fail because entrepreneurs believe entrepreneurship can not be taught?
Most of the failures I see could have been avoided if someone had asked for help just a little sooner.
A lot of people believe business is easy, and get frustrated when they find out it is full of tough decisions and a lot of hard work.
In those cases I find it is pride and ego that prevents the ‘ask’. People are willing to risk their investment over admitting they don’t actually know everything. It is truly amazing.
Does this discussion suggest entrepreneurs don’t ask because they don’t believe what they need to know can be taught?
Just a thought.
Posted by Mark William
Jan 16 at 17:58
I believe that ‘Entrepreneurship can be taught’, but ‘entrepreneurs can’t be created’. It is like taking the proverbial horse to the river. I second the opinion that ‘everything can be taught’ & hopefully something will be learnt, but the most critical of all is the ‘jump’ to entrepreneurship. This inner drive or urge to become an entrepreneur, putting in long hours, staying the course etc. can’t be taught.
Posted by Krish Talluri
Jan 16 at 18:00
haven’t read all comments, but I believe gets to point of ‘nature vs. nurture’. And, yes, I think entrepreneurial skills can be taught along with accepting and evaluating risk – a key component of being an entrepreneur.
In fact, I believe more entrepreneurial skills should be taught in all university teachings/schools from technology to engineering to education – as it’s the person with the big idea and able to process and integrate within a company that drives business forward. Entrepreneurial attitudes/skills should be evident everywhere. (coming from an entrepreneurial type)
Posted by Lisa Radin
Jan 17 at 00:19
I believe the fundamentals of entrepreneurship can be taught; for example, how to write a business plan, techniques of record keeping, advertising, customer service, etc. But the passion to provide one’s product or service has to come from within, along with one’s self-motivation and character.
Jan 17 at 09:52
This is a tough one. I have started 5 in my opinion successful companies.
4 under $500,000 gross sales. One $3Mill. I have to say that you can’t teach getting told NO and how to bounce back. I think u can’t teach it. Example a person can have a great idea and get great success $ included. Is he a great entrepreneur? NO not at all. He is able to generate mass funds and hire a support team t help. CASH is KING if you have a lot of it u can make a lot of mistakes to look as if your a great business owner. The rest of us do not have the cash to continue to make bad financial decisions. We have to hustle, work the banker over work the A/R over to make sure they pay. Business owners I do not believe can be taught straight out of the box. You can take the book taught person and give him years of on the job training.
Just because you own a plumbing business and make enough to pay your self does not give you the title of entrepreneur, it means your self employed. Huge difference.
Posted by Austin Cummings
Feb 09 at 17:59
“good post”
Feb 14 at 04:25
“good post”
Mar 06 at 16:44
Of course entrepeneurship can be taught.
There are people that have great ideas that learn entrepeneurship, to be able to make their idea reality.
I know this in fact from Sweden, the country spends a very large piece of their annual budget to help people become entrepeneurs.
I am sure that this can be tought within a company, why always be bound to work within some “company boundries”, when in fact the people working at the company, know within which other areas a company could expand to….
Posted by Christos Konstantaras
Mar 06 at 16:45
I tend to agree with George that entrepreneurs are a different species with special values, attitude, creativity, risk taking and self confidence. They’re able to spot the right opportunity and link vision to action. Maybe at a younger age through schooling, should the right enviroment and circumstances be available, those traits are enhanced.
Recently, corporate strategies focus heavily on creating a competitive advantage through entrepreneurship. Leadership strives to develop strategies and the appropriate environment, for encouraging innovative activity and supporting entrepreneurial initiatives. Managers should be prepared to allow experimentation with new products or services through autonomous teams.
The government plays a role by ensuring availability of assistance and support services and keeping rules and regulations at a minimum. Training, educational programs and counseling services to start-up entrepreneurs increase the likelihood of new ventures.
Again, whether HR may contribute to developing entrepreneurial skills in an organization is debatable. However, HR should support and facilitate the cultural change required to create an entrepreneurial environment within the organization.
Posted by Yosr Fareed
Mar 10 at 13:00
@Dimitris
If your goal is to “Grow” more entrepreneurs in your country, you first need to look at several external factors and adjust them to create the right environment for entrepreneurship to grown and succeed:
Culture – what is the nature of the community? It can vary not only country to country, but city to city. Smaller, more conservative cities tend not to be ideal. The attitude of the businesses and/or consumers that your selling to prefer to go with who they know. Bigger, more market-friendly cities tend to be ideal.
Investors – this is a key factor and which many countries have failed in achieving time and again. Without investment in startups, most entrepreneurs are either left dreaming what it would be like or they move out and find somewhere that does have investors. The challenge is finding places where investors are comfortable investing in the industry of the entrepreneur. This usually is someone familiar with the industry.
Workers – finding the right skill sets and attitude is always a major challenge because there are many companies competing for the same talent (from big established companies down to other startups). Smaller college towns seem to be better here than major cities.
So just finding the right location and balance of these external factors is critical to the successful establishment of the right environment for entrepreneurship to thrive. One needs to get that right first before even thinking of what one possibly can teach people as far as skill sets that will aid or encourage entrepreneurship.
Posted by James Wallis Martin
Mar 25 at 11:26
It is perhaps one of the most difficult issues to be taught. However, it all boils down to expectations and perspectives. If one expects to learn how to become successful entrepreneur by reading and/or participating into related courses then this is a fallacy. On the other hand, teaching and teaching resources can give amble challenges and mind signals as to common mistakes and also elementary issues that we see them again and again to happen. These days on the Greek TV there is a series with failed entrepreneurs that are in trouble with their debtors. It is of paramount importance for business people, id asked to be able to figure out what their quick ratio is or at least how much have they borrowed from their banks … These issues can be taught. Many small firms are of gamily nature and numerous cases we have with business failures due to family malfunctions (this can be taught). What cannot be taught is the ingredients of success. This rests to the head of business people and to lack.
On the obvious question on whether, professors without business experience or business people without academic education are the best to teach this topic the answer is neither of the two. This is what makes difficult for entrepreneurship to be taught. To find people combining the two is nor obvious nor easy. However, this is what is needed as best combination. Pairs of teachers that would stand together in class would be a very innovative story (I have had the opportunity to do such experiment some years ago at Warwick business school while I was given an entrepreneurship class). As for the syllabus of such courses, should be around thematic areas and not disciplines. The case of working capital and cash flow management is not an accounting problem: it is accounting, marketing, banking, operations, and purchasing problem. The case of new product development is marketing, production, business intelligence, design etc. problem. Therefore, the best way to teach entrepreneurship is to take 5 life stages of the firm and for each one of them to build a package of topics of concern. The most difficult topic that should always be included is game theory in lay language since strategy is the art of managing tradeoffs !!