Will the Real Entrepreneur Please Stand Up

 


The traditional image of the entrepreneur as a dashing adventurer who recklessly gambles with their life and financial future is grossly inaccurate in today’s world. Historically, we think of such luminaries as Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and J. Pierpont Morgan as the epitome of the entrepreneur. More contemporary figures include Steve Jobs, of Apple, Bill Gates of Microsoft fame, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Tim Cook of Netflix. And let’s not forget Elon Musk of Tesla.

These are the type of individuals that renowned management consultant and author Peter Drucker had in mind when he wrote, “An entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.”

The Beliefs of the Entrepreneur

These entrepreneurs and others like them had strong beliefs about a market opportunity and were willing to accept what others viewed as a high level of personal, professional, or financial risk to pursue that opportunity. What distinguished these individuals from others is that they understood the real risk for a nascent entrepreneur is not taking the risk to achieve success.

But Not All Successful Entrepreneurs Are Tycoons

It would be a mistake to limit the concept of the “entrepreneur” to the aforementioned business giants. There is more to being a successful entrepreneur than making money. The true entrepreneur is not defined by the size of the empire, but by the style of the emperor. That means you can be an entrepreneur by running a mailroom just as much as by starting a FedEx. An individual managing a computer department can be just as entrepreneurial as Bill Gates. The guy who runs a gas station can be just as much of an entrepreneur as the guy who started Ford Motors.

The true measure of an entrepreneur is not determined by how much money is in their bank account, but by their approach to life and leadership. Being an entrepreneur is more about attitude than aptitude. There have been some very talented corporate executives who failed because they failed the test of entrepreneurialism. (We call them bureaucrats.) On the other hand, there have been innumerable individuals who achieved remarkable success as entrepreneurs, who never left the corporate world to strike out on their own.

Redefining the Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurialism is a way of living life, not a way of managing life. The real entrepreneur has a certain spirit, an élan and an approach to issues that is just different than how others view the world. And that is the key. In a system that demands sameness, the entrepreneur is willing to be different. They believe that only by being different can things be made better. That is the philosophy at the heart of being an entrepreneur.

If this philosophy is embraced as a way of life, a more modern definition of an entrepreneur might be: “An entrepreneur is an individual with the experience to recognize an opportunity, the inherent instinct to visualize its fulfillment, and the courage to reach for it. An entrepreneur has, by nature, the talent to clearly, simply, consistently, and relentlessly communicate their vision to others. The entrepreneur is someone who can motivate others to be successful because they are convinced it is in their own best interest to do so.” Note, there is nothing in this definition of an entrepreneur that mentions starting or owning a company.

This modern definition of entrepreneurialism allows an individual to create an entrepreneurial culture even within an established organization. Developing an entrepreneurial culture in a company will create an environment that encourages a group of individuals to suppress individual interests in an effort to achieve group success, because group success will advance their individual interests.

Go For It

If you’ve always dreamt of becoming an entrepreneur, stop dreaming and start doing. All you have to do is adopt the philosophies, traits and approach inherent in the thinking and actions of past successful entrepreneurs. And who knows, that might lead you to doing great things as an entrepreneur.

                                                          ###

Bob MacDonald – Former CEO of ITT Life, founder of LifeUSA, retired chairman and CEO of Allianz Life of North America, author of numerous books on business, management and leadership. Bobmac5201@gmail.com

 

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