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Evil Eeentrepreneurship

July  2010 / 1 4 Comments

Components of an Entrepreneur

What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word ‘entrepreneur? Can’t pronounce it, can’t spell it, but beyond that? What does the word mean to you? Looking into Thesaurus, my dear friend in need, I am slightly amused by the classy neighbourhood of my entry: charlatan, daredevil, entrepreneur, fortune-hunter, gambler, madcap, mercenary, opportunist, pirate, speculator, stunt person…. The numbers of ‘daredevils’ in different forms definitely outweighs few positive synonyms of ‘entrepreneurship’ such a: hero, heroine, pioneer…

Why is that? Why are we told, or at least implied, from the outset of our lives that entrepreneurship is not only unspellable, but also morally wrong? This and other points are made by Cameron Harold in his great talk:

I’d like to elaborate a bit on the false vivifying tales we hear about the E-career, let’s call it, to give Word’s spell-check a rest, the grand Entrepreneurship, connected to Ego and monEy and profEEET (need to misspell it here for the argument’s sake!) and monEy again, Evil monEy and you better focus on French, literature, and all other STANDARD Traditional careers if you want to get somewhere in life. Why? Is entrepreneurship really so EVIL?

The Unique Mind of an Entrepreneur

It seems to me that entrepreneurship is deemed bad, because one assumes that it has to do with abusing others. Because where else could the Profit come from than from the loss incurred of another person? This logic is fundamentally wrong and Herold makes it clear in the presentation at the end of his talk. Entrepreneurship is, at its core, a skill of good organization which brings profits for the entrepreneur, that’s true, but it also does more than that. It contributes to solving pressing problems of the society, it offers supply where there is need, which means it helps people in need, no matter how commercialized the need might be, it is there and entrepreneur responds to it. Creatively, quickly, with sound organization…

One of a Kind

Now this kind of response is not natural, as we hear from Harold, but can be bred. For entrepreneur is indeed ‘a breed’ worth breeding from our very early days. Why do we get a French tutor and not a public speaking tutor, asks Harold, if the child has more talent in the latter? I could risk an answer: maybe because no parent likes to experiment with their children and French has had a long established career while entrepreneurship has had an equally long (people have been thinking of ways to solve problems since ancient times!) but less established career, at least in our school curriculum…Herold is breaking new ground there, that’s for sure.

Another reason why parents might shy away from teaching their children how to save and value money, respond to demands etc from the very early age, is the myth of a golden cage…don’t worry if you’ve never heard about it, it does not speak badly of your general education, I just made up the term! 😉 anyway…Gold cage myth has it that a child has to be brought up far away from the real problems of the adult life. And which is the more real problem than the MONEY problem? More mundane, grey, anti-gold problem…

Well the risk with that is that the ‘golden cage’ is fragile and crushes easily by the first contact with a high overdraft on a student’s bank account. So it’s better to teach kids entrepreneurial skills earlier rather than later, to avoid the shock of reality. Anyway, this just on the side of the speech I highly recommend. I finish with Pink Floyd’s opinion of education.

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