Roger (not sure where Roger is from) e-mailed me about the age old question: are entrepreneurs born or made? As Roger said in his e-mail:
I am one of those that believe it’s impossible to teach anybody how to become an entrepreneur because I believe that they are born and not made.
Although I have addressed this issue before, let me try a new angle. My answer is: neither.
First, although I continue to make this mistake, we should avoid using entrepreneur the noun in such discussions. I have written about the risks of viewing any career as a noun in an earlier post. By describing someone simply by what they do for a living misses so much about who they are as a person. I think this might be part of the problem with this on-going debate of nature versus nurture in the context of entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship is not in our genes. People come to pursue entrepreneurship by their life experience. For some of us it comes from our family upbringing. I caught the bug at an early age by being involved in family businesses (thanks Dad!). For others, entrepreneurship is the result of some career crisis — often this means getting fired. Unemployment can be a powerful motivator. Pursuing entrepreneurship may be the logical way out of a frustrating career. Maybe they finally realize they hate their job, don’t belong in a cubicle any longer, are sick of “working for the man,” etc., etc. You get the scenario. For others, entrepreneurship comes out of an insatiable desire to pursue interests and passions in life. Self employed musicians or artists are great examples of this type.
Another factor that we cannot ignore is the role of our culture. As we see in so many studies, the culture in which we live is a powerful force creating start-ups and fueling entrepreneurial economies.
Entrepreneurship is much more passion than personality. We are not born with passion. It comes from our experiences — our family, our work, our hobbies, the people around us, the gifts we have been given, and our culture.
But even though they are not born, I cannot make someone choose this path in life, or even inspire someone to pursue a career in entrepreneurship who is not already headed that way. The fire has to be in their belly. Once in a while I have to stoke that fire, or help them see that the fire is there. And when they feel that fire, my job is to help them have a better chance for success. By learning about the process of properly defining and aligning the opportunity, securing the necessary resources, planning the venture, and managing growth effectively, we can increase their chance of financial success by an average of about 50%.
Entrepreneurs are formed — not born or made. Oh, drat! I made it all the way to the end before I used that pesky noun again! Let me try it one more time. Entrepreneurship is a career that comes out of our life experiences, and with some education, we can improve the success rates of those who start-up new ventures. Not quite as pithy, but hopefully your get the point.
I have a similar story. I was interviewed for a magazine about web comics a week ago. Here was what I said:
Q: How would you define a “webcomic”?
A: If it’s a comic, and it’s on the web, it’s a webcomic. But, if you call it simply a web comic, then by extraction, the person who creates it, is a “webcomic creator”. In my opinion, that probably doesn’t do justice to the person who created the comic. Now that I think about it, being called a “webcomic creator” might just be considered an insult. Because they’re so good at what they do, they just make it look easy.
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