Can Entrepreneurship Really Be Learned?
Every morning on my walk to work in the beautiful, sun-dappled AllBusiness.com offices (yes, I'm lucky enough to be able to walk to work), I pass under a series of advertisements for Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., that read: "Can Entrepreneurship Be Learned? Yes it can!"
The ads feature a handsome young "entrepreneurial" type blessed with nice hair and in a casual suit, grinning in excitement as he embarks upon his new life as founder of that next hot startup.
Every morning I pass that sign and every morning I meditate on that question. Makes sense, since I am an editor for a small-business website and the question of what makes someone an entrepreneur comes up a lot here. In fact, Rieva Lesonsky asked that very question in a recent blog post -- and some of the answers she got were pretty interesting.
But still, I'm still not really sure that entrepreneurship is something that can be learned. Yes, you can certainly go to business school and learn about accounting, management theories, business planning, and the like -- all of which should make you a more effective businessperson. But how can they teach you the entrepreneurial mindset? That seems to be something singular, kind of like the creative mindset of an artist. You either have it or you don't. You might be able to develop it, but how can anyone really teach it you?
The truth is, I'm not an entrepreneur nor am I business owner -- I'm an editor. When I read the Babson ad my first thought was, "Hmm, shouldn't there be a comma after that 'yes'?" But I've seen a lot of entrepreneurs in action and am always impressed by their unflagging energy, their fearlessness, and their creative problem-solving. Can you learn that in a classroom? I'm not convinced.
What do you think? If you're an entrepreneur, how did you get your chops? If you hope to become an entrepreneur, what are you doing to prepare yourself?
