What most people get wrong about entrepreneurship

So what is entrepreneurship anyway? Or rather, WHO gets to be an entrepreneur?

The concept of entrepreneurship gets a lot of mileage in the popular consciousness but what does it actually mean (and who gets to do it)?

Entrepreneurship misunderstood

For some, the word may conjure up images of current-day practitioners like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg (others may recall legends like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates or Richard Branson).

However, beyond the exploits of these famous "exemplars" of entrepreneurship, most people associate the idea with a group of young people (the privileged few) who possess the temerity to start a company, take on an atlassian amount of risk, and leverage ungodly sums of other people’s money. These entrepreneurs are in a relentless pursuit of a BIG IDEA, hoping to fuel rapid growth while disrupting markets, industries and societies in their wake—all en route to a lucrative debut on Wall Street.

Sorry to burst that bubble but that's an exceptionalist view of what entrepreneurship really is. It defines the idea through its most extreme expression.

And it gets a lot wrong in the process.

A better definition

As an antidote, I like the definition of legendary Harvard Professor, Howard H. Stevenson, who defined entrepreneurship as:

the pursuit of opportunity beyond resources controlled

Defined in this way, entrepreneurship is not the domain of a lucky few but a choice available to anyone who cares to take ownership and responsibility. This may include:

• Managers;
• Disillusioned corporate employees;
• The underemployed;
• Students fresh out of high school or college;
• Single moms;
• Housewives;
• Retirees;
• Tech savvy teens;
• Farmers;
• Coal miners;
• Immigrants;
• Your neighbor;
• Maybe even you!

Why embracing entrepreneurship is more important than ever.

In a world of monumental and unprecedented challenges, where:

• Pockets of great wealth lie next to large expanses of abject poverty and hopelessness;
• Global climate change threatens to force 100 million people worldwide to flee their homes;
• Fear leads to insularity and the erosion of common human bonds;
• The inexorable march of technology and automation continues to destroy jobs and disrupt the economy;

In such a world—of abundance and scarcity, of great opportunity and great peril—how will people thrive, and not merely survive?

Perhaps, by developing the:

• mindset
• confidence
• courage
• vocabulary
• knowledge
• skills
• experience
• and creativity of the New Entrepreneur;

In other words, these courageous and hardy people work to identify and pursue opportunity in spite of a scarcity of resources.

The New Entrepreneur's Way

In the context of 21st century challenges, the New Entrepreneur is always in hot pursuit of opportunity. She can identify the change that needs to happen and goes about creating new possibilities, without focusing unduly on scarcity, obstacles or impediments. As a result, she sees barriers as conditions of the game, not as excuses for inaction or pessimism.

Such a person will thrive in the 21st century because she’s not waiting for permission; to be "empowered"; to be picked.

She picks herself and gets busy!

She can focus on a global strategy any time she pleases, but more than likely she is working locally to build her tribe, to create opportunities for herself and for others in her community.

We need more people like that, don't you think?

Investing in Entrepreneurs

That's why it behooves all of us—whether we're in government, the private sector, or in a nonprofit—to find and assist these courageous New Entrepreneurs. We should be looking for new and better ways to invest in their talent so they can grow and lead the way in creating a brighter future for our communities.

As a result, entrepreneurship will no longer be the playground of the privileged few. It is, and must be, a choice we should be encouraging more people to make as we work to support their efforts.

Personally, I am endlessly inspired by these practical dreamers and at Accelerate South Dade, it's our daily mission to assist them in any way possible.

As a non-profit we are all too familiar with material constraints but that's no excuse for a lack of entrepreneurial spirit. We make up for a paucity of resources with boundless energy, enthusiasm, creativity, passion, and hard work. By collaborating under such a mindset, we can go far.

That's why if you're an entrepreneur, I encourage you to come see about us.

If you're a leader in government, private enterprise or nonprofit, I invite you to contact us so we can find a way to collaborate.

Let's accelerate South Dade.