Entrepreneurialism and Employment, chalk and cheese, or, wine and cheese ?

[petr_solberg]

Entrepreneurialism and an employment career,

     do the two go together

     can the two go together

     can employees and employers both benefit for employees pursuing their own entrepreneurial interests

     should employers encourage entrepeneurialism among employees

So many questions.

This blog explores some thoughts in this area and invites readers to further the conversation with their thoughts.

Let's begin with looking at entrepreneurialism and thinking about what it is.

Cited with permission of dictionary.com

Dictionary.com, "entrepreneurialism," in Dictionary.com Unabridged. Source location: Random House, Inc.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/entrepreneurialism. Available: http://dictionary.reference.com. Accessed: May 21, 2014.

That's the dictionary definition,

    a person

          who

               organizes

          and

               manages

          any

               enterprise, especially a business

          usually with

               considerable initiative

          and

               risk

Let's now think about some of the core attributes which large companies encourage employees to develop

and look for in future leaders:

     Organisers

     Managers

     Initiative

     [Understanding of] Risk

We can see there are parallels between the core principles of entrepreneurialism and the core attributes companies

look for in developing future leaders.

Next let's look at the other core attributes of entrepreneurialism,

         enterprise, especially a business

What is enterprise ?

Cited with permission of dictionary.com

enterprise. (n.d.). Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition.

Retrieved May 23, 2014, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/enterprise

That's the dictionary definition of enterprise:

          1, a project or undertaking, especially one that requires boldness or effort

          2, participation in such projects

          3, readiness to embark on new ventures; boldness and energy

          4, initiative in business

Again, we see parallels between the core principles of enterprise and skills and experience which companies

look for in developing future leaders.

And, what is an enterprise, an enterprise can be any activity, from a face book page to draw attention to a non-profit organisation,

to trying to start the next Amazon.

And hence, these thoughts bring me to wonder, what would happen if large companies initiated programs encouraging

entrepreneurialism from employees ?

One of basically two things would happen,

          failure

    or

          success

Failure:

As has been debated previously on SCN failure is a science of its own and has many benefits.

This phenomenon is not only debated on the SCN, just do a search for failure on Amazon and see how many books exist on

the subject, do a search on good and see what the most successful people are reading.

Recently gilles.atlan, wrote a very interesting article, on Early Failure, or, Failing Early.

Where are we going here, what's the point in failure ?

We can see, there is enough evidence, that failure is opportunity, and brings good, and therefore, individuals who have

failed can become stronger from it, thus using the lessons to improve the future.

These lessons could be applied in the individual's work and life.

And, Success:

Success speaks for itself and needs no introduction, and the benefits which success in an enterprise could bring to an

individual to be applied in their work and life go without saying.

Which leads me to conclude, it could very interesting and beneficial to all, if large organisations were to

encourage entrepreneurialism from their employees.

What do you think ?

Andy.