On Entrepreneurship
“Effectual Entrepreneurship” by Stuart Read, Saras Sarasvathy, Nick Dew, Robert Wiltbank, and Anne-Valérie Ohlsson is a pretty cheerful business text book. Themes that resonated most with me were:
entrepreneurs aren't who you think they are
it’s ok not to know where you are going
keep your eyes peeled, you never know when inspiration will hit
there are many pathways to success
Early on, I wondered why the authors chose to use “effectual” instead of “effective" in the title. Knowing that would surely let me know what lay ahead. And it did. The dictionary notes “effective” is about being adequate to accomplish a purpose, and “effectual” is about being capable of producing an intended effect. The latter also means valid or binding. So, my first lesson from this book was one of encouragement that I am capable of starting my own business. So if you never read "Effectual Entrepreneurship" just hold on to that affirming thought and you're good.
Breaking Bad Myths
Chapter 1 Research Roots: The Entrepreneurial Personality disrupts the “entrepreneur as hero” narrative that permeates western business lore. They explore whether there’s such as thing as entrepreneurial DNA. The verdict: yes and no. It's not about whether you have the drive, brilliance or anti-authority tendencies that might compel you to strike out on your own but instead posits that regardless of what you’re made of that we are self-determinant.
“Indeed, entrepreneurs founding firms today are continually creating the patterns that psychologists will investigate in the future.”[1]
This lead to another myth, or maybe more of a “myth-stake” in my thinking. You don’t have to start a business to exercise entrepreneurial thinking. It can be an approach and not a destination that can be used inside organizations. In Chapter 7 Research Roots: New Combinations, they quote Joseph Schumpeter’s theory “demand can be created.”[2] The book later notes that “in many cases they (entrepreneurs) make their own opportunities using mundane means.”[3] While this probably should be every employees job within a company it is often the role of business development and sometimes marketing staff – to try to leverage every asset and do more with less.
Employing the maxim of making the mundane extraordinary is great advice. Everything can't be new all of the time. Applying this concept to work - from chores to previous work experience - will help you to reimagine routines. I'm gaining new techie skills to build a new me, akin to the transformation of fictional NASA astronaut Steve Austin into the “Six Million Dollar Man.” I may feel brand new but I can’t totally dismiss my experience.s I mean what would all of that amazing technology (like bionic eyesight or a Kung Fu grip) be without Austin's hard fought intellect and body? Exactly! You can’t be “bigger, better, stronger” if you don't already have something solid to work with.
Losing to Win
Of all the elements to starting a business or venture that entrepreneurs have to grapple with, the hardest to manage seems for me is the concept of risk and affordable loss, as discussed in Chapter 12. In 2014, I dealt with the principle when taking a standup comedy classes.
First, we learned the basics of how to structure a joke (setup, twist, and punchline). No problem. Later, in the advanced class, we learned how to deliver a joke and develop an act. This class would culminate in a 5-minute stage performance in front of a 100 people. Gulp. Every student, except the most wildly extroverted, was terrified. We wanted tips on how to not toss our cookies or faint. Our veteran comic instructor advised us to get over it, already. He’s a kidder but seriously wanted us to “right-size” our fear. Yep, he was talking about affordable loss. He asked, "how many people in the audience will you even know?" Arguably few. His point? How much should we really care about people we don’t know and will never see again? That freed me. Knowing if I totally bombed that I would never face my un-adoring public again made a lot of sense.
The author says “to figure out what you can afford to lose, you have to know what your resources are, and you have to make some decisions about what belongs in the category of ‘riskable’ and what doesn’t.”[4] Deciding to do the set, and respect my journey that led me to this path in the first place, was well worth the risk of minor discomfort in front of strangers who didn’t matter. With the stakes for ruin so low, I did it. Didn't bomb and lived to tell about it.
Plan B (or Plan PB + C)
My favorite parts of the book are the “roll with it” snippets that illustrate how entrepreneurs take the bad with the good. Seeing Chapter 16 "The lemonade principle: Leverage surprise," list businesses that survived unpleasant or awkward issues reminds me this is not a work of fiction. While it features many terrific business success stories, the text dares to pull back the curtain to show a range of unanticipated contingencies.
Try takeaway was about staying nimble and not taking myself too seriously. Every now and again alchemy or accidents can delightfully transform what was intended into something far better than one could have imagined. You might recall how Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups did that in their kooky production creation story of how they “accidentally” mixed chocolate with peanut butter. Yup. What kind of fool would want to go back to a pre-Reece’s Peanut Butter Cup world before their delicious discovery? No one (well maybe those who have peanut allergies).
With an eye toward the future, I appreciated how well Chapter 16’s “Positive or Negative Surprise is a Resource” chart illustrated the impacts unexpected events can have on brands. These were characterized as “serendipitous events – good things that happened by accident.”[5] That’s why “fail often and fast” is in now a part of my world view, if not for the unintended benefits, then as an indicator of whether I am pushing myself enough and doing do new and different things.
Back to the Future
The end of the book took me back to my former life as a digital marketer. Chapter 21 is all about identity and branding. A key principle that sticks out to me is how our brand should be consistent. This chapter is timely as I’ve partnered with fellow classmate, Tobe Attah, to develop and launch Doodle the News (DTN), a media content company. The text is spot on when it notes “every day presents opportunities for actions that are not consistent with the corporate identity.”[6] We're using notes from this chapter as we plan ahead to establish standards and best practices for the graphic site.
Enough Already
Looking back at my experiences through the lens of some of the “Effective Entrepreneurship” principles has gently etched the concepts into my memory. This exercise helped remind me of my own values – professional and otherwise.
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[1] Effectual Entrepreneurship, Chapter 1
[2] Joseph Schumpeter (2007) from Effective Entrepreneurship, Chapter 7
[3] Effectual Entrepreneurship, Chapter 7
[4] Effectual Entrepreneurship, Chapter 12
[5] Effectual Entrepreneurship, Chapter 16
[6] Effectual Entrepreneurship, Chapter 21