I have been applying Tim Ferriss’ Four Hour Work Week recommendations on outsourcing and simplifying life, and must say that it’s been quite helpful. While I am no where close to getting down to an actual “4 hour workweek,” I am checking e-mail a lot less, not indulging in so much content (i.e. RSS feeds, blogs, tv news, etc.), delegating a lot more, and am a lot less stressed. One of the exercises in the book is to create a 6 month dream line which forces you to really think about what you want to do (e.g. Taking a two week RV trip across the US.), be (e.g. professional photographer) and have (e.g. MacBook Air) what you want. The next step is to figure out how much it will cost and then how you are going to fund your dreamline. Amazingly, I was stuck on this and really had to think about these things before they became clear.
This is the problem with the way we perceive life; society feels like we all need to work like hell until we are 65, then we can retire. Do I really want to wait that long to retire? I think Tim is right in creating dreamlines, taking mini retirements, pulling oneself out of the 9-5 rat race, and joining the New Rich (NR) club. It’s amazing how new possibilities start with a simple change in mindset. Can you really get to a 4 hour workweek? Tim shows you how in his book, but it really starts with you believing it can be done.
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Okay, this little write up on an “international” survey comparing CEOs and Entrepreneurs tickled my belief on whether or not Entrepreneurs are born or can be made. Are Entrepreneurs and CEO similar? Sure, but one is a way of being (Entrepreneur) and the other (CEO) is a position. Some CEOs were or are entrepreneurs, but not all of them. Can a CEO be taught to be an Entrepreneur? I’m afraid not unless they are already that way.
I believe that people are mostly born (2/3) that way (as Entrepreneurs) and life presents itself in edifying ways that allow him or her to choose (the other third) whether or not to fully play out the role. Making the choice is nothing more than deciding to take extraordinary risk (being willing to bet everything on a vision) for extraordinary gain (changing the world, making gobs of money, etc.).
It’s funny how “Entrepreneur” has become so en vogue, and ironic at the same time. Just about every business school now has an entrepreneurial program and every company in the world wants to be “Entrepreneurial,” yet many Entrepreneurs (i.e Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison) left or never went to college and most companies are designed to manage risk, rather than taking it. Oh, the irony. Having worked in Corporate America for a decade, I can assure you that Entrepreneurs are mostly a pain in the ass because they are stubborn about their beliefs in the future and will do just about anything to see there vision through. They simply can not help themselves and will work around the system (cajoling bored engineers and willing customers to develop their project without management approval). Is this what companies really want? Most don’t, I’m afraid, and are reluctant to hire and retain impatient individuals that naturally ask questions, challenge status quo and take risk. Is this the case in every company?
Getting back to teaching people to Entrepreneurs for moment, I have not heard any business schools offering courses on persuasion, gumption, “working around the system,” being creative and a little insane. What? Well, isn’t that what Entrepreneurs are? These are born traits that are further developed through life circumstances. Trying to get people to take on these common Entrepreneurial ways of being is a waste of time in my opinion. It’s like teaching an artist how to master QuickBooks or accountants how to sculpt. Unless they already have a sense or urge to do these things, they will most likely “hate” the experience and not do it well. Sure business schools and companies a like can teach Entrepreneurial people how to be better Entrepreneurs through management and financial training, but they can not teach them to suddenly have chuztpah and do something with it (take extraordinary risk for extraordinary gain). They would be better off identifying the “right people,” asking them what they think, and giving them 1/4 the resources to try something new. Please - no more studies.
Need a definition of Entrepreneur? Grab a Webster’s dictionary or just click here.
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Here is a great article from Business Week on how Six Sigma and Innovation are complimentary in driving bottom line results. The article sites the following results from one study of 35 attempts at breakthrough innovation:
“Ambidextrous [Six Sigma + Innovation] structures were successful 90% of the time, whereas other cross-functional teams, unsupported Skunk Works–style groups, and other models were successful less than 25% of the time.”
What is success here? To a bank, innovating is moving to a new CRM that improves productivity by “X” percent. To a consumer electronics company, innovating is something to the tune of the iPod. Context is very important.
This is where I think most companies get stuck thinking they are innovating (e.g. Circus adding more freak shows) when they are really optimizing (squeezing a few more dollars out of each show). There is a big difference as innovation is about Blue Ocean opportunites (Sirque de Soleil) and creating new, expensive markets.
All in all, not a bad article. It ends with suggesting that an organization needs to have both models of business to be successful. I agree. Hopefully there will be more emphsis coming on the need for companies to value the right kinds of people for innovation as there are layers of folks already cut out for optimization.
Filed under: Events, GAI Culture — Jay Yoo February 26, 2007 @ 1:11 pm
Hey, it’s Entrepreneurship Week here in the USA. I guess there are events and activities going on all over the country to celebrate this cornerstone of our country and economy.
“EntrepreneurshipWeek USA will be a collection of thousands of activities, ranging from high school competitions to academic gatherings and local town halls to a national policy summit. More than 700 organizations throughout the country have answered the call, planning activities in all fifty states.
The underlying message of EntrepreneurshipWeek USA is one that resonates with people of all ages, of all ethnic backgrounds and from all walks of life. It is a celebration and an acknowledgement of what has made America great from the start. Its impact will be significant for not only those involved, but for the future generations of entrepreneurs as well as the economies to which they contribute.”Entrepreneurship Week in the USA!”
This is quite an undertaking and it looks to be well coordinated. They have activities listed all over the US. In Cleveland for example, you can learn to be an entrepreneur in 10 day.
My only question is why we selected a French word to describe people who take risk?
What? A liberal arts college located in west-central Vermont pushing innovation! That’s right.
According to a few directors from the college:
“The goal of the new initiative is to develop an environment in which students can exercise creativity, pursue innovation and become more comfortable with intellectual risk-taking during their four years as students at Middlebury College… this initiative seeks to supplement what Middlebury students learn in class with opportunities to enrich their out-of-class experiences, specifically for the sake of getting students to act on their creativity - to make the process of innovation second nature and part of their lifetime critical skills portfolio.
As a graduate of Earlham College, I think this is great. I have always felt that a liberal arts education and innovation go hand in hand as they both involve creativity, free thinking and just about everything but business. You can force an idea into a business model, but you can not expect innovative ideas to stream from people who only think in terms of business models.
Check out this panel discussion from Guy Kawasaki’s blog featuring 6 founders of successful websites (hi5,Suicide Girls, Slide, HotorNot, PlentyofFish, and Fark). As Guy points out: “If you’d like to learn how these companies became successful without proven teams, proven technology, and proven business models, you’ll love this video.” The title of the entry is “Panel of Web Community Founders: Utter Defiance of the “Venture Capital” Model.
I think Middlebury might be on to something. Here’s an idea: They should propose an internship program with the Suicide Girls. Oh boy, I better stop there before the PC police take down this blog
Well, Copernicus’ birthday came and went (Feb. 19th) and I am sure it was a fleeting thought at best for 99.99% of the world. I was only made aware of it because I subscribe to Wired News.
It immediately reminded me of a great book on the origins of the Universe by Simon Singh (The Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe). The author does a great job highlighting the people behind the theories, technological breakthroughs and stages of status quo (religious and scientific) without getting muddled too much in science. From Aristarchus, the fifth century BC Ancient Greek astronomer who theorized a sun centered Universe, to the COBE Project, which provided the evidence (CMB radiation variations) to scientifically prove the Big Bang theory in 1992, you can get your arms around what it took to prove something so complex.
The creativity, determination and insanity of people (Aristarchus, Copernicus, Kelper, Einstein, Alpher, etc.) to just go out and disprove reality (i.e. Earth centered Universe) without having or waiting for the necessary technology (i.e. Telescope) is inspiring. There wasn’t an “It can’t be done,” or “Why bother?” in their minds. They simply could not help themselves and spent their lives doing the best they could with whatever means they had. In doing so, they pushed the limits of technology by inspiring others to come up with better ways of seeing and measuring (i.e. Galileo, Hubble, Smoot). Who wouldn’t want to help some 15 year old kid, which happened to be Einstein in this case, figure out whether or not he or she could see himself in the mirror when traveling the speed of light?
One thing is for sure, there are no limits to creativity and we were all put here to ask more questions than provide answers. So what is your Big Bang?
I have been in a major purge mode and reorganizing life. It’s amazing how much crap tends to build up over time. There are of course some things worth keeping. For example, this test on determining your innovation quotient is one for the general reference file. The questions are unconventional, as you might expect, and the thought of such a test is interesting to say the least.
Here is a sample question:
If I were stranded in the desert, the question I’d be most likely to ask myself is:
a) How do I get to water?
b) How do I get water to come to me?
c) What is the meaning of (my) life?
d) How can I make (my) life more meaningful?
You could use it as a starting point for a consulting practice to overhaul HR as we know it, or start a No Genius Left Behind campaign for corporate america Go ahead, give it a try. What’s your IQ?
