In my new book “10 Quintessential Questions" I also asked my guests whether entrepreneurship can be taught. During the book launch this week Wim De Vilder asked me if all my interviewees agreed on this question?
No, the ideas my guests shared with me have been very different and very interesting (you can read them in the book) .
What I believe is that every child is an entrepreneur. But very often during education, we teach them not to be too entrepreneurial, not to take too many risks, not to be too curious (another question in the book)
I also believe we should not mix intrapreneurship with entrepreneurship. We absolutely need both, do not get me wrong.
Being an entrepreneur is also not about raising money; it's about solving problems, creating value, and making a meaningful impact.
In today's culture I have the feeling we honor raising money too much. I think raising money is a valuable skill that might help when at a certain moment you need fresh and external money. But it is another game I believe, it is not because you are able to convince VC’s and Business Angels that you are also an entrepreneur. Being a CEO is also not being an entrepreneur. If you wear or have worn these different hats, you will agree with me that different skill sets are needed.
Being a great entrepreneur, doesn’t mean you are able to become and stay the best CEO of your company. Entrepreneurship is not about success it is about a vision and a mission. It is about passion.
It is a never ending game of falling and getting up.
I believe it is fantastic that we have a start-up culture, but I have met too many individuals that are looking to become part of an incubator program only because they are looking for a platform to become visible, become successful, they want media attention, dream of being on stages in panels or as speakers. Sometimes they have a story, sometimes they don’t. But having a story is not being an entrepreneur.
Sometimes it feels to me as if they have the same ambition and goal as those people that are participating in reality TV shows: to get a lot of attention, they want to be on stage, in the newspaper, they want to become famous.
Honestly? That is not about entrepreneurship.
