Can You Teach Someone To Be An Entrepreneur?

Filed in archive Resources by Jim Logan on March 9, 2006

There is a thought provoking post at the Entrepreneurial Mind you ought to read. It's a review and commentary of a recent Fortune Small Business article titled Do you need school to succeed? You should read the article too.

The article asks a simple question: Can entrepreneurship really be taught in a classroom? The answers are divided. I believe the answer is Yes, but it's the wrong question to ask.

The question that should be asked is Can you teach someone to be an entrepreneur? The answer is No.

There are a lot of skills you can teach would-be entrepreneurs, but you can't give the person what they need most: burning desire. Maybe people that enroll in entrepreneurship courses already have it. Maybe they're hoping to find it. But one thing's for sure, they can't learn it, buy it, borrow it, or steal it. They have it or they don't.

You can teach entrepreneurship, but you can't teach someone to be an entrepreneur.

What do you think?

Related Entries:

the european entrepreneur school - 13 December 2003
Business School for Startups? - 12 July 2006
Schools Urged To Teach Healthy Eating Habits - 28 July 2006

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Response from: SportsLizard (03/10/06 9:47am)

I agree completely - there are definitely things that can be taught, but that inner desier, the fuel to not take the "normal" path in life that everyone else does has to come from within. You have to be willing to sacrifice immensely to become an entrepreneur - but once you have that will and desire, a great internship, class, or role model entrepreneur can save tons of time and teach a great deal. Personally, I have experienced each of those things and I don't know where I would be without them.

Response from: valerie young-harry (03/11/06 7:14am)

Every individual is inbued with the motivation and impulse that drive towards the search for economic success and independence.Whereas, in some, these qualities lie moribund and unprovoked, in others, they are recognized and stimulated to the extent of being transformed into viable business ideas and goals.The later could be assisted through entrepreneurship training to become more familiar with the conpetences expected of a real business man in order to achieve sustainable growth in thier businesses.The former should be left alone.In summary, how to be or how not to be an entrepreneur should not be considered a teaching subject.