Entrepreneurship Era - Awakening Entrepreneurship Spirit of Individuals, Enterprises and Nations

Author: Larry Faria (USA)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: Have you ever seen entrepreneurs talk endlessly about their companies and products? After interviewing hundreds of entrepreneurs, my experience is that as soon as you say "Hello!" to one of them, they will ramble on for hours, boasting about their inventions and the companies they've built. This is so severe that whenever I take a long-haul flight and realize I'm sitting next to an entrepreneur, I put on headphones and do my best to avoid conversation. Several years ago, I took a flight from San Francisco to Singapore, which was a 20-hour journey. I paid special attention to the person sitting next to me. He was a young man from Seattle and seemed very friendly. I knew Seattle was full of entrepreneurs, but he looked more like an athlete, so I struck up a conversation and said that fatal "Hello!" Unbeknownst to me, he was indeed an entrepreneur. For the next 20 hours, I was forced to listen as he rambled on about how his amazing product would change the world. So, what was this earth-shattering product? Turns out, he and his company had designed a machine that produced sand specifically for golf courses. Many Asians love golf and were thrilled with his product, which is why he had taken this transpacific trip. I've never played golf in my life, nor have I watched any related TV shows, but because of this, I've learned more about golf course sand and sand traps than the average person. Are entrepreneurs annoying? Indeed, they are. But the problem is, this young man from Seattle firmly believes he has created something important and valuable for humanity. This matters deeply to his customers, his employees in Seattle, and to himself. This is the superiority of all entrepreneurs. They are convinced they are doing something very important and creating immense value, or at the very least, they are leaving their mark on the sands of time. They feel a sense of mission—a sense of purpose that gives them incredible strength, passion, and pride. Have you ever seen government officials or corporate bureaucrats with a true sense of mission? Have they ever told you for hours on end about how their work is incredibly important to the world? Clearly, not everyone has a sense of mission, but for entrepreneurs, it is the primary, indispensable one.