Ivey Files

December 30, 2007

Are Entrepreneurs Born or Made?

Can entrepreneurship be taught in the classroom? Many business schools (both undergraduate and graduate) seem to think so, and they are booming. In an article in the current University of Cambridge alumni magazine, some entrepreneurs weigh in on what makes them successful.

I believe that entreprenuers are born, not made. Business school entreprenuership classes can teach useful skills and allow students to build relationships with other like minded individuals. They can also help a student determine if entreprenuership is a direction they want to head in. They cannot however, teach the vision, drive and passion that it takes to launch a company and guide it through the good times and the bad.

I am a married women in my 20s, working full time for an entreprenuer and completing my MBA fulltime, with courses that fall into the entreprenuership category. They have given me clarity but ultimately I have to look inwards to see if I have the strength and drive to "make it happen". My mother-in-law just opened the first of a chain of med-spa's, a process which I have been helping her with in my (non-existant!) free time. An entreprenuership class couldn't give her the amazing energy she has at the end of a 15 hours day in those early months, just some useful skills.

Now I have to make my own decisions - start a company when I get done with school? Or biggie size the J-O-B?