In a world built around egotism and competition, many have taken to unduly mystifying their abilities, wrapping their talents in a cloak of near-divinity.
Around them rise admirers and narrators who inflate their achievements to mythic proportions, crafting idols out of ordinary humans.
Meanwhile, those who do not seem to possess such “extraordinary gifts” often shrink into self-doubt, accepting the lie that others are inherently better — more special, almost superhuman.
No wonder we’ve fashioned for ourselves tin-gods — individuals whose personal standards have become societal measures of worth.
According to these measures, we are deemed either brilliant or foolish. This mindset has permeated our systems, particularly education. Though each of us is unique, we’ve built an educational system that enforces a rigid mold, one size meant to fit all.
Those who don’t conform are branded as dropouts, misfits, or failures, instead of being supported to discover and develop their own strengths. It’s no surprise, then, that so many wander through life feeling inadequate, chasing a singular definition of success that may never be theirs.
Such systems and mindsets have suffocated countless talents — many potential Steve Jobses and Bill Gateses — by convincing them they were failures simply because they didn’t fit into the academic mold.
Today, we celebrate Steve Jobs for revolutionizing technology, but had he sought a traditional job after dropping out of college, who would have given him a second glance? Yet he went on to build one of the world’s most valuable technology companies — not through conformity, but through bold divergence.
Entrepreneurship, undeniably, plays a vital role in job creation and economic progress. This is what innovators like Jobs have demonstrated. However, like many other powerful concepts, entrepreneurship has often been blown out of proportion. It has become so mystified that, ironically, many fear it.
Over time, a false narrative has emerged — that to be an entrepreneur, one must possess superhuman qualities, or be endowed with a rare gift that cannot be learned or taught. But is that really true? Should we accept such limiting beliefs?
In this piece, we’ll peel back the layers and explore how entrepreneurship came to be wrapped in myth. And in doing so, we’ll begin to understand how to strip it of its illusions — to reclaim it as something within reach for anyone willing to try.
Origin of the Myth
Entrepreneurship is basically built upon two pillars; namely, innovation and creativity. To innovate is to “make changes in something already existing, as by introducing new methods, ideas, or products.” While creativity involves “the use of imagination or original ideas in order to create something.” (Concise Oxford Dictionary).
From these two definitions we can presuppose that everyone has the capacity to be creative and innovative; it is simply a choice. As humans, we are all endowed with the ability to be creative and innovative (we’ll come back to this point later).
However, there are certain external factors that determine whether we are able to exploit those faculties or not. Among these are the environment in which we were raised and formal education.
If we were raised in an environment where we were made to believe that the only option in life was to be employed by a large organization, we’d hardly think of harnessing our creative and innovative prowess for entrepreneurship.
And if that situation was coupled with stories of how certain entrepreneurs ‘failed’, our fear of risk would cause us to recoil into our shells and never seek to sharpen our creativity and innovativeness.
Further, the world’s educational system is structured to produce, not entrepreneurs, but employees. So right from primary school, we are taught to think in terms of passing our exams well, getting a good degree, maybe a second or third or even more, and that would “guarantee” a good salary and a successful future.
With the preponderance of that mindset globally, it takes only a few brave ones to take the bold step of starting-up a business.
And since they are few in number compared to the majority who seek employment, they are viewed as “super”; as having certain qualities that are not in other humans.
But that is pure fallacy! Sure, it takes some very special qualities to succeed as an entrepreneur. Yet, the truth is that anyone who decides to can be innovative and creative and thus be an entrepreneur.
The Naysayers
Those that oppose the idea that everyone has the potential to be an entrepreneur often do so chiefly because they are oblivious of the warped systems society has created that stifle entrepreneurship.
Those, i.e., the warped systems society has created, are to blame and not the people. Some also confuse entrepreneurship with sound management practice. Hence, when an entrepreneur fails, many would think that it is his idea that failed.
While that is true in some instances, many times it has more to do with his management style, especially people and financial management skills–Being an entrepreneur does not necessarily mean that one can be a good manager. And that is what some entrepreneurs fail to realize, which causes failure.
That notwithstanding, another truth is that in entrepreneurship, failure is success. So, the entrepreneur views his failure as a disguised blessing that, handled properly, would propel the business to greater heights!
Taking off the Shroud
Having realised that entrepreneurship is not reserved for a few talented people, we now have to disabuse our minds; for it’s one thing knowing the truth but quite another thing accepting it.
It is when we accept it that the shroud can be taken off for us to see entrepreneurship in the right light. How do we do that?
The first thing is to convince ourselves that we’re uniquely designed as individuals to be creative and innovative. The One that made us in His image placed those creative and innovative qualities in us.
“It is built into the human species,” writes Eugene Raudsepp in his book How Creative Are You? Once we convince ourselves of that and actively work to invoke those qualities in us, we would be surprised at just how amazing we can be.
Science believes that using the right side of the brain helps us to be creative. And since we all have that right side of the brain, it means we can all be creative.
Thus by stimulating that creative part of the brain we will begin seeing things differently from what everyone else sees. It may make us seem insane to them, but there is the trick!
For example, when Steve Jobs dropped out of college, he hung on to one lecture in auditing and stated that had he not taken that Calligraphy lesson, the Mac wouldn’t have been born.
During that time, he was sleeping on the floor in his friends’ rooms and returned coke bottles for cash. Wouldn’t you have thought that he was insane? Yet the truth is now there for us to see! So don’t be afraid to think outside of mainstream thinking.
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The author is a dynamic entrepreneur and the Founder and Group CEO of Groupe Soleil Vision, made up of Soleil Consults (US), LLC, NubianBiz.com and Soleil Publications. He has an extensive background In Strategy, Management, Entrepreneurship, Premium Audit Advisory, And Web Consulting. With professional experiences spanning both Ghana and the United States, Jules has developed a reputation as a thought leader in fields such as corporate governance, leadership, e-commerce, and customer service. His publications explore a variety of topics, including economics, information technology, marketing and branding, making him a prominent voice in discussions on development and business innovation across Africa. Through NubianBiz.com, he actively champions intra-African trade and technology-driven growth to empower SMEs across the continent?.
The post The Business Strategy Analyst with Jules Nartey-Tokoli: Unshackling innovation(1): Why everyone can be an entrepreneur appeared first on The Business & Financial Times.
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