I met Heather LeFevre yesterday in Richmond because her Planner surveys make her an expert on the profession. Our chat drifted onto the subject of entrepreneurism…
It’s very interesting to think of how entrepreneurs are portrayed in culture. It’s either hard-as-nails, take-no-prisoners as in BBC’s Dragon’s Den and NBC’s original (and the BBC’s version) of The Apprentice or it’s odd-balls like Anita Rodick or Richard Branson who succeed because they’re just, so, er…wacky.
Either way up, entrepreneurs are rarely acknowledged as thinkers (with one notable exeption–Fast Company magazine has tirelessly waved the flag for business creativity). These are the people who regularly come from nowhere and turn catageories on their heads. In fact they seem to be coming up with, all day, every day, what everyone in agency-land is clamoring for: Ideas.
Entrepreneurs get a bad rap. I know from experience that the quickest way to end a job interview is to say the E word. Culturally, entrepreneurism is the mad inventor in the shed in the bottom of the garden who’s never let in the house in case he scares the guests. Original proprietors are usually the first to be shown the door when it starts to come together.
Business and brands don’t want entreprenuers. Is it because they shun conventional wisdom, rarely do research and rely on their gut? Does the fact that they don’t play by the rules stand in front of their track record? Do they know something you don’t?
Maybe there is something valuable going on in the shed at the bottom of the garden?
