It is true that the cognitive business skills for starting, running, and succeeding at a business venture can be gleaned from a book and learned from business schools. But there is no entity that can impart and equip an entrepreneurial candidate with what economist Joseph Alois Schumpeter rather romantically described back in 1912, as “the will to conquer, the dream and the will to found a private kingdom, and the joy of creating, of getting things done.”
Most successful entrepreneurs do discover and master the science behind, “the will to conquer, the dream and the will to found a private kingdom, and the joy of creating, of getting things done.” But, after suffering excruciating pain and paying an enormous price.
And yet, when I spent a whole day with nearly 50 young people aged between 11 to 21, who were all naturally gifted musicians and were being groomed by pianist Jovianney Emmanuel Cruz of the Philippines, under a program he has formed called Ang Misyon, each of these young men and women displayed an uncanny desire and design to turn themselves into businesspersons, or negosyantes, as they are referred to in the Philippines. After I’d shared just a few stories and tips from my book, Pit Bulls and Entrepreneurs, each little team came up with a business idea, a business model, a plan to serve and resource from chosen markets and get moving and kickin’ with their ideas. It was an awesome treat to watch experience and be part of.
The tips I gave them were simple:
Identity: Know who you are, Know your strengths.
Intelligence: Know what the market needs; Know how your idea will fit in.
Imagination: Take risks, with an eye for what might lie ahead.
Integrity: Stay ethical, respect ecology and do good for the earth and earthlings.
Intention: Unleash the indomitable human spirit. Stay hungry, rage and don’t give up easily.
Take a peek at these young entrepreneurs and tell me if, indeed, they have in them “the will to conquer, the dream and the will to found a private kingdom, and the joy of creating, of getting things done.”
Raju Mandhyan