Had a great dinner last night with some good friends at work, and the discussion turned to my love for entrepreneurship. Why do I think that it’s such a noble and worthwhile endeavor? Why do I believe in it so much? When you see all the ills that are brought upon the world by a capitalist society, by massive corporations that used to be slightly smaller organizations that at one point in time were started by an enterprising man or woman in the shower or in a bar scribbled on a napkin – if the end result of that creative spark is so negative, why do I believe in it?
The simple answer is that I believe in what those people represent. I believe that we’re put on this world for a reason. I believe we’re given enormous talents and skills for a reason. And I believe there are two reasons we’re given those talents – first, to bring glory to the source of our gifts, and secondly to use those gifts to imrpove the lives of others.
I believe entrepreneurship is the perfect vehicle to accomplish both of these goals. The entrepreneur must have a vision that goes beyond themselves. They must believe so strongly in something that they’re willing to sacrifice their personal well-being – their financial, emotional and sometimes physical health – in the pursuit of their idea.
The entrepreneur has the chance to look into the world and identify opportunity. They have the chance to create a product or service or experience that will make the lives of their customers a little bit better. They have a chance to create a company that makes the lives of their employees a little bit better. And they have the chance to make the lives of their shareholders a little bit more comfortable as well.
This isn’t to say that the entrepreneur always takes advantage of this opportunity. Quite the contrary – far too many entrepreneurs choose to create something solely to line their pockets. They speak not in terms of building a company and a culture that fulfills some big important goal, but rather in terms of how much they want to sell for, or the time frame in which they hope to go public. They care little for their employees, little for their customers. They think of ways to convince the customer their product is amazing rather than making the product amazing in the first place.
It’s true – these people exist, in large numbers. But their behavior doesn’t change my opinion about entrepreneurship, just as the frequency of serial killers doesn’t change my opinions on capital punishment. There will always be the best of us and the worst of us in humanity. I just happen to believe that the impact felt by the perfect entrepreneur would far surpass the impact felt by the perfect artist or sculptor or basketball player or lawyer.
And that’s what I push towards – the hope that someday I will either be associated with that perfect entrepreneur, wrapped up in something grand and meaningful and life-giving – or I’ll come as close as I’m able to being that perfect entrepreneur myself. A lot of pressure to put on oneself or on another person – but I believe it’s infinitely more worthwhile than the pressure to beat earnings estimates or to cash out for X million.
