Dr. Rick Franza, Dean of the Hull College of Business, discusses a different, timely business topic each Monday in this column. This week he talks about entrepreneurship and whether it can be taught. The interview has been edited for clarity and impact.
ABD: How do you define entrepreneurship?
Rick: I define it as the ability to start a new business, of being able to bring a product or service to market and make money from it. It could be a new product or it could be a new way of combining things or competing in a new way. Often, it results from seeing a need and filling it. Amy Richardson of Richardson Professional Solutions (who has podcasts and columns on ABD) is a great example. She did a fantastic job of seeing a need in the marketplace and filling that need.
ABD: Does an entrepreneur have to be someone like Elon Musk?
Rick: Most entrepreneurs are unMusklike. They start with much smaller businesses. Some are entrepreneurs for the lifestyle – they want to earn enough to take care of themselves but they’re not trying to get rich. For some, it’s about the freedom of not having to work for someone else.
ABD: Does someone have to be an entrepreneur to own a business?
Rick: You can be a business owner without being an entrepreneur, for businesses like franchises, or if you’re buying an already established business. And you can be a visionary without being an entrepreneur. Some large companies hire people like that.
ABD: So the big question is, can entrepreneurship be taught?
Rick: The answer is, partially. There are aspects of entrepreneurship you can teach, there are aspects you can’t teach and there are some that you have to teach.
ABD: Let’s start with the intangibles. What are some things entrepreneurs have that you can’t teach?
Rick: There’s a certain level of creativity required to be an entrepreneur, and I’m not sure that can be taught. There has to be risk tolerance and that’s more of innate skill. There has to be an acceptance of failure and a willingness to learn from failure, the resilience to try again. Most entrepreneurs have a series of failures before they hit it big. And there has to be a certain level of confidence that goes hand-in-hand with those things. Those are the unteachable but necessary things.
ABD: What are the teachable skills?
Rick: A lot of the teachable are business basics. Some can be instinctual but they can also be taught. For example, understanding the value of what they have. Eventually, you’ll have to teach that person to analyze markets, research who their customers are, who are the competitors, and what the environmental factors affect them. All of those are needed to think strategically.
ABD: And the things that have to be taught?
Rick: People with the unteachable often have a big gap in understanding financials. The big one is cash flow – the timing of it and having enough on hand. Also, understanding their fixed costs. Stereotypically entrepreneurs aren’t really patient, but patience is something that is less taught and more mentored. As they grow, they sometimes have problems with how to scale the business up.
Another thing that needs to be taught is that you’ve got to let go of some things. Entrepreneurs like to have control, but that can be a problem as the business grows. A lot of times they fail, because they can’t give up control.
