In this lecture Russell Sobel discusses a few of the main ideas from a book by Joseph Schumpter. Throughout this video, Sobel talks about the different qualities that make up an entrepreneur, the discovery of innovation versus invention, and what creative destruction is/how it benefits our world. Entrepreneurs, as we have discussed in previous classes, are very important to our world. They are a large reason society can continue to advance in companies, technology, products, etc. Knowing how valuable entrepreneurs are made this lecture one of my personal favorites to learn from.
Many may argue that an entrepreneur is limited to only one type of person, typically they are associated with a business owner. When people think of an entrepreneur their mind may automatically shift to someone such as Elon Musk - a very well-known and successful entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs, however, are all around us. They are not conformed to one standard of a person; it can be anyone with the will to try. A few possible definitions for entrepreneurs were shared in class but the one Sobel leans toward, and the one I also leaned towards, was the Broad definition. It shares “An entrepreneur is an ‘agent of change’ ”. This means that to be a true entrepreneur you must be actively thinking outside of the existing trends in the world. To be an entrepreneur you must use the resources around you in new ways. An example shared in class was of a pizza restaurant. This restaurant had multiple options for toppings, ultimately allowing for thousands of different ways to craft a pizza. The workers at the restaurant could be creative with all the different toppings to offer new fun flavors. Entrepreneurs have a similar opportunity with the resources offered throughout the world. The opportunities are endless. While some may have a different view, I believe that anyone can be an entrepreneur as long as they are innovating some form of change.
An invention is a completely new product, process, or idea. Something that has never existed before its creation, making it unique and original. We’ve seen inventions such as the telephone, electricity, robots, etc. The people who create these new things would absolutely be considered entrepreneurs. What about the individuals who are innovators though? Are they also considered to be entrepreneurs? Innovators do not have a purpose to create new products or companies; they are the ones who find ways to improve them. We could consider Apple’s phone progression. After the first touch screen was created, they did not stop creating more iPhones after their first product. They have continued to find ways to enhance the iPhone by adding new features, colors, sizes, and applications. They find ways to make the product more desirable for the consumer. These entrepreneurs are vital to our society. They bring in continual growth, through the process of trial and error, which only promotes betterment of our society.
Creative destruction according to Schumpter is our main form of progress. An example of what creative destruction is, that was shared in the lecture, was the invention of cars during a time that transportation by horse and buggy was popular. Transportation by horse and buggy offered jobs to those driving the buggy and had a need for horses. When the invention of the first car came along that changed the game for people. While the invention of cars has proven to be extremely beneficial and has promoted new job opportunities for people, it also forced a large crowd of people out of jobs during that time. We can compare this to our discussion of monopoly companies. With the opportunity for creative destruction no monopoly has a chance to last. Consider the company, that was considerably a monopoly, Montgomery Ward. K-mart eventually took over, which Walmart eventually took over, which now Amazon has taken over and one day another large company will come along to take Amazons place.
Entrepreneurship is involved in social, culinary, academic, sports, and even military settings. It is all around us. Entrepreneurship is a journey that faces both success and failure. Not all the ideas that have been tested were good or successful. That is the life for an entrepreneur though, a life full of constant trial and error with the attempt to create the next best thing for others to enjoy. An entrepreneur must be resilient, ready to fail time and time again until one day they are able to create something that could change the way all of society lives.
