A Personal Imperative

People are equal, not their ideas

I cherish my American freedoms. My seemingly infinite freedom to think, act and interact gives me the right to choose to be myself and engage in dialogue about my destiny, as well as yours and the rest of mankind’s. Exercising my personal freedom manifests itself most immediately in my presumptuousness to write this book. I guess with this book I’m personally trying to simultaneously be patriotic and creative, which is a way to exhibit entrepreneurship. I believe I have produced a fresh and innovative book that offers an important perspective on management.

I don’t take my rights as an American lightly or for granted, and I don’t want to flaunt them. Personal freedom and autonomy are hardly ever a given in this world; rather, they must be continually earned. There are always control freaks, elitists and other interlopers who would usurp everyone’s freedom. Freedoms are limited at macro and micro levels by laws, jobs, morality, marriage, relationships, commitments and so forth. Even in America, there are subtle ebbs and flows to our political, social and economic freedoms that make us more or less free in a real sense. For instance, can you imagine how the repeal of Pennsylvania’s "blue laws" in the 60’s enhanced the freedom to shop, or how the repeal of prohibition impacted alcohol consumers, or how the abolishing of abortion laws changed the economics of medicine and free-love; or how the Patriot Act might impact society? For a minute, think of the freedoms and restrictions regarding the circumstances and conditions that surround just these controversial examples, and these examples merely scratch the surface of the human, and American, socio-economic issues worthy of intense debate and dialogue that each of us can participate in if wee really want to. America’s willingness to debate and re-debate fundamental topics like these, again and again (e.g., the courts and policymakers have reversed positions on these issues several times), produces an evolving definition of freedom that intimately affects organized economic behaviors. By the way, this process of debate and dialogue does not necessarily produce more regulation or more restrictive conditions, as illustrated in these three examples of existing laws that were repealed; but it is not always the case that law making evolves toward expanded tolerance.

Lawyers, policymakers, citizens and managers will have seemingly endless debates about trivial nuances concerning freedom for eons to come, as they have since concept was imagined; and particularly since America’s inception, because America’s version of freedom hinges on the finest details about the basic human contradictions inherent to freedom. This constant analysis of, and tinkering with freedom makes America a particularly interesting human experiment to study, and exhilarating for me personally to experience, and that goes double for the truest entrepreneurs. That we constrain and open up our people and organizations through constant public discussion based on rational discourse is vitally important to progress and leadership. Our openness makes our mass systems very fluid, adaptive, changeable, controversial and above all opportunistic. The escalating openness that manifests itself in America attracts weirdoes and extremists who speak out and can be tested. Americans, thus, keep options open and are always looking for new ideas and points of view. I am very thankful and honored that I can place myself at the center of what I consider some of the great debates of our time; including those involving entrepreneurial freedoms and the associated management and life contradictions that are so significant. I’m on stage right here in America, the land at the cutting edge of such grand inquiries. I owe it to myself, and future generations to engage in the honest exploration of the nuances related to true entrepreneurship, which will be the basis of managing the freest systems ever known. I feel so inspired.

The nearly fifty years of my life that I can recollect has been a roller coaster of material and social change. I dare say, us baby boomers have witnessed/caused as much economic change and advance as any generation in the history of mankind. I grew up with no indoor plumbing in the 50’s, only to have a Jacuzzi and four-plus baths today. I willingly participated in an un-winnable war in the 60’s against communism’s spread, only to watch communism decay on its own with nary a whimper. I've been held hostage in the 70’s by a cartel of oil producers, only to see gas prices plummet to all-time lows a few years later, and now it’s back again. I’ve watched interest rates make it impossible to invest in the 80’s then quickly drop to stimulate capricious risk-taking in the savings and loan industry and help propel the greatest "bull market" in history in the 90’s. I've watched the explosive growth in tech-stocks in the 90’s reverse itself almost as quickly in the second half of the decade. I've observed the aging process take its ugly toll on people, and at the same time produce unique opportunity and freshness at every phase. But most impressive to me, are the accelerations in the America dream of economic progress that I’ve witnessed; driven by wave-after-wave of American entrepreneurship. Contradiction, change and evolution are real and accelerating all around us in this modern world, more than any time in man’s history. I don't think any new idea or product could surprise me anymore. I’ve concluded that the kind of freedom you find in America is magical, and it produces mystical and spiritually free behaviors that run the full spectrum of capability to exploit opportunity in both contradiction and truth. The freest thinking of our individuals is the entrepreneur.

I know in my heart that the great entrepreneur’s deeds and thoughts are spirit-filled, and arise from the freest kind of market participation. As I watch visionary entrepreneurs motivate and change consumers, employees and other stakeholders in search of some shared, organizational virtue, and of course potential pecuniary gain, I can’t help but be inspired to at least write about these most awesome observations. After many years of living with entrepreneurs, I have developed a deep respect, appreciation and knowledge of how they think, behave and ultimately ignite the American economic system. The more I have observed and pondered great entrepreneurial behavior over 20+ years, the more I have become committed to the in-depth and theoretical analysis of successful entrepreneurial behaviors and their role in Americana. After thousands of consultations with start-up entrepreneurs and small business people, and having started and grown enterprises myself, I have a fundamental understanding of, and empathy for, the systematic behaviors and strategies of the most innovative managers who drive the cutting edge of America's free enterprise system.

Living and working with entrepreneurs has obviously been a life-changing personal experience. From my university base (we have an extensive outreach program at IUP) in Indiana County, I've met and worked with just about every kind of entrepreneur imaginable from almost everywhere in the world. I've found that the entrepreneurs who emerge in America today personify ethnic, racial, and gender diversity. They are liberal, moderate and conservative. They are the most logical people you can find and also the weirdest. They come in a variety of colors, sizes and styles; but they all have a unique sense about efficiently and effectively meeting the needs, wants and desires of the human beings on this planet. Some have revolutionary ideas. Some do it better, quicker or with a broader smile. Some just work harder or smarter, while some are just plain stubborn and refuse to quit on an objective. I can't really identify a universal pedigree for successful entrepreneur, but I know one when I see one, because visionaries just stand out. I also know they are all over the place; they come out of the woodwork. And above all, I also know that I love to be around that style. It’s energetic and inspiring at its best.

Having spent a large portion of my life in an economically depressed Western Pennsylvania community, I’ve become especially sensitized to the need for entrepreneurs. When I came back home to teach management and marketing at IUP in 1979, I was appalled at the economic distress that was all around, as the term “rust belt” became more and more indicative of the situation. Family, friends and fellow citizens in Indiana County had gone from health and prosperity (an area with solid economic strength built on coal, railroads and steel after WWII) to become feeble and poor. Unemployment rates hovered near 20%, and that was low when you consider the exodus. We had gone from proud industrial leaders in the world to "the great unwashed" of Pennsylvania and American society in the 70's and 80's, right before my eyes! I had to get involved in the turn-around as part of my personal social responsibility as a professor and a business scholar.

The decay of economic vitality in Indiana County, during the late 70's in particular, was obvious as I traveled the rest of Pennsylvania, this nation and internationally. The demise of the coal industry in Indiana County, Pennsylvania over the last quarter century has left a stench of economic decay over a once vibrant blue-collar culture. Almost all my family and friends worked in and around the coalmines after WWII. The mines were everything to us. From every past recession, the coalmines always rebounded to provide jobs and progress, especially from the “great-depression” and the post-WWII recessions. What at first seemed to be a minor economic downturn in the late 60’s for heavy industry in America became reinforced geometrically during the 70’s and then turned ugly in the early 80’s to erode every aspect of life for everyone in our region. The environment and eco-system suffered, the infrastructure decayed, the general-psychic lost confidence and the culture of the community stagnated. Panic was in the air and desperation was a common face on the street as the escalating downward spiral seemed to have no end.

My father spent 47 years in the coalmines, and I even worked in the mines over several summers and breaks from high school and college in the mid-sixties. Literally everyone in my hometown of Clymer, Pennsylvania was tied to the coal industry, somehow. We were pretty much a one-industry town back then, but why not; the coal industry in Indiana County, Pennsylvania had flourished since the turn of the century through the 1950's, and was the economic backbone of the region. Everyone needed coal and steel! Moreover, Indiana County was coal country, and there seemed to be a certain machismo attached to those who had a job associated with the mines. A coal mentality developed in my hometown of Clymer, as part of pride in hard and dirty work, which flaunted a certain black-collar saunter (every tough, competitive and virile neighborhood or community has a cohesive attitude that underlies it). In Indiana County, jobs working directly in and around the mines peaked at over 15,000 in the 1950's (in a county with a population of less than 100,000, this is a third of the economy), but progressively slid over 45 years to less than 5,000 in 2004), and still falling. The last 25 years has been particularly severe, with 90% of the permanent mining job loss occurring since 1975. You can imagine the economic toll this slide has taken on this rural county. Yet, through it all the indomitable entrepreneurial spirit of my neighbors is what has ultimately left the greatest impression on me.

My work with local entrepreneurs has been an inspiration of the highest order. Working with entrepreneurial visionaries has given me a vicarious sense of valor. As a small business consultant with the Small Business Development Center and Small Business Institute (SBDC and SBI), I’m one of the few field-medics on our local economic battlefield. My battalion consists of a small staff and Indiana’s entrepreneurs, but we’ve become economic warriors fighting for progress, quality in our lives, and generally for our viability on this little piece of the planet. The war has taught me a lot about first aid and field care for the entrepreneurs who are operating at the dangerous cutting edge of economic activity. I've learned a lot about their birth and life, and unfortunately about their death too. In the process, I've also assumed the obligation to explore the system of most intense relationships inherent in entrepreneurship; and ultimately to participate in the managing of the larger economic development war raging in American society through my practical work and my writings like this book.

Two heroic qualities of entrepreneurs, in particular, have stood out from my experience: courage and persistent hard work. I am constantly amazed at how these qualities play off each other, and how intense each of these qualities can be in the entrepreneurial style. Entrepreneurs routinely place themselves at risk to test the old market assumptions, and then dogmatically initiate uncertain economic change, innovation and creativity. Entrepreneurs undertake the most dangerous and uncertain economic work with exemplary perseverance, no matter how battered and mutilated some may get. I’ve seen them run the gauntlet of the bad-idea, the same-idea, the wrong-idea and the no-idea, time and again, even after terrible failure. For every entrepreneur that thrives, I’ve watched ten who harbor impossible and irrational dreams that drive them to masochistically batter themselves into oblivion. I’ve concluded as a field medic that most entrepreneurs have about the same life expectancy of a Second Lieutenant during the Vietnam War. The entrepreneurial migration is simply dangerous and against the odds. I imagine it as much like watching hordes of baby turtles on the Discovery Channel trying to get past all the predators on the way to the sea; where only a few survive and prosper. I'm satisfied that Indiana County and Western Pennsylvania has exemplified this indomitable entrepreneurial spirit, with our new e-generation arising from the ashes like the proverbial Phoenix, as the coal and steel industries have collapsed. I’m honored to be part of the effort to help thousands of rebuilt entrepreneurs (many of them laid-off miners and steel workers who don’t fit the CMU entrepreneurial profile) pick up the pieces and strike out on a risky, but fresh destiny.

Entrepreneurs are certainly the hardest workers you'll ever see. I have worked closely, over extended periods of time, with hundreds of entrepreneurs and small businesses, and I always find it hard to keep up with the good ones. The best ones have a compelling vision of reality that drives everyone around them to compete and excel. And, they keep getting more intense and astute as they grow. The reserve of entrepreneurial spirit seems endless, which leads me to believe that America is therefore at the headwaters of a surge in entrepreneurial organizations. This book is a reflection of what I’ve learned from the entrepreneurs I’ve counseled, and what I’ve learned as a management educator, theorist, and from being someone who likes to dabble a bit himself. It is also about my endeavor to energize the surge in entrepreneurship a bit.

Entrepreneurship is such an exciting field, too, because it involves a most extreme form of management. This excitement has motivated me to specialize in start-up entrepreneurship as a management professor. I personally believe that putting a fledgling enterprise into a solid orbit is a most rewarding experience – it’s like being a midwife. It’s rewarding helping any organization or business, but start-ups are special; and I personally believe that it is more difficult to put something into orbit than keeping it there for a while. The blast-off and initial stages of propulsion are very dangerous and represent the most fundamental change in the acceleration and trajectory processes for organizations. That’s where I believe help from professionals and partners are most needed. Nascent management behaviors most be effective quickly and must be wise to evolve further levels of entrepreneurial, as well as bureaucratic behaviors. Once in orbit, the enterprise can coast for a period on the natural structures and processes arising from success and growth. In properly organized trajectories, there is considerable inertia built in to battle decay, and usually minor adjustments are needed to maintain proper orbit; but no such lulls exist during blast-off. The exhilaration of the truly significant entrepreneurial event blossoming is quite exciting and memorable. What a privilege to be part of entrepreneurial birth, and to be able to write about it.

Finally, like most dedicated academic professionals, I feel a calling to be a social architect that works on what I believe are the most fundamental economic and social problems that human organizations face in our time, those relating to sustainable economic development. As I accept the important task of studying, analyzing and fostering the best kind of entrepreneurial organization in individuals, communities, regions and this nation, I recognize a responsibility to be prescriptive as well as descriptive in my orientation. I willingly "say it like it is, or should be;" at least as I see it. You’ll discover that I have little tolerance for unimaginative or lazy managers who have the wrong intentions for entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurial behavior, like any freely practiced behavior in free societies, is very complicated, interrelated, abstract and fragile, which makes it particularly susceptible to misguided logic, irrationality and even fascism among thinkers and policymakers, who choose to see only part of the system, or are consumed by a hypnotic narcissism. "Good" entrepreneurship is good for America and needs to be managed properly, with a holistic and sustainable perspective. I see good entrepreneurship as a fundamental building block of any economic system that wants to be referred to as a "GOOD SOCIETY." Entrepreneurship, like any freedom-phenomena, can succeed only through diligently seeking the truth of economic life. We therefore need to be virtuous people who must change and manipulate our own rules for our economic progress; but only after we have sought the truth of reality and are confident we will do no harm. I hope, if nothing else, this work creates some dialogue regarding the best strategies for managing American entrepreneurial behavior in the larger systems of the 21st century, and it helps a few entrepreneurs see their own personal realities a little better.

“I can’t love me for you; I can only love you for me.”

Postscript: After briefly working on this manuscript, typing and editing, my friend Gerald “Frenchy” Dubois conceptualized the following view of entrepreneurship. It’s a good start that shows how the imagination can be quickly stirred.

A Process Model of Entrepreneurship
 

Source: Gerald “Frenchy” Dubois (2002)