Page 132 - 1-Entrepreneurship and Local Economic Development by Norman Walzer (z-lib.org)

What Makes a Successful Entrepreneur? 121

Lastly, but of considerable importance, a focus on the development of
skills using this framework permits an entrepreneur to ascend a ladder of
skill development in a systematic fashion. Entrepreneurs appreciate being
able to know where they currently stand and what they need to do to get to
the skill level to which they aspire. Some entrepreneurs have even expressed
that this system gives them a feeling of “relief.”
In one instance, an entrepreneur, whose business was located in an incu-
bator, was frustrated by the fact that she had worked hard to build her busi-
ness for more than a year and was still struggling while another entrepre-
neur, whose business was located adjacent to hers, was in and out of the
incubator and operating on his own in a six-month time span. She won-
dered what was “wrong” until the ELS approach taught her that the other
entrepreneur was operating at a higher skill level and that she could be just
as successful by continuing to work to build her skills.

CONCLUSION

At the beginning of this chapter, success in entrepreneurship was defined as
the mastery of a skill set. This assertion is based on an analysis of the theo-
retical literature and our own field research. We do not find the school of
thought that holds that entrepreneurs possess innate personality traits to be
compelling. Even if these theorists were correct, their theory is not useful
when looking at fostering entrepreneurship as an economic development
strategy. There is nothing one can do about innate traits. We suspect that
this theory has contributed significantly to the relatively poor quality of
past enterprise development activities in general. If entrepreneurs are to suc-
ceed or fail on their own personalities, why does it matter what is done to
assist them?
While the behavioral school of thought offers a systematic understanding
of enterprise building and the entrepreneur’s role in it and introduces the
use of field research—both positive developments—it places too much em-
phasis on business start-up and fails to account for the place of learning in
the entrepreneurship process. Entrepreneurship should, and does, take
place throughout the business life cycle, and, as the cognitive school of
thought tells us, there is a learning process in entrepreneurship.
It is the cognitive perspective, with a focus on the entrepreneur, on the
learning process, and on learning through experience, that acts as a bridge
between the personality and behavioral perspectives and the “theory of skill
development” expounded in this chapter. This latter theory makes cognitive
theory actionable. It provides a framework for systemically, systematically,
and strategically developing entrepreneurs’ skills and, in so doing, enhanc-
ing their chances of success.