In Candace Allen's article "The Entrepreneur as Hero," Allen argues that the entrepreneur fits the description of a hero, a title that is normally reserved for those "who fought dragons or overcame evil. " Allen states that there are three stages that qualify a person as a hero. First, a hero departs from the familiar and comfortable enters the unknown, risking failure or loss. Second, a hero encounters hardship or challenge and overcomes it.
Third, a hero brings back the community something new or better than what they had.Allen is correct in her reasoning that the entrepreneur is a hero of our society due to the fact that an entrepreneur fits the criteria for a hero and is a key to the economic growth of our economy. An entrepreneur fits the first criterion of being a hero by moving past the current expected ways or norms and moves forth to find a better way of doing things. The entrepreneur is on a mission, ignoring others who say what is or is not possible, determined to move forward, out of the usual into the unknown.
The mindset of an entrepreneur is as an optimist, seeing not what cannot be, but what might be. As Allen states, an entrepreneur is going out of his circle of comfort into an area that he might not be comfortable in. He is determined to reach his goal even if it means venturing away from the current thought process of the rest of the world. Entrepreneurs easily meet the second criterion, as they have to overcome many hardships and challenges to reach their goal.An entrepreneur lays it all on the line for their cause, like a hero, self-sacrificing to a vision or idea that he sees as bigger than himself. He will disregard his comfort or security levels in order to move forward.
Since he is going against the accepted ways, an entrepreneur could be considered a traitor by his profession. Unfortunately, due to the overwhelming amount of choices an entrepreneur needs to make, he will make a wrong turn or two, but he will drive forward using his resources to get by however possible.The entrepreneurs of our society are definitely doing something that should gain them more respect from the community than what is given now since they lay everything they have on the line to improve the world for the rest of us. The final criterion that needs to be met by entrepreneurs is to come home with something better for the community that shunned him. He comes back with hope of acceptance from the community, which is shown only when the community begins to buy his new products or services.
An entrepreneur is not in his line of work for the money, rather to come up with new ideas that will change the norm, the way of life that everyone has right now. Entrepreneurs have to overcome great odds in their quest, about eighty percent of all new businesses fail within a short period of time. To even take on these kinds of odds, an entrepreneur must be willing to go through tough times and understand the possibility of failure. But if an entrepreneur does fail, he will try again and again, venturing into the unknown many times just to "bring back that which individuals in society value. "Entrepreneurs must overcome great odds to relish the success of their work, but riches is not the goal, rather to bring something back to the community which will improve their lives. An entrepreneur definitely fits the role of a hero in today's economy since he is willing to go against the norm, risk it all, and bring home something people want.
An entrepreneur might not fight dragons, but he will fight much opposition in his search for the next big thing. Without the help of entrepreneurs, the economy is not changing, there is nothing new, no modern innovations, nothing to spur the economy.An entrepreneur can find something that will change the lives of people in the community. When the fruits of all entrepreneurs are added up, it will be seen that the economy has improved. Therefore, the entrepreneurs are the heroes of our society and people should recognize this and try to make their journey a little easier by not showing such an opposition to new views.
You never know, the entrepreneur you are making fun of could come up with something that will change your life forever.
