Re:Entrepreneurship is an Art not a Job
by wharryman on Thursday March 31, 2011 @01:37PM
(#2392612)
Regardless of what is true, what we should believe is that key entrepreneurial factors such as determination and creativity/taste can be learned and improved. If not, you quickly come to build the fallacy that we can never be the genius of a Shakespeare or Einstein, so why even try?[1]
Academically, it would be very interesting to find where the line can be drawn between 'in-born character traits' and 'soft skills.' In reality, you have daily rituals and activities designed to reinforce "disciple"; you have millions of dollars of investment in "leadership" training (of what quality is another conversation); and "morality" training that often takes place on (insert religious day of the week). Euripides will tell you that "Courage may be taught as a child is taught to speak." I do not claim to have extensive knowledge in learning theory, but at least some portion of our prior actions and experiences form the foundation for future actions.
Personally, I would say you train such skills by making a person take one action with the quality you seek, and then build upon that to have them take another. You change a person's environment, give them the tools to lower the 'barrier to entry' cost, and set up a result/reward feedback loop. E.g, basic training.
Final aside: in this conversation, we seem to have muddled the differentiation between the trait of creativity and the act of initiating and producing.
Academically, it would be very interesting to find where the line can be drawn between 'in-born character traits' and 'soft skills.' In reality, you have daily rituals and activities designed to reinforce "disciple"; you have millions of dollars of investment in "leadership" training (of what quality is another conversation); and "morality" training that often takes place on (insert religious day of the week). Euripides will tell you that "Courage may be taught as a child is taught to speak." I do not claim to have extensive knowledge in learning theory, but at least some portion of our prior actions and experiences form the foundation for future actions.
Personally, I would say you train such skills by making a person take one action with the quality you seek, and then build upon that to have them take another. You change a person's environment, give them the tools to lower the 'barrier to entry' cost, and set up a result/reward feedback loop. E.g, basic training.
Final aside: in this conversation, we seem to have muddled the differentiation between the trait of creativity and the act of initiating and producing.
[1] paraphase of http://www.paulgraham.com/hs.html