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Introduction
Entrepreneurship is complex, chaotic, and lacks any notion of linearity. As edu- cators, we have the responsibility to develop
the discovery, reasoning, and implementation skills of our students so they may excel in highly uncertain envi- ronments. These
skills enhance the like- lihood that our students will identify and capture the right opportunity at the right time for the right
reason. However, this is a significant responsibility and chal- lenge. The current approaches to entre- preneurship education are
based on a world of yesterday—a world where pre- cedent was the foundation for future
NECK AND GREENE 55 action, where history often did predict the future. Yet, entrepreneurship is about creating new
opportunities and executing in uncertain and even cur- rently unknowable environments. Entre- preneurship and entrepreneurship
education have more relevance today than ever before.
For many years, it was popular to ask, “Can entrepreneurship be taught?” As educators, we always said, “yes, of course” and
went on to list the myriad of reasons rehearsed in advance of such questions. Our answers might include, “it is a skill set,” or “we
have been doing it for years,” or “it depends what you mean by entrepreneurship.” In reality and
Heidi M. Neck is an associate professor and the Jeffry A. Timmons professor of entrepre- neurial studies at Babson College.
Patricia G. Greene is President’s Distinguished Professor in Entrepreneurship at Babson College
Address correspondence to: Heidi M. Neck, Babson College, Babson College, 231 Forest Street, Babson Park, MA 02457-
0310. E-mail: hneck@babson.edu.
teach upon reflection in looking at the future
aspects of strategy, finance, law, of entrepreneurship education, we
may
human resources, leadership, marketing, be willing to admit that we were
wrong
accounting, operations, and ethics in any and willing to consider alternative
expla-
given class. The next class might offer nations. Might it be that entrepreneur-
perspectives from sociology, anthropol- ship, using current popular
approaches,
ogy, and business history. This is at a cannot really be taught and that real-
time when those in the discipline of world experience actually does super-
entrepreneurship also strive for sede an expensive college education?
increased legitimacy as an academic Just look at Bill Gates, Steve Jobs,
field, pushing for the research rigor that Richard Branson, Mary Kay Ash, and
some suggest drives intellectual maturity Debbie Fields who are all incredibly
suc-
(Brush et al. 2003). As a field, entrepre- cessful entrepreneurs without a
college
neurship essentially covers prestart-up degree. Should their success signal
any-
and beyond, from intellectual property to thing to entrepreneurship educators?
Not
initial public offering. Though the field really. For every Bill Gates, there are
a
of entrepreneurship has progressed million entrepreneurs who experience
beyond evaluating and describing the “in the real world” dramatic, life-
altering
entrepreneur as the lone maverick with failure that we do not read about in the
superhero powers, the entrepreneur is popular press.
nonetheless a central figure in the emerg- We know what you are thinking. First,
ing stages of business creation. As such, we say entrepreneurship cannot be
entrepreneurship educators also teach taught. Then we suggest that experience
foundation principles, often considered supersedes education. Finally, we say
“the soft stuff,” of living with uncertainty, ignore Bill, Steve, Richard, Mary
Kay,
opportunity identification, entrepreneur- and Debbie—the kings and queens
of
ial mindset, creating, decision-making, learning entrepreneurship outside the
developing empathy, business design, ivory tower of the academy. Confused?
culture, life–work balance, social respon- Our confusion is intentional to
illustrate
sibility, and leveraging failure. The mar- where we are as educators in the
riage of all of these content areas is value dynamic, cross-disciplinary field of
entre-
creation and capture entrepreneurship as preneurship. The academic field and
an engine to create economic, social, and practical field of entrepreneurship
have
personal value. For many students of consistently been at odds throughout the
entrepreneurship, whereas their peers years, but such conflict has led to a rich
are pursuing careers, they are pursuing a and diverse pool of collaborative
life path. It looks different, it feels differ- educators—academics,
entrepreneurs,
ent; it is different—especially in today’s consultants, investors, full-time, part-
global environment. time, academically qualified, and profes-
The purpose of this paper is to sionally qualified—with a common
present a framework for teaching in a understanding that entrepreneurship
new world. We advance the concept of education is important. Across the
field,
teaching entrepreneurship as a method, there are differences in how we
which is in contrast to the current approach teaching entrepreneurship.
ways—the known worlds—in which we Given the multidisciplinary field of
are currently teaching entrepreneurship. entrepreneurship, the content covered
in
We are not proposing a particular peda- most entrepreneurship courses is far-
gogy. If anything, we would firmly fall in reaching. An entrepreneurship
educator
Forest and Peterson’s (2006) andragogy is often expected to know everything
camp anyway. On the contrary, we are about every field. It is not uncommon
to
proposing an entirely different approach
56
JOURNAL OF SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
for to teaching entrepreneurship. We are
the monolithic personality of the proposing an overarching framework
for
entrepreneur. Brockhaus and Horwitz teaching entrepreneurship that will
(1986) reviewed the early trait literature require many different approaches to
and concluded that there are four major teaching and learning—some of
which
personality traits of individuals: need for have not yet been discovered or
created.
achievement, internal locus of control, We are proposing that teaching
entrepre-
high risk-taking propensity, and toler- neurship requires teaching a method.
ance for ambiguity. Ten years later, The method is teachable, learnable, but it
Miner (1996) proposed four psychologi- is not predictable. The method is
people-
cal personality patterns of entrepreneurs: dependent but not dependent on a
type
personal advisors, empathetic super of person. The entrepreneurship method
salespeople, real managers, and expert goes beyond understanding, knowing,
idea generators. Also, most recently, and talking and demands using, apply-
Shane posited the role of the entrepre- ing, and acting. Most importantly the
neurial gene, taking the nature versus method requires practice. Entrepreneur-
nurture discussion to new extremes ship requires practice. Learning a
(Mount 2010). Any discussion of the method, we believe, is often more
impor-
numerous challenges in this trait line of tant than learning specific content. In
an
research can range from problems with ever-changing world, we need to teach
defining (who is an entrepreneur and methods that stand the test of dramatic
who are we picking to represent “suc- changes in content and context.
cessful” entrepreneurs), differentiating We introduce this method in light of
and explaining (these are traits of suc- other current approaches to teaching
cessful people in many lines of work) to entrepreneurship.
prediction (do we all not wish we could