The basis for our conversations
With this post, I plan on writing a three post series providing the basic foundation for our conversations here:
- DCO Basics
- Core qualities of entreprenreuship
- Supporting qualities of entrepreneurship
These three introductory posts have been rumbling around in my head ever since I made the decision to start this blog; many of the concepts and biases I had formed even earlier. I had planned on building the subscriber base for the blog a bit more before writing these posts, but for those who know me, you know I can be somewhat impatient. As I say throughout this site, I am very interested in a two-way dialogue on this topic, and with more subscribers comes more comments. That said, just like great conversation makes for great parties, my hope is that subscribers to this site will follow from getting to the point.
So, without further ado, let’s get started.
DCO Basics
First of all, let’s talk about what I mean by some of the statements I’ve made elsewhere on this blog:
- “Leadership…” Leadership is an extremely broad topic that means different things to different people. For the purposes of this blog, I have defined Leadership as “personal and professional excellence”. I intend to discuss the qualities I believe support the pursuit of excellence.
- “…through Entrepreneurship” Lots of people talk and write about Leadership. That part about “entrepreneurship” kind of came out of left field! It just so happens I work in a business incubator and work with entrepreneurs daily. Having an entrepreneurial spirit my entire life, I’ve had the good fortune to meet quite a few entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are truly a different sort of individual. Central to my thinking on this website is that an examination of what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur will lead us to what it takes to be a leader.
- “Personal and Professional Excellence” As stated above, I will not be talking about Leadership from the context of trying to figure out how we can all be the next Jack Welch. Many of us are quite content with our current station in life, yet strive to be excellent every day. We are the “go-to” folks in our department, the person who always has a positive word to say when you’re having a bad day, the people who can be counted on to “get it right”. Leaders may or may not exhibit excellence; but excellence is exhibited by leaders.
- Technology. Okay, I get everything you’ve said so far – what’s up with talking about technology? It’s pretty simple really. I’ve been around technology most of my life, both on the supply side and the demand side. I tend to be very curious when it comes to technology and am often an early adopter. Technology is so prevalent in our culture and society, I find a knowledge of the tools and concepts are indispensable these days. So from time to time I will write about various technology concepts and products. Humor me, you might even learn something.
“Entrepreneurship” is a verb
I’m fairly fanatical when it comes to wordsmithing important communications. An E-Mail to friends can be banged out almost spontaneously. A communication to a peer or my boss generally gets only a couple readings. Anything that will be read on a wider basis than that will be analyzed and re-worded quite a bit before publication. So it is not an accident that “Leadership through Entrepreneurship” is the tagline I chose for this site.
For me, the tagline serves two purposes. First of all, it sets the stage for not only what we will be discussing (Leadership), but implies a context through which the discussion will take place (Entrepreneurship).
More interesting is the additional implication of action; not only is entrepreneurship a verb, but the linkage of Leadership to Entrepreneurship is “through“. Does this simply mean that our discussion of Leadership will take place through a discussion of entrepreneurship? Or is there deeper causal relationship implying one path to Leadership is through entrepreneurship?
Whatever the outcome of our discussions, the important point is a sense of action and pursuit. Leadership and excellence is not something that simply comes to us, we must decide it is important and then strive for it.
Personal and Professional Excellence
Finally, I would like to talk a bit more about my definition of Leadership; that being “personal and professional excellence”.
I stated above that “Leaders may or may not exhibit excellence; but excellence is exhibited by leaders”. By this I mean that Leadership is something more than one’s position in a company. All of us probably have experience working for someone who was in a position of authority, yet no one viewed as a leader. Therefore to examine what it means to be a leader, we cannot just look at those in positions of authority.
Yet if we accept the second premise that “excellence is exhibited by leaders” then they are all around us. At work surely, but also at school, on the playground and in the grocery store. They are the people that make everyone and everything better. Their enjoyment is often not from the authority but the pursuit of excellence.
Whether you are the President of a Fortune 500 company, or a high school student who doesn’t know what they want to do in life, we all are in charge of the most challenging business in the world: running our own life. So my examination of Leadership will center upon the pursuit of excellence throughout our lives, than simply becoming more proficient in our business careers.
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