Entrepreneurship and Innovation vs Corporation

Jim Hesket, from Harvard Business School posted a very interestig dilemma...

Do Innovation and Entrepreneurship Have to Be Incompatible with Organization Size?

I love the dilemma, for when I met my husband I told him I've never knew a happy and successful corporate executive... and he told me he had never met a happy and successful entrepreneur. The reasons why we both succeed is a powerful combination of the three Ps: passion, purpose and prosperity.

What works for me is creative destructionism... what works for him is impecable execution. Eventually I hope we'll find a way to meet in between -instead of complementing each other!

The main issue with innovation is that it has been poorly executed, the main issue with entrepreneurship is that most tools are about safety, and invariable, as I was telling my friend Nicolas Erdordy in New Zealand, it's all about playing 'safe' and setting goals so low that they are reachable. The main issue with corporations is that risk and chaos is poorly managed. In all cases, we forget the most valuale lesson: Businesses don't make decisions, people do!

See what others have to say about Jesket dilemma in Harvard here
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6168.html#comments

Are corporations againgt entrepreneurship and innovation?

Looking for Indian, Chinese and US students for a collaborative project!

I'm still digesting my last recent trip and have a lot of interesting materials and thoughts to share. In the meantime, I don't want to miss the opportunity to collaborate in this very interesting project. I wish my kids were doing science!!!Unfortunately it is only available to students with the Indian, Chinese or US citizenship OR to undergraduates in those countries. I'm sure the program will be a success and expand onto other regions soon!

Mike Snyder, CEO and founder of iFEST sent me this invitation. Please forward it to students you might know and if you are one yourself, consider applying. The deadline is coming up soon, so act FAST.

"It is a pleasure to let you know about the US-China-India International Innovation Camp that we are planning at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) for July this year. iFEST and RPI would like to invite applications from the best and brightest undergraduate students in these three countries to join us for hands-on lab projects, and in-depth learning about how real world problems can be addressed by technology driven entrepreneurship.

The deadline for students to apply is March 6th, fast approaching. Although we can be flexible for your students until about March 20th or so.

The application process is very simple:

Students can download the application form on the 1st page of our website at http://www.ifest.info/iFEST-RPIInnovationCampApplicationInfoForm.doc. Prospective students just need to fill out the application form and return via email attachment or hardcopy, along with recommendation letters, etc. Also, please see more details about the Camp in the flyer on our website at http://www.ifest.info/iFEST-RPIInternationalInnovationCampFlyer.pdf."

Just for the record, RPI is one of the best Universities in terms of technology and entrepreneurship. My father was a student there decades ago, and I participated for years in a program for young (mjm young...) researchers on venture capital. This is a one in a lifetime opportunity to participate in an amazing experience. Please help spread the word.

All the best,

Alicia Castillo Holley

It's all about bouncing

I couldn't a better message to end this year's wealth drop. It's all about bouncing back... as per Rob McBride's interview. The world's economices rose and fell in 2008: China as a screaming giant showing off a magnificent Olympic Games, India no longer in back office, the US refusing to admit trouble, Latin America and Africa tired and half asleep, Europe as a mature adult worried about the long term future, and Asia showing off Chindia.

Something happened in the last couple of months and now, we just want to get over the holiday period and start a new year.

I think it's time to slow down, reconsider what is important. Take the opportunity to spend TIME doing what we LOVE and being with those who make us feel FANTASTIC... Robt thinks it is a great time to bounce back. I was puzzled and here is what we talked about. If you like more interviews, add a comment or send us a line.


Rob is an entrepreneur who lives in Venezuela and works in 3 languages: English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Rob, what is your business about?
We provide tools for people to manage challenging situations to achieve personal and professional excellence.

How did you come up with the idea of the company?
After a sharp downturn in my last "work." It was December 13, 2001. I was in Rio de Janeiro. I realized that life is like a ball. Sometimes we are up and sometimes down. The most important thing is not where we are at a particular time but our ability to bounce at least once more ...

What has been your greatest success?
Seeing the birth of my two daughters. I realized how amazing life is!

What has been your greatest failure?
The first "great" event as a speaker. It was with more than 100 people in a half-day workshop in the Naiguatá Hall at Hotel Tamanaco -one of the top Venezuelan Hotels- with financial advisors. It was just what I dreamed about, with a group of people who did what I did, and the topic that fascinated me most: Change. I underpreformed, and did not achieve my goals, it was clear that I had not reached their expectations. Fortunately, it was also one of the best lessons I have learned and the reason why I am so good at what I do today.

What message would you give to someone who wants to be an entrepreneur?
Follow a burning desire, your idea, developed the first step of what you feel you have to do and then throw yourself into it, with the confidence that you can make adjustments in the process if necessary ...

Thanks Rob... definitely thinking about bouncing gives a different perspective to failing.

---

As you can see the future is built on the road, acting, not only thinking ... If you are affected by the financial crisis, thinking that successes and failures are part of life helps. I love Rob's message, because it gives a very refreshing vision of how to handle the possibility of a failure. He says that you can use the same energy when you are going down to bounce right back up.

you can check his site at www.inspire.com.ve


On behalf of the team Ventures Latinas and Alicia Castillo Wealthing Group, we send them our best wishes for the holiday season... Peace, joy, warmth... and get ready because one thing is for sure: 2009 will not be a boring year!

All the best,

Alicia Castillo Holley

Global Entrepreneurship Week

It’s Global Entrepreneurship Week and all over the world, people are moving their minds, hearts, and pockets to find a common goal: create wealth.

I learned about entrepreneurship and creating wealth at Babson College. Its founder, Roger Babson, wanted to create a distinctive way of thinking and acting that would lead to what Jeffry Timmons later called “the Silent Revolution.” I had the privilege of graduating from Babson’s MBA class and meeting and discussing many ideas with Jeff, whose legacy expands beyond his life. I would like to dedicate this wealth drop to Roger and Jeff.

The concept of creating wealth is fantastic because there is no way to create prosperity without sharing it. Thus, governments are quite keen on exploring this topic, and along with them investors, yes, even in today’s financial situation!. The Global Entrepreneurship Week represents an amazing international effort, led by large corporations who see a bright future ahead, and supported with enthusiasm around the globe. What a refreshing thought, so different from the distressing news about the financial markets and the crisis!

I’ve always seen my future bright and interesting, although sometimes I have seen it through a dark tunnel that I know I have to walk. Ouch!

It has always paid off. I just realized that I don’t deal with depressed people because entrepreneurs and inventors create. They are too busy discovering ways of doing things to worry about dramas or to feel victims of other’s actions. In most cases, it turns out in a different way than we plan or expected, but the use of our energy to create positive worries is much healthier than to share misery and to feel that we are like seaweed in the ocean, at the mercy of the tide. No way!

As most of my work involves Global Entrepreneurship, I want to share with you the four critical success factors of Born Global Firms:

1. Global Vision: It’s all about the people who create the vision.
People involved in the Strategic Intent of the Firm have a pre-conceived notion of globalization. They know it is possible because they’ve done it.
Experience, Knowledge, Connections are firmly rooted in the managers or founder’s previous global experiences.
As simple as: I’ve seen that before or I’ve done that before!

2. Global appeal: Offerings cross over cultural barriers.
Global Firms make no adaptation to their offerings: Products, services, marketing, etc
They have a USP (Unique Selling Proposition) that appeals to consumers regardless of culture and location.
BONUS! Having the same offering provides a systematic approach that minimizes mistakes, improves efficiencies, and provides clear message.

3. Global reach: Reach customers rapidly, effectively and at low cost.
They collaborate in local markets.
They compete in global markets.
Change of mindset from smaller economies: more is less (100% of 10 is 10), less is more (10% of 1000 is 100). Everybody wins.

4. Global Implementation: Find ideal partners. It requires a mindset to collaborate and think about your best fit.
- What do you need
- What do you require
- What is your negotiating range and what are the deal breakers?
- What is the (aligned) reward system
- How to take the dip and cut loses
- How to establish elegant ways out
Don’t depend on legal frameworks, the best contract is never reinforced. What ifs…


I could not think of better times to go global. With suppliers and part time employees and clients in almost all continents, we have system that works smoothly around the globe. There are very few barriers to global entrepreneurship, if you are reading this, you have none.




Enjoy the celebration,

Alicia

http://www.enterpriseweek.org.uk/about/global_entrepreneurship_week

The three pilars of entrepreneurship

I took a trip to Halls Creek, a small town in a remote location. My idea was to fund a business plan competition at the local high school to promote entrepreneurship. By the way, this picture was taken by an 8 yrs old girl who was wandering around with friends.

I came back thinking that I will make it a priority to get involved as the foundations for "life" there is much different and there is a lot of work to do to establish a basic structure... mmmm like there is no bank.

Despite everybody's pessimism I was determined to find the local entrepreneurs… Once we got into it, they started popping up like stars on a clear sky. I had the fortune of meeting amazing people and sharing our experiences in social entrepreneurship around the world.

Coming back I reflected on what makes an entrepreneur special and wanted to share my thoughts with you. A lot has been studied about entrepreneur’s way of thinking, but I think we are yet to find some commonalities. I hope these three pillars shed some light into the mystery.

Entrepreneurship is NOT about learning but about developing skills in three key areas, I’ve called them the three pillars of entrepreneurship: self-expression, self-determination, and self-accountability.

Self – expression nurtures our sense of contribution and importance. Entrepreneurs feel that they have something to offer to the world, and they need to find a way to express it, to share it with others. Not so much because they need feedback but more because they believe it is useful. That feeling provides a sense of self esteem that feeds onto the second pillar.

Self-determination allows us to believe that we can manage our destiny. That it is through our choices, successes and failures that we create the life we live in. It makes the switch from victim to hero, and feeds into the third pillar.

Self-accountability gives us courage to accept that we are not perfect but that, regardless of any circumstances, we still chose. It helps us nurture our wisdom. When we accept accountability, we can transform the world. We switch from being part of the problem to being part of the solution.

Whatever we do either in our home, with our family, friends, coworkers or our extended community, we will always win if we support these skills. Nowadays when many people are concern about the crisis, I think knowing about these pillars can come handy to all of us. Because every single one of us can do something about it.

here is to your success,
Alicia

Why do we add sugar to the saltshaker?

I wonder if we know about the difference between determination and stubbornness. It is rather small, most of the time we use them interchangeably. Yet, there is a subtlety I want to share with you today.

I am as determined as stubborn, that is why I’ve made my dreams come true. As a typical entrepreneur I asked different questions. For example, instead of: can I do that? We think about How can I do that? Instead of will I fail? We think will I learn?

Those little differences have a big impact. Anybody can see the power of those subtleties and start a chain reaction on its own. Then nobody knows where the change come from. Most likely the starting points go unnoticed.

Let me tell you a family story. When he was 7-8 yrs old, my brother George put sugar in the saltshaker. I don’t remember how long it took us to realize that. We never questioned what was in the saltshaker, it was white, it was granular, it should have been salt. You can imagine his grin when we complained at the dinner table about the low quality of salt “they don’t make salt as they use to”… until the day that mum caught him in-fraganti (hands-on) putting the sugar in.

So you see? Sometimes little differences go unnoticed. I am interested in how those differences go along on fostering or hindering entrepreneurial mindset and action. Let’s look at society’s mixed messages: Don’t be selfish, but succeed selfishly, and then, give yourself to a ‘better cause’. You go figure it out, I can’t. No wonder it is hard to think about developing our dreams, specially our entrepreneurial dreams. We don’t have the means to do it. We keep putting salt in the salt shaker because that is what we expect to do. As one of my clients told me, “I just didn’t think about it”. And then life goes on, without exploring small differences that have a huge impact like stubbornness and determination. Those little differences help us take small steps, innovating, experimenting, learning to master few basic things.

Society expects us to move a mountain, but the best way to accomplish that is one stone at a time. Do you know how you lose weight? One milligram at a time. Same for dreams, you make your dreams one grain of salt or sugar at a time. Ok, yes, it doesn’t work for moving sofas, but you get the picture.

Most people think entrepreneurs wake up in the morning thinking about how many risks they will take that day. And there are so many closet entrepreneurs who can’t figure out how to move a mountain because they don’t see that all it takes is a change in a grain of salt or sugar. What would happen if we took action today to make a small change?

Let’s change stubbornness for determination. Both are needed to accomplish something despite difficulties. Stubbornness focuses on getting a message across and forcing a result. Determination focuses on exploring to analyse and change in order to achieve results. A determined person is inspiring; a stubborn person creates rejection. The energy and the input make them as similar as salt and sugar. Entrepreneurs find a way to achieve their goals using either one.

How do we build an entrepreneurial mindset, one grain at a time, what can you do to start contributing to the wealth of the world. What do you need to let go to move from stubbornness to determination. How can you help others. What can we do to help.

My invitation is to explore how to change stubbornness for determination, so we can take a small step. The world needs more entrepreneurs and more inventors. The world needs your creativity.

That is what we learn from putting sugar on the saltshaker.

Alicia

What a safari teaches us about Strategy

Lions, Crocodiles and Buffaloes

 

I love strategy as much as witty smart disagreements, the kind that break our paradigms.. The first time I faced reinventing strategy and competition was in the 90s, when we
discussed how to manage a shrinking market. I could see that whilst being concern with selling more, we were getting less. The issue was to sell different. Mind you I was an arrogant brainer, not
that I've changed much to my dismay, on the arrogant part, but I now love to be proven wrong, would that be age? or maybe I miss my kid's teenagery rebeliousness :-). 
The idea of simplistic competition just bothers me, the thought of stream line 'perfect' growth curve boring. Challenges make us thrive and a situation can suddenly change for better or if we manage it. The trick is to find a perfect fit, focus on the best outcome
leveraging what's in and out the company (or yourself), and keep reinventing the wheel.

I want to share with you a paradigm-breaking video of a safari...mind you every few steps ahhh something new happens.
Check the "Battle at Kruger" at www.youtube.com if you haven't already done so.. it is soo cool!

Two buffaloes and a baby quietly walk by the savanna, near a pond. Without realizing it, they approach a group of lions. Too late
one of the adult buffaloes becomes aware of the lions and gets frightened, running away. The lions chase them and capture the
baby.

Learning 1: If you're going to expose your weaker link, be alert even in an idyllic place. If you're running scared, you lose. That would the simply strategy: one won, one lose,
you do lunch or you are lunch. Too simple!

Lions fall onto the water with the baby buffalo. It is an unequal fight, without resistance or aggression. Suddenly a crocodile grabs the side of the
baby.

Learning 2: If you want to capture a market, better play in a known field or be alert to new competitors. If you are
loosing a battle, don't give up, yet save the energy (resources) in case there is a paradigm shift!

Finally the lions get the baby buffalo out of the water, the crocodile lets go.

Learning 3: Concentrate on where you have the greatest opportunities to succeed. Let the others win without an unnecesary
fight.

In the meantime, a large number of buffaloes has gathered, returning to the scene. The lions hold on the baby buffalo but get unease. A buffalo
attacks one lion, which lets go and runs away, being chased, The crocodile appears no where to be seen.

Learning 4: every one has a weak link, a direct approach might not work best, and in the case of the crocodile, if it is not your market, don't even show up.  

Gradually the lions lose confidence, and release the baby, which is pushed inside the heard and protected. Some buffaloes chase the lions, they loose interest.

Learning 5: If you really want to defend your market, take action quickly while your offer is still alive, look for reinforcements, work as a team and concentrate on the result.
There is always a weak link.

So is the life of an entrepreneur, a new market; a competitor wining customers; surprises and reactions.
Only in fairy tales there are winners and losers. In the commercial arena, there is a 'perfect fit' approach that depends on many circumstances: a weaker baby, a hungrier
crocodile, faster lions, smaller or lower herds. That 'fit' is a moving target, and rethinking the best approach is the healthiest, and most fun, exercise.  

The message is clear, each situation brings an opportunity to learn and recreate the story. The pile of broken dishes grows with our
learning if and only if, we decided to go ahead.

Here is to your action,