Entrepreneurship Class Based on Apprentice?
Hiranya Fernando, WG'04
Issue date: 10/11/04 Section: Perspectives
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I don't know how you Wharton students feel about this. Perhaps the Journal could ask it in its Talkback section in the next edition. Personally, I think it's the kookiest idea since the phrase "paradigm shift", but hell... apparently kookiness in business is all the rage right now.
I admit The Apprentice: Entrepreneurship According to the Donald (AEAD) 601 could conceivably fill a strategic gap between Accounting 622 and Marketing 654. It would also be fun and a powerful motivator. Naturally the class would involve guest speakers such as Donald Trump, Omarosa, and Bill Rancic, last season's winner, to share their lessons and insights. This could lead to other problems such as a pricing bubble for AEAD601 in the electives auction, but the solution to that would be to make it part of the Core in the first quarter of the first semester.
But before you decide whether AEAD601 would be a smashingly good idea, you must decide whether entrepreneurship is for you in the first place. According to Prof. Green, entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. In order to succeed, you must possess a "rare collection of character traits":
1. You must be willing to take calculated risks. Good place to start but not very rare. Arguably, you take a calculated risk when you come to B-school (its called a $100K investment), or when you walk into a bar (you might die of cancer from second hand smoke), or when you cross the road (you might get hit by a bus).
2. You must move toward the edge and almost step over it. The edge of what? This sounds suspiciously like something a bungee jumping instructor would say on your first lesson.
3. You must truly utilize out-of-the-box thinking and rat-like cunning. Out-of-the-box is, of course, the new black, and belongs in the same ghastly place as out-of-the-loop, win-win, and buy-in. As for rat-like cunning - ugh!
4. You must be ready to lead by example and empower your teammates to make decisions and handle crisis situations. 'Leading by example' and 'empowerment' belong with their evil siblings in #3.
5. You must have a management style that is flexible and changes based on situations. Not sure this is such a good thing for a start-up business, where a small handful of employees will look to you for consistency and stability above all. Besides I think this whole "change" thing is something management consultants invented because - let's face it - it's more profitable than if things remained the same.