Entrepreneurs Move Mainstream

Entrepreneurs are often seen as mavericks with the ability to turn an idea into a viable business. But in the digital economy they are becoming an essential part of every organisation.

Traditional management

Traditional management practices are no longer flexible or robust enough to ensure business success, as technology disrupts markets beyond reason. The spirit and creativity of the entrepreneur are now vital ingredients for any venture that wants to flourish.

The discipline of staid management has given way to the need for faster and better decision-making that thrives in uncertain and unpredictable situations. The management deficit, characterised in organisations by a failure to thrive in periods of rapid change, will only be fixed by adopting a more entrepreneurial approach.

The introduction of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship doesn’t mean everyone in an organisation has to come up with a business idea. But it does mean support should be available to anyone with an entrepreneurial flair and a concept to match.

Not every idea will be supported but the opportunity to be backed will encourage those who think differently to keep thinking differently. Such support unleashes a raft of energy, as people redirect their creativity from surviving within the rules to succeeding outside the rules.

New entrepreneurship

The introduction of greater levels of entrepreneurship means the traditional role of a leader will change too, as business schools and universities revise models of what works in an age of digital dissonance. Decision-making will become more fluid and less controlling, as the process of managing people shifts from lecturing to listening and from control to concern.

Entrepreneurs with their characteristic talent of turning dreams into profit have been a feature of the economy since the beginning of time but have mushroomed in recent years. The stranglehold of traditional management and the discipline of central planning have dwindled as technology rewrites the rules of the economy.

In addition to the need for more entrepreneurial thinking lies the realisation that entrepreneurs are everywhere and not confined to particular disciplines or domains. Finding and financing entrepreneurs within a business and within society is the best hope for companies and communities to compete in a world that won’t slow down.

Business in the digital age is shaped by restless technology as it endlessly iterates and improves its offering. As a result, businesses in all sectors must develop the ability to operate in landscapes of disturbance and disorder.

Without the infusion of more entrepreneurs into more businesses the tradition skills of management will fail as organisations fall behind the pace of change. The only certainty in the digital economy is that change will come faster and force greater levels of entrepreneurial thinking.

So, entrepreneurs are moving mainstream as their unique skills are needed to succeed in the new economy.