When it comes to entrepreneurship - Are you an obstetrician, a pediatrician, or a geriatrician?

Recently on a casual chat with Rene Rojas, Founder and CEO of HubBog, he shared with me one of the coolest analogies I’ve heard when it comes to entrepreneurship.

Rene and I, both passionate for education, were talking about the concept of “academy” for entrepreneurial context and how it differs from the traditional  MBA/business education mental models. So, it was when he told me: “Supporting Entrepreneurs is like being an obstetrician, we are talking about a fragile human being hardly trying to come to life, in a process that is fairly delicate , unexpected and difficult. MBAs in the other hand are full of pediatricians, those who deal with the child when he’s expected to be stable and fit and now it's all about raising her/him healthily” (1)

As a soon-to-be MBA (even from Babson and its differential entrepreneurial approach) I could not agree more with the past point, to the extend that I added that some graduate programs or at least people I have come across, seem to be even “geriatricians”. However in a entrepreneurship movement that eery days leans more towards SCALE UPs (vs. Start Ups) and RAPID GROWTH, pediatricians will be nevertheless in high demand, specially those who hang out with lots of obstetricians. 

While many of the greatest things I’ve seen in the entrepreneurial world have risen however from the magic zone of collaborations between obstetricians, pediatricians and geriatricians, such as …

• ·   Endeavor connecting adolescents (High Impact Ventures) with adult doctors (seasoned executives of Large Organizations and TOP consulting firms)
• ·       The IBM Emerging Opportunities Program, for Corporate Entrepreneurship

… I still think that everybody needs to be clear of where its natural space it. 

The beauty of all this is not to play cool about being one or another; we need the three types of doctors for the economic system to function! 

The real beauty is to understand where our expertise, talent and personal culture relies, as a manager or as a “mentor” (I am pretty scared to use the underestimated/misunderstood M word these days) and offer this expertise in the right context. Just because entrepreneurship is so cool these days, does not mean that you have the right skills set to support entrepreneurs or turn into one.

And thinking back in my own business education at Babson, I can truly say the Entrepreneurial Thought and Action DNA of our school is nothing else as an invitation to understand that in today's world, we'll be many times pushed to be obstetricians (weather we want it or not- "you never know when a pregnant woman in the middle of nowhere we need your help!"). That does not mean that every single person that leaves this school will be an obstetrician, but at least we all are aware that pivoting, and testing and dancing with ambiguity (even in the most stable organizations)  is the "new forecasting".

(1) These might not be textual words, but you get the idea.

Perseverance: A picture is worth a thousand words

I am a TECHMARK survivor

R&D, Marketing & Finance dancing all together to meet the desired targets (our office board)

As an iconic closure to the MBA orientation at  BABSON, we (160+ students) participated in a very intense business simulation. The so called "TECHMARK" simulation is suposed to be a tradition among BABSON MBA classes, to the point that the people that go through it join the group of "Techmark survivors".

As any simulation, the goal was to bring a company to meet certain levels of performance, which reflect a good overall strategic management of a manufacturing organization under the always present conditions of market uncertainty (ROA, ROE, Inventory/Assets, Debt levels, etc.). The exercise was divided into quarters (which in Techmark time were presented in 1 to 2 hour slots) where each of the 265 teams had to make decisions the would lead to a cumulative final result. 

I must admit that participating in the simulation ratified that I need an MBA! The first two quarters of the exercise I was completely lost. Frustration was obvious. I kept thinking for myself: do I really have a business degree? It was really a challenge to make decisions based on so many variables at a time ... expected market growth, competition, production costs, customer preferences, debt management ... even understanding where to start was an issue! Every time we came back to the plenary and partial performance results were revealed based on our quarterly decisions, I felt however I strong relief as the professor reinforced the fact that "this" and "that" business topic was going to be thought to us in details during the program. 

As you know  - I am into quotes these days -,  so  here are some key highlights of the experience ...

"Our classrooms are laboratories. The cost of making mistakes is perhaps a bit of embarrassment bot nothing else ... dare to make the mistakes here!" :)

"Ambiguity, Complexity, Uncertainty, these things will never go away, the difference after BABSON is that you will feel more confortable dealing with them"

"Financial Impact of Business Decisions (...)"

"If winning is not important, then why are we keeping the score? You are in a business school, there is nothing wrong with making money (sustainably)" :)

"Disagree without being disagreeable"

"Do  you want to be the first to move? The first to succeed? The first to sustain?"

"We have near term plans for you, do you have a long term plan for yourself?" :)

"At some point, analysis HAS TO STOP and implementation should begin" :)

"We learn  better when we are enjoying it"

"Screw it! we do not have time to do the number crunching at this point" :)

"Let's don't play it safe , let's take risks ... I have risk apetite"

"If  forecasts would be facts, they would be called facts!" :)

With the TECHMARK simulation I felt that the MBA really started. So much to learn in the incoming 21 months!

My respect to all these savvy managers out there that day after day lead their real businesses to success! Not an easy task! 

Team 4, Industry E

Ps. BTW, we did not win, but we were so close that I am just so proud of our team!


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Overdose of optimism, the entrepreneurs` most typical excess?

Today I was reading an article that was written by Michael Skapinke on the Financial Times called  "Entrepreneurs need to know when to let go". You can read it if you feel like here.

On the article, there was a phrase that particularly called  my attention: "Scepticism is the journalist's default position, just as optimism is the entrepreneur's". 

Only few people would disagree with the fact that these "let`s be positive that it`s gonna work - attitude" that Entrepreneurs share plays a key role. It`s on the Entrepreneur`s DNA to hope for the best (no matter which risk level they are handling), and they do so because they trust the power of their own ideas and performance. And it`s great. Self-confidence is one of the most powerful characteristics that one can have to reach extraordinary things. 

However "right" and admirable the former can sound, there are limits. Indeed there must be limits ... the biggest challenge is to be aware of them. Out of my personal experience supporting Entrepreneurs as also trying to be one since we opened our restaurant with a couple of other partners, few situations where Entrepreneurs might suffer from "overdose of optimism" are:

- Not letting go a business that market has shown not to be profitable and still trying to artificially keep it alive though capital investment. If you do not change the strategy (management, plan, leader) to make it work, a business won`t get back on track by just being positive that a bit more of time is needed.

- Not letting go a worker/employee that shows some potential, but that has not been able to exploit it. "I think he/she will improve" - Second chances to underperformers are most typical than what we believe. Unfortunately (and fortunately) Entrepreneurs tend to think with the heart when it comes to managing employees, specially if these employees are those who happened to be around when you started your business. There is a hidden feeling of gratitude involved. 

Coming back to the phrase that inspired me to write this post ("scepticism is the journalist's default position, just as optimism is the entrepreneur's"), I feel like modifying it a bit to tap better into the entrepreneurial arena: "Scepticism is the manager`s default position, just as optimism is the entrepreneur's". When Entrepreneurs accept their overdose of optimism and realize that it can threaten their business, normally they call managers, creating a healthy balance. If Entrepreneurs are not there to hope for the best, innovation and "out of the box thinking" couldn`t probably flourish.

I think the biggest conclusions of this reflexion is that:

1. It would be a mistake to pretend to remove the natural optimism that Entrepreneurs have, it`s like going against their essence

2. Entrepreneurs need however to be aware when optimism blinds them and affects the soundness of the decisions they make

3. It`s important to look for a "counterweight" once one is aware that optimism is hindering growth: involving an objective manager or investor or advisor could be a way to go.

Meanwhile "WORKING FOR THE BEST WHILE HOPING FOR THE BEST" might sound like a healthy balance.

Entrepreneurs - who do you want to look like when you grow up? Private Vs Public Sector realities

Yesterday I had the chance to participate in one of the regular breakfasts that the FUNDACION MUJERES POR COLOMBIA (Women for Colombia Foundation) organizes. For each breakfast, they invite a certain woman, whose life story, career, acomplishments or simply vision, is assumed as worth telling to other fellow colombian women.

Yesterday, the host of the breakfast was María Isabel Nieto and the talk promised to be about her career change from the public to the private sector ... María Isabel had been a politician since she started her professional career, holding several positions in different regional and national terms, being one of the last ones, Vice Minister of Interior. Since 6 months or so, she`s the Director of Government & Industry Issues of Bavaria-SAB Miller in Colombia.

Some interesting quotes I could rescue from the talk (from the host as from the assistants), regarding the differences between the public & private sector, were:

“In the private sector if you are (a) good (professional), you are indentified, nurtured and developed into a leader… if you are (a) bad (one), you are fired. Show me performance! That`s not the case in the public sector. The public sector has employees by profession. Meritocracy still seems to have a long way to go”

“The word accountability doesn´t seem to exist in the public sector. In the public sector at times the person takes priority over the function”

“In the private sector you earn better”

“In the private sector you have access to top class sources of information to support the decision making process (name it Mc Kinsey or the world guru in certain topic), in the public one, Google and your own criteria (whichever it is) is your best support”

“To make/pass a law, doesn´t mean that you change a reality. In the public sector the game is about being (or seeming?) different … every politician wants to propose a different way to do something. In the private sector “continuity is king”. You achieve when you execute and finnish, not when you propose and start.”

Some of the previous comments might be farfetched and certainly there must be amazing professionals working in the public sector trying to make a change in Colombia … but still there is a high amount of truth. Sad, very sad news.

From a Talent Development perspective another issue discussed was the fact that the first bosses that a junior professional has, tend to mark (for good of bad) the kind of professional this person becomes. I personally agree with that. 100 % indeed. Few young professionals that were at the talk, reinforced this, telling how uninspiring it was to, instead of seeing a good role model or a real coach, to see people that they could not understand how they made it to their position (and how have they actually stayed there!). Are we sending young professionals to the public sector to commit a professional suicide? Scary, very scary news.

It was a very entertaining breakfast. One point though I made in the end, was the fact that we were generalizing way too much when we talked about “private sector”. The perceived “best practices” named before, in my opinion reflected the reality of the big, consolidated, and especially multinational private companies. What about the entrepreneurs? What about the social sector? I can confidently say they are in a dangerous grey zone between seeming more public sector than private sector. And here is where I feel happy to work for Endeavor. Bottom-line, what we do is pulling entrepreneurs away from management mediocrity and making them think big, giving them tools that, if well executed, can bring them faster to the achievement of their goals, but more than that, to become a role role model for fellow entrepreneurs that are just starting its journey.

Finally, I want to make the disclaimer that this small reflection is not intending to affirm that our Colombian public sector (or any global public sector) is as previously described – I do not have evidence. But “perception is reality”, and if a vast majority of our people feels like this, there is already a reason to be concerned.

An Entrepreneur hidden under a consultant´s clothes

Yesterday I assisted to the final presentation of a project of what we call at Endeavor an "eMBA". The Endeavor eMBA program allows MBA students (normally people between their 1st and 2nd MBA year, mainly from US-based business schools) to come over to the emerging countries where Endeavor is and work on certain projects with Endeavor Entrepreneurs over the summer. 

Indeed, we had 5 eMBAs working with Colombian Entrepreneurs this summer, yet one reflection made by this particular eMBA on his final presentation yesterday caught my attention. This eMBA happened to be an Entrepreneur himself - he founded and still has a company back home, he just moved abroad for 2 years to do his MBA and after his studies he will come back to keep running and growing the business. From the beginning I found his background very interesting, because (and even if it´s not a rule) the majority of "eMBAs" are professionals with real consulting or investment banking background, which in my opinion is a kind of experience that makes the development of research and analytical projects easier. So, the "Entrepreneur - eMBA" at the end of his presentation of a very well done Marketing Plan that he carefully built for almost two months for the host Entrepreneur,  said funnily: "I never have done something like this, not even for my own company ... I might now do something like this for me"

I just loved how through this genuine comment he revealed his true entrepreneurial essence: empiricism and practicity over theory and analytical thinking. He truly has always had the skills to design such a well argumented marketing plan, as the one he did for the company he´s working for as an eMBA, though in his day to day as an Entrepreneur, he never got to sit down and do something like this, for his own benefit.

Now, don´t get me wrong. It sounds as if I am affirming that every and each Entrepreneur on this earth is empirical and lacks of analytical thinking. That´s not true. But my reflection is much more about how so many times the risk taking attitude that Entrepreneurs have - that allows them to take desicions without the sufficient planning and yet be sucessfull taking them - wins over the importance of sit back, and strategically envision what you really want to go for and how exactly.

I guess the magic is about finding the middle point. A very well managed (effective, action oriented, participative, flexible) planning process in my opinion has more chances of impact positively that to hinder the growth of a venture. What do you think? The answer sounds a bit obvious, almost stupid, though the interesting thing is that I know a good number of Entrepreneurs for whom it won´t be a fact. 

In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable

 - Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. President

Unemployment - who´s to blame?

This morning I got to read that the unemployment rate in Colombia in July 2008 was 12.1 %, growing by 0.9 % compared with last year´s rate for the same month. Working at Endeavor and having "# of employees hired" as on of the key indicators of the companies we support, the growing figure can´t stop concerning me ...

Being a follower of Robert Kiyosaki anf finding quite logical and amazing his Cash Flow Quadrant (see it below) I can´t help reflecting randomly who to blame for a growing unemployment rate, tas least in Colombia. According to Kiyosaki´s quadrant the actors in the right side (business owners aka. entrepreneurs - and investors) are the ones that generate employment, and the actors in the left side (employees and partly self-employed people) are the ones that get hired/get advantage of the opportunities created by the other two. Well I guess it´s clear for us that he´s right.

The Cashflow quadrant

If we take the explanation of his quadrant literally, business owners and investors are the ones to blame for a growing unemployment - daahh! But, is it fair to only analyze the issue from this perspective? Definitively no.

Being currently an employee, hearing unemployment facts makes me really look for ways I can contribute, and indeed there are many and they´re all about how you can migrate through the quadrant.

1. From Employee to investor: For me the easiest (and probably the kess risky one) shift that one can make is becoming an investor. Ok, don´t get me wrong, at the beginning sure we are not talking of huge investments, probable we do not have the money for that, but investments into companies/smaller businesses are rather a matter of vision an discipline, rather than a matter of money. There is market for everything. By investing in businesses and causes, you are contributing to the growth and stabilization of those, and therefore into their ability to hire more. The mentality of many Colombian employees that fortunately have a surplus out of their personal finances, is to have it in a bank (the "paradigm" of saving) or what it even worse, spending it like hell in unnecessary things.

2. From Employee to entrepreneur: This option is not as simple as the previous one, specially because I am a believer that there are certain characteristics that are proper of entrepreneurs that even if you are the best of the employees you will never acquire. So, you might have the motivation, but not what it takes. And one should be very self-aware and be conscious of that. STILL, I know people that currently have a job, but would be amazing entrepreneurs.

And if non of the past shifts is for you, well, the least you can do is being a n awesome, extraordinary employee. If you are not part of the solution, at least don´t be part of the problem! Let´s face it, entrepreneurs can´t survive without outstanding employees, it´s just not possible. Even if they create the jobs, is the workforce who really execute the business model. But mediocre performance as employees only leads to mediocre organizations, which are the ones mandated to get our of the market, and among many other consequences, generate tour well known friend called unemployment.



Last but not least, walking aside from what current employees could do, the role of the unemployed ones is the one that needs to change. What about the shift "unemployed to to self employed or to entrepreneur?". Many entrepreneurs have been born under this situation, by need, and the impact of what they´ve done for themselves and for their societies is amazing. Actually when I think back in some of the most inspiring cases of entrepreneurs I know, they have been entrepreneurs by need. If just a 20 % of the unemployed ones would dare to endeavor an idea, a project, a company, I bet this unemployment rate I referred to at the beginning would look completely different.

Olympics - a real expression of entrepreneurship

For some reason this particular version of the Olympics I´ve much more engaged following up the event and the competitions that in the past times ... it might be the "China factor" or it might just be that given the time difference between China and Colombia it´s very convenient for me to watch late at night some of the competitions ...!

Anyways, with all the Olympics fever and the flawless execution of this year´s opening ceremony, I can help start making connections between entrepreneurship and event management. Let´s first take a look at the definition*:

"Event management is the application of the management practice of project management to the creation and development of festivals and events. Event Management involves studying the intricacies of the brand, identifying the target audience, devising the event concept, planning the logistics and coordinating the aspects before actually executing the modalities of the proposed event. The industry now includes events of all sizes from the Olympics down to a breakfast meeting for ten business people. Every industry, charity, society and group will hold events of some type/size in order to market themselves, raise money or celebrate. Event Management is a multi-million dollar industry, growing rapidly, with mega shows and events hosted regularly. Surprisingly, there is no formalized research conducted to assess the growth of this industry. The industry includes fields such as the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Events), exhibitions, conferences and seminars as well as live music and sporting events."

[boomtownbeijing.wordpress.com/]

"creation and development" ... isn´t it all the about being entrepreneurial?

Sure we can´t got to the extreme, it´s clear that the event management industry nowadays has so many stereotypes and established practices, standards and processes that might hardly leave room for innovation and risk, but still the concept that event management represents will always be a platform to develop and nurture entrepreneurial skills. If not, just a take a look at schools ... how many of today´s real-life entrepreneurs we know were the ones that back at college or university leaded the school events, festivals and all kind of related activities? If you have one of those kids, pay attention, you might have a potential future entrepreneur!

For now keep enjoying the Olympics and every time you sit down in from of your TV (or well, every time that you join live an spectacle there in China, if you are lucky to be there), unplug yourself for some minutes of the sport side of things, and analyze how much entrepreneurial talent must have been involved to make that happen. This reflection can bring you to amazing conclusions.

Congratulations China!


* Yes, it is from Wikipedia. I love Wikipedia, can´t deny! It´s just that you can´t use Wikipedia for everything ...!

You´re brilliant. We are hiring.

Challenge yourself against better players and you'll become star of the team. Google's Vice President of Search Products & User Experience, Marissa Mayer, reflects upon her personal experience working with some of the finest talent in hi-tech - and points out that working with the best empowers each player to excel.

Even if the above shared video does not exclusively apply for the entrepreneurial world (and comes from a big, established company – but one of my favorite ones), it definitively addresses an issue that makes a huge difference when entrepreneurs are passing from having a “business” into building a “company”: PEOPLE. And in fact smart people.

To be a “one man show” is something very common for entrepreneurs when they are starting their companies. It happens for many diverse reasons that go from the fact that at the beginning only the entrepreneur understands (and feels passionate about!) what the business is all about, till simply not having the financial capacity to even afford a couple of full paid staff. However only companies become sustainable and transcend, when the entrepreneur is capable to build a strong team of good people that live the values and culture of the company, and that has what it takes to bring it to the next level.

The (personal/professional) EGO (a person's opinion of his or her own worth) is in this context the strongest enemy of entrepreneurs. They sometimes feel afraid of bringing on board people that for some reasons they might consider “smarter”. Big mistake. Some are afraid of loosing control, some even feel guilty for not being able to manage everything by themselves, others are simply afraid of being shadowed … we can talk hours in a deeper way about the reasons why for entrepreneurs is so hard to “let go”, but - coming back to the video – I´d invite you to reflect on the reasons why it´s important (and enjoyable!) to do it.

1. “Challenge yourself against better players and you'll become star of the team”: By interacting with good people that bring into your company unknown practices by you, YOU CAN LEARN from them! Now, it also shows the other “side of the coin”. When hiring, make sure you get people that are not only smart, but willing to build real learning environments and share their experiences (knowledge, thoughts, visions) with each other. I do believe there are billions of capable people in this world, but not all of them are ready to work with an entrepreneur – exactly because of this reason.

2. “Entrepreneur is Entrepreneur” – “CEO is CEO”: The demand of talent of companies changes over the time. At the beginning a start – up needs visionary people, with execution capacity, with no fear to take risks, sensitive to opportunities and high ability to convince and negotiate. That´s for me an Entrepreneur. But once the company grows the need for functional/technical/management qualifications and educated leadership skills increases. At that point, Entrepreneurs should be ready to invite people in that can bring those set of talents on the table. The Entrepreneurs should not strive to be CEOs just for the sake of being one. Many entrepreneurs indeed do not enjoy that job role and the responsibilities that it implies – but afraid of bringing new people in, they fall into the horrible game of doing what they are not good for, and stop doing what naturally they enjoy and are excellent at.

3. “The world needs you, not only your company”: For me a real entrepreneur (no matter if social or business oriented) is the one whose playground is the world, the society, not the companies. Companies are just platforms that entrepreneurs enable once, and take care of for a certain period of time, but then they need to get sustainable through talent that the entrepreneur should be able to bring in. Well, that´s my vision, I identify a lot with serial entrepreneurship … but I know it´s not the only way of seeing it. Leave your “babies” with smart “nannies”, and be free to keep changing the world. That makes you bigger.