Entrepreneurship is one of those things that people often think you either have or you don’t. It’s not something you can learn in a classroom but that’s forged in the marketplace.
A few years ago I covered a study that examined this in more detail. It suggests that it is very much a skill that can be learned, with the ability to think in an entrepreneurial way something that exists within most of us, even if we don’t know it. It suggests that action orientated training can help to unlock this potential and unleash the entrepreneur in us all.
An alternative perspective is given by a second study, which suggests that there is not really any difference between experience based learning or class based learning.
Learning to be an entrepreneur
The analysis looked at traditional courses and compared them to those who focus more on learning by doing. The study aimed to explore whether the trend towards experiential learning in entrepreneurship had merit or not.
“Entrepreneurship education is seen as a major force capable of generating long-term socio-economic changes through developing entrepreneurial, creative, flexible and wise individuals. There is an ongoing shift towards experiential learning in business schools, yet there is little empirical evidence to suggest this approach has better impact than traditional learning,” the author says.
“This study has shown, contrary to our expectations that ‘learning-by-doing’ approaches do not necessarily lead to better outcomes for students, and were even found to have adverse effects in some instances,” they continue.
In the study, just one business school managed to produce graduates with higher entrepreneurial skills after doing a learning by doing based course, compared to three who taught in the more traditional way.
Of course, the study excluded other ways of learning, such as in a real startup alongside a more experienced mentor, but it does nonetheless add to the literature on entrepreneurialism.
Perhaps of most interest was the finding that attitude was key to success, with knowledge and skills less important in future entrepreneurial activity.
“The findings surrounding the attitudes of successful graduates tend to characterise entrepreneurs: a high level of creativity and self-confidence, strong passion towards entrepreneurship, and tolerance to failure,” the author concludes.
They go on to suggest that experiential learning tends to fail for a number of reasons. For instance, students may not be familiar with this method of learning as most schooling is of the more traditional sort. Likewise, teachers often lack industry exposure, so there is typically a large discrepancy in the faculty, with some teachers hugely experienced in business, but with little teaching experience, and the opposite.
