Introduction
Entrepreneurship can best be described as transforming finances, being innovative and ability to harness business acumens into economic progress. It encompasses the identification of unexploited or underexploited areas and transforming them into profitable ventures. In most cases, entrepreneurship has been used for the sole purpose of empowering individuals and societies. Hence, entrepreneurship is not for the selected few (Kuratko & Hodgetts, 2008). In essence, it is not based on the genes of persons, is not a mysterious discipline and neither is it magical.
There are two major categories of entrepreneurship namely profit-oriented entrepreneurship and socially based entrepreneurship. This paper offers an in-depth analysis of the two forms of entrepreneurship. Besides, leading personalities in the field of entrepreneurship have been used to shed light in the paper.
Profit oriented entrepreneurship
To begin with, it is vital to mention that Thomas Edison was born in 1847 and throughout his life, he was a keen inventor. He was regarded as a prolific inventor and a person who saw opportunities where others failed. He was also credited with revolutionizing the field of telecommunications. This sector has now become one of the huge determinants in global economic growth.
In terms of leadership style, he was generally a transformational leader who was full of appealing personality. He used this to create a balance between his work and personal life. Specifically, he developed and embraced a working life. One notable aspect was his devotion to the research and development of his inventions. Even though his inventions were meant to change the world at large, Thomas Edison was equally profit-oriented.
This kind of leadership was highly beneficial since most of his inventions were credited with being unique. For example, he came up with a stock sticker, an electric car battery, a mechanical vote recorder, motion pictures, and recorded music. There were also electric power generators and a power station in New York that were set up courtesy of his innovative skills. By 1890, his products and business empire had cumulated about $14.2 billion globally. Out of this mammoth figure, some $5 billion had been accrued from the United States of America alone.
The basic principle of Thomas Edison was first to develop a strong vision before embarking on any endeavor. However, as Viardot (2011) observes, Thomas Edison did not believe in having a vision if one could not execute it. He equated this to being hallucinated or filled with blank imaginations. However, he was known for adopting and advocating for military business principles. This is where a chain of command is followed in moving up the ladder.
Social based entrepreneurship
As the founder of The Body Shop, Anita Roddick is perceived to be one of the most outstanding entrepreneurs. Born in the year 1942, Dame Anita Roddick was a campaigner in matters related to the environment and human rights in addition to quite a several social issues. Later on, she founded the Body Shop Company involved in producing and retailing cosmetic products.
Roddick could be classified as a visionary type of leader. For example, she would always first outline her vision before embarking on a project. That is why she was recognized as an integral leader or as a person who set a course that can be followed by others. This leadership style benefitted clients, employees, social communities as well as investors. Another important aspect of her leadership quality was her inquisitive nature.
Through her visionary leadership, she was successful in highlighting issues affecting environmental conservation as well as the need for social integration and upholding human rights. She had a vision of developing environmentally friendly cosmetic products. In social activism, her visionary leadership saw the care for the underprivileged rise to good levels. She devoted some $1.8 million for social activism to Amnesty International School. She was also in the front line in fighting for the rights and privileges of the less fortunate in society alongside caring for the environment.
In terms of business principles, Anita had a strong belief in entrepreneurship and visionary leadership. She considered dialogue as an important aspect in business survival in addition to believing that work ought to be embraced with fun. She believed in being aggressive which she equated to bringing new ideas into the business. She had a belief in the power of intuition and aesthetics. Publicity should not be made a business priority and it is irrelevant to package anything in business.
Preferable leadership approach
Therefore, the most preferable leadership approach would be transformational leadership largely because visionary leadership is usually the first step before major milestones can be triumphed (Borkowski, 2010). There is a need to transform vision into reality otherwise it would remain vague if not acted upon. This is corroborated by the principles of Thomas Edison Jefferson that without execution, vision is similar to hallucination. Therefore, to be an entrepreneur, it is important for a person strives to make a change of sort. It is important to think of areas that have not been exploited and then utilize them to make changes. On this basis, therefore, visionary leadership comes in the identification of areas to utilize while transformational leadership comes in the execution part.
Small Business Administration and SCORE
As for Small Business Administration and SCORE, Business counseling is an important tool to progress. In essence, all entrepreneurs should always seek business counseling before embarking on the identified opportunity. Counseling helps shape the thinking of business operators in the most effective. Hence, and as provided by SCORE and SBA, a tool like business counseling would form a basis for transformational leadership. SCORE also provides business interaction with experienced members. These members provide essential insights into how to transform a business opportunity into a recognizable one in the competitive market. SCORE and SBA provide information on how best to sustain a business. After identification and exploitation of an entrepreneurial opportunity, it is important to get insights on how to sustain it. Lack of this information may make the business lapse in the middle of its operation, and it would mean putting it to the brink of total collapse (Lamb, Hair & McDaniel, 2011).
Conclusion
In summing up, it is vital to reiterate that entrepreneurship is integral for economic empowerment. Renowned persons such as Thomas Edison and Anita Roddick are indeed typical examples of persons who utilized voids to create business empires for themselves and their communities. What is most important in entrepreneurship is the type of leadership used. As deliberated in this paper, both visionary and transformational types of leadership styles are crucial in the field of entrepreneurship.
As such, business management skills would indeed rely heavily on the adequate application of appropriate leadership etiquette such as those discussed in this paper. Entrepreneurship in the void of sufficient leadership skills may as well be futile.
References
- Borkowski, N. (2010). Organizational behavior in health care. Sudbury: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
- Kuratko, D. F., & Hodgetts, R. M. (2008). Entrepreneurship: Theory, process, and practice. Masoa: South-Western Cengage Learning.
- Lamb, C. W., Hair, F.J., & McDaniel, C. (2011). Essentials of Marketing. Belmont: CengageBrain Learning.
- Viardot, E. (2011). The Timeless principles of successful business strategy. Berlin: Sage Publications.