The term ”social entrepreneurship” is relatively young. Paul Light (2008) admits that the term was coined by Bill Drayton in the 1980s (p. 4). And this fact presupposes the wide range of meanings which this notion implicates and some misconceptions in its definitions. Bornstein and Davis (2010) considered entrepreneurship to be contagious (p. 6) and stated that “social entrepreneurship is concerned with building platforms that enable more people at every age to think and behave like changemakers and to help them work together powerfully in teams and in teams of teams” (p. 8) Baron and Shane (2007) concluded that “entrepreneurship emerges out of the intersection of what might be termed inspiration and activation – recognizing opportunities for something new…” (p. 7). At the same time, there are indications that one should go beyond the innovational meaning of the notion and add the shade of leadership to it (Carsrud, 2007; Frederick, 2010).
Light (2008) stated that “social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or to teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry” (p. 4). This jesting remark reflects the constant entrepreneurs’ work at improving this world and the inability to stop before the result is achieved even if nobody believes in the success of the initiation. Longenecker (2008) stated that “entrepreneurs need to dream BIG dreams – to see opportunities where others see only failures” (p. 3). It explains the requirements for positive thinking for becoming an entrepreneur and the ability to be in opposition to the public opinion shared by the majority. Besides possessing the right way of thinking the entrepreneurs are sure to be active and busy. Stoke (2010) stated that “the true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer” (16). Whatever difficult it may seem, a person has to put the dreams into reality, though the first step in taking action is not easy as a rule. Summarizing all the sides and shades of the notion, it should be mentioned that the traits of a social entrepreneur would be useful in any kind of initiative.
I am going to make a career in tourism and I must admit that all the main points of the theories of social entrepreneurship will help me in realizing my dream of becoming a successful manager. The theoretical material made me believe that a person is able to make progress in almost any sphere by working hard, being active and looking at the situation from different perspectives, and trying to find the solutions instead of thinking of the problem itself. Thinking over my personal strong and weak points for becoming a good tourism manager and reading interviews of the famous entrepreneurs of the present day, I came to the conclusion that there are no born entrepreneurs. Success always presupposes hard work and persistence in reaching the goals besides the inborn set of traits and temperament. Dobell (2010) states that “while passion is the key ingredient driving entrepreneurial talent, certain entrepreneurial skills can be taught” (p. 38). The question of special entrepreneurial education is raised rather often in different sources. There are lots of different ways to provide education, self-education is only one of the ways. Laurel (2001) states that “we need interventions at the level of popular culture…” (p. 103). She suggests the transformation of the public conscience in general by means of further integration of the theories into the culture. This remedy seems to be drastic but the possibility of some changes in the nearest future is not ruled out. While education in the field of social entrepreneurship is not so generally accessible yet and so widespread as it is going to become soon, I decided to take measures for self-education.
To begin with, it is always interesting and useful to investigate the lifeways and achievements of people, that managed to achieve success in a certain field. The personality of John Singleton, whose name can be found in the list of top 200 Rich in Business Review Weekly, interested me greatly. Tungate (2007) considered him to be “a talented copywriter and born rebel with an irrepressibly irreverent spirit”(p. 233). He is the king of Australian advertising, famous for his personal charm that made the public love him so much and put him on a pedestal. His entire life path consists of hard work at himself and his projects and persistence in reaching new and new goals. Singleton was bright and gifted, well-educated and intelligent. He was never embarrassed to shock the public as he seemed to be confident on his way to the goal. In the 1960s he founded the Sydney agency Strauss, Palmer and Singleton, McAllan (SPASM) and then unexpectedly sold it. The press referred to him as “Singo” and enjoyed following his every step, so exciting was watching his bright career and public activities. He was never afraid of being misunderstood or sounding innovative. Singleton is famous for his shocking advertising campaign of beer that could be created only by his rich imagination. The king of advertising used to change the frames of the common images of advertising and business. John Singleton can be regarded as one of the most successful entrepreneurs of the present day. He managed to combine innovative thinking with managerial skills and put all his ideas into practice, opposing the generally accepted image of the advertising industry. Tungate (2007) stated that “His success reflected hard work, market research, and good professional advice” (p. 234). And it proves that even successful entrepreneurs admit that they needed professional guidance and the question of entrepreneurial education remains up-to-date.
The next successful Australian entrepreneur that is worth mentioning is Greg Roebuck, the famous managing director of the leading automotive site. His career path was not an easy one. Previously he was a Managing Director of Reynolds and Reynolds and a starting point of his career was the position of a software developer at Hartley Computer and Solution 6. It demonstrates that work at the site carsales.com was preceded by no less successful work in two different spheres. He succeeded in combining knowledge from two different spheres and created his own project. Analyzing the reasons for becoming this site number one in Australia, it should be taken into consideration that thousands of other sites with different content every day. These were Roebuck’s personal traits of true social entrepreneurship that led to the success of this initiative. He was working hard and was always persistent in reaching his goals. He managed to find the new possibility in the market that seemed to be overwhelmed and catching the day put the dreams into practice, as he appeared to be not only an innovative thinker but an active doer at the same time. Greg Roebuck was named the entrepreneur of the year in 2009, it may be considered to be his social recognition. Dobell (2010) cited Roebuck’s interview after the award ceremony:
Entrepreneurs love change. It doesn’t always have to be an enormous change, but doing something a little better or a little differently every day can have a huge impact. Give me a hundred 1% changes over one 100% change every time! (p. 38).
This is Roebuck’s contribution to the entrepreneurial education of his contemporaries. He advises not to be afraid of change and this advice may be followed even in everyday life. The psychologists’ recommendations coincide with this useful tip, stating that the change of some habitual things is to leads to changes in the way of thinking, breaking the old stereotypes. Greg Roebuck’s career is one of the brightest and one may follow his lead and learn a lot from his biography.
The concept of social entrepreneurship may convey some personal meaning for every potential entrepreneur. Regardless understanding it and bearing in mind all the propositions of the developed theories will be useful for everyone during career planning or making. By the way, it contains not only theoretical issues but tips for routine everyday work as well. One of the traits of a true entrepreneur is putting the ideas into practice and it makes it resemble a practical guideline.
Broadening the meaning of entrepreneurship makes this concept interesting for a wider population and opens up one more possibility for personal development and self-education. It is impossible to plan every step of one’s life or career growth but bearing in mind all the main traits of a true entrepreneur is important for me and it has already helped me to choose the right direction of movement.
References
Baron, Robert and Shane, Scott (2007)Entrepreneurship: A Process Perspective. 2-nd edition.Thomson Higher Education.
Bornstein, David and Davis, Susan (2010) Social Entrepreneurship: What Everyone Needs To Know. Oxford University Press.
Carsrud, Alan and Brannback , Malin (2007) Entrepreneurship. Greenwood Press.
Dobell, John (2010).Learning the Art of Entrepreneurship. Entrepreneur of the Year, 1, 38.
Frederick, Howard and Kuratko, Donald (2010) Entrepreneurship : Theory, Process, Practice. 2-nd edition. Cengage Learning Australia.
Laurel, Brenda(2001) Utopian Entrepreneur. The MIT press.
Light, Paul (2008). The Search for Social Entrepreneurship. The Brookings Institution.
Longenecker, Justin et al. (2008) Small Business Management: Launching and Growing Entrepreneurial Ventures. 14-th edition. Cengage Learning.
Stokes, David et al. (2010) Entrepreneurship. South-Western Cengage Learning.
Tungate, Mark (2007). Adland: A Global History of Advertising. Kogan Page Limited.