Here were the April themes, together with April results:
So my project for April is to fan out from here and see what research can tell us (me) about the “success factors” for entrepreneurs.
At least some of them are:
- Effectual thinking and opportunities I read maybe ten papers from the literature on effectual thinking, and I continue my strong suspicion that it’s a fundamental requirement for successful entrepreneurs
- Purpose and greed Didn’t read much here.
- Always replace yourself at every step of the enterprise Didn’t read much here
- I’m almost through Schumpeter’s book on “Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy” As one of my sources said, most of his wisdom is contained in a couple of very catchy quotes and a lot of the material in CSD is dated.
- Started to read “Ecce Homo” by Nietschze
- Finished “Burn the Business Plan,” by Carl Schramm (longtime head of the Kauffman Foundation). Lots of ideas about what does and does not make for a good entrepreneur (he does not like business plans, ecosystems, or incubators, for example), but there is almost no pointers to substantiation for any of his points. I’ve got a query in to him about research backing his conclusions, but haven’t heard back for a couple of weeks.
- Halfway through Herbert Simon’s “Sciences of the Artificial”
- Not for “study and learning”, but I read Ta Nahisi Coates’ “We Were Eight Years in Power” with great interest. In particular, I was quite interested in the case he makes for the centrality of white supremacy and slavery in U.S. history.
I think the plan for May is
- Continue with the entrepreneurship readings: Finish Simon, read “Built to Last” by Collins and Porras, and “Grow”, by Jim Stengel.
- I’m going to try to read “Origin of Species” by Darwin, because I really should before I die.
- I’m trying to do a raft of DIY projects around the house in May, so I’ll do plenty of task-oriented reading (or maybe mostly YouTube viewing) in pursuit of that.
Always welcome your thoughts and comments.