Daring business visions
The tales of entrepreneurial experiences outline the multiform essence of those who create and move production organisations
Confidence in what one feels capable of but also the desire to get things done and to involve others. And also something that is difficult to summarise and even more difficult to understand by anyone who hasn’t experienced it. The synthesis of being entrepreneurial is nevertheless in danger of always outlining a partial image. So it is necessary to tell the story better to understand. And this is what Ray Smilor has done with his “Audaci Visionari. Come gli imprenditori fondano aziende generano fiducia e creano ricchezza (Daring visionaries. How entrepreneurs found companies, generate confidence and create wealth) published in Italy a few weeks ago in a new edition.
Smilor is currently Chairman of the Foundation for enterprise development in addition to being a long-standing teacher at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Texas. He knows a lot about companies and therefore understands the elusiveness of their essence if you only look at the theory. The book is therefore a presentation of concrete business success stories and failures. It is through this technique of narration that the author deciphers the entrepreneurial genetic code, as well as illustrating the qualities that enable entrepreneurs to overcome obstacles and to move towards the future with energy and optimism, managing to involve other people in their journey.
Comprising six sections and an epilogue, the book (a little over 200 pages long) starts by searching the entrepreneur’s soul, and then attempts to understand what he defines as the “secrets” of entrepreneurship and subsequently the qualities that every self-respecting entrepreneur has to have. Smilor then looks more closely at the “dark side” of entrepreneurship (i.e. the failures and bankrupted companies as well as the negative image that may accompany going out of business), and then at the social impact of the same. What emerges is a multi-faceted portrait of entrepreneurship, which is never the same, always different and constantly evolving, made up of many victories and just as many defeats. Far from the business theory set in textbooks, but totally immersed in a contradictory reality which is also continuously changing.
Entrepreneurs, Smilor argues, “firmly believe in their ability to influence events, in their ability to divert fate and in their power to shape the future”. Daring, precisely, and also visionaries.
A history of business stories, the book – which perhaps has the sole inconvenience of having too many forewords, presentations and premises before getting to the true essence of the author –, should be read attentively and perhaps even reread in some parts.
Audaci Visionari. Come gli imprenditori fondano aziende generano fiducia e creano ricchezza (Daring visionaries. How entrepreneurs found companies, generate confidence and create wealth)
Ray Smilor
Guerini Next, 2017
The tales of entrepreneurial experiences outline the multiform essence of those who create and move production organisations
Confidence in what one feels capable of but also the desire to get things done and to involve others. And also something that is difficult to summarise and even more difficult to understand by anyone who hasn’t experienced it. The synthesis of being entrepreneurial is nevertheless in danger of always outlining a partial image. So it is necessary to tell the story better to understand. And this is what Ray Smilor has done with his “Audaci Visionari. Come gli imprenditori fondano aziende generano fiducia e creano ricchezza (Daring visionaries. How entrepreneurs found companies, generate confidence and create wealth) published in Italy a few weeks ago in a new edition.
Smilor is currently Chairman of the Foundation for enterprise development in addition to being a long-standing teacher at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Texas. He knows a lot about companies and therefore understands the elusiveness of their essence if you only look at the theory. The book is therefore a presentation of concrete business success stories and failures. It is through this technique of narration that the author deciphers the entrepreneurial genetic code, as well as illustrating the qualities that enable entrepreneurs to overcome obstacles and to move towards the future with energy and optimism, managing to involve other people in their journey.
Comprising six sections and an epilogue, the book (a little over 200 pages long) starts by searching the entrepreneur’s soul, and then attempts to understand what he defines as the “secrets” of entrepreneurship and subsequently the qualities that every self-respecting entrepreneur has to have. Smilor then looks more closely at the “dark side” of entrepreneurship (i.e. the failures and bankrupted companies as well as the negative image that may accompany going out of business), and then at the social impact of the same. What emerges is a multi-faceted portrait of entrepreneurship, which is never the same, always different and constantly evolving, made up of many victories and just as many defeats. Far from the business theory set in textbooks, but totally immersed in a contradictory reality which is also continuously changing.
Entrepreneurs, Smilor argues, “firmly believe in their ability to influence events, in their ability to divert fate and in their power to shape the future”. Daring, precisely, and also visionaries.
A history of business stories, the book – which perhaps has the sole inconvenience of having too many forewords, presentations and premises before getting to the true essence of the author –, should be read attentively and perhaps even reread in some parts.
Audaci Visionari. Come gli imprenditori fondano aziende generano fiducia e creano ricchezza (Daring visionaries. How entrepreneurs found companies, generate confidence and create wealth)
Ray Smilor
Guerini Next, 2017