Entrepreneurship and Storytelling William B. Gartner Estrad Lecture Series ESBRI Stockholm, Sweden...
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Transcript of Entrepreneurship and Storytelling William B. Gartner Estrad Lecture Series ESBRI Stockholm, Sweden...
Entrepreneurship and Storytelling
William B. Gartner
Estrad Lecture Series
ESBRI
Stockholm, Sweden
14 December 2011
“This is a test of imagination, one form of intelligence. I am going to show you some pictures, one at a time; and your task will be to make up as dramatic a story as you can for each. Tell what has led up to the event shown in the picture, describe what is happening at the moment, what the characters are feeling and thinking; and then give the outcome. Speak your thoughts as they come to your mind. Do you understand? Since you have fifty minutes for ten pictures, you can devote about five minutes to each story. Here is the first picture.” (Murray, 1943, p. 3)
What is Possible?
(Schwartzel) credited Oosthuizen’s win at the 2010 British Open at St. Andrews with helping him win at Augusta National.
“To see him win there was just such a big inspiration… Just to see him do it made me realize that is possible, and just sort of maybe take it over the barrier of thinking that a major is too big for someone to win”
(New York Times, 12 April 2011, B12)
From Possible to Doable
Once we realize it can be done, then, the problem is HOW?
If (s)he can do it, then, what is the “it” to do?
The “How”
Who is involved and why?
What is going on? (events)
When and where did these events happen?
The “How:” Story
Character: Who is involved and why?
Plot: What is going on? (events)
Setting: When and where did these events happen?
Prevalence of Nascent Entrepreneurs by AgeBlack v Hispanic v White Males
Nu
mb
er
per
10
0
Age Category
12.9
15.9
9.7
0.4
10.111.4
7.5
4.4
8.5
9.9
6.9
1.2
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
18-24 25-44 45-64 65+
Black Males
Hispanic Males
White Males
Prevalence of Nascent Entrepreneurs by AgeBlack v Hispanic v White Females
5.6
10.19.6 9.4
3.0
5.1
7.5
3.54.1
1.2
3.7
6.1 6.05.4
2.1
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64
Black Females
Hispanic Females
White Females
Age Category
Nu
mb
er
per
10
0
Prevalence of Nascent Entrepreneurs by Education
Black v Hispanic v White Males
12.4 11.7
16.2 15.8
26.1
7.09.0
12.1 11.4
20.2
8.97.5
10.1 9.510.6
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
No HS HSDegree
Post HS CollegeDegree
PostCollege
Black Males
Hispanic Males
White Males
Nu
mb
er
per
10
0
Prevalence of Nascent Entrepreneurs by Household Income
3.2
4.1
5.76.1
6.7 6.9
7.78.2
0.0
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
7.0
8.0
9.0
Lessthan$15K
$15 -20K
$20 -25K
$25 -30K
$30 -40K
$40 -50K
$50 -75K
Over$75K
Income Category
Nu
mb
er p
er 1
00 Overall
White Males
4.5
6.97.3
9.1
4.94.6
4.14.6
3.23.6
4.44.8
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
LowestQuartile
SecondQuartile
ThirdQuartile
HighestQuartile
Black Females
Hispanic Females
White Females
Prevalence of Nascent Entrepreneurs by Degree of “Urbanness”
Nu
mb
er
per
10
0
Degree of “Urbanness”
Overall
Hispanic Females
The Probable Entrepreneur:
Male (because of “More”)
White (because of “More”)
More Education
More Income
More Wealth
More Experience (managerial, industry)
The Un-Probable Entrepreneur:
Female
Hispanic
Less Education
Less Income
Less Wealth
Less Experience
If Norma, John and Carl are possible, then:
No one “type” of entrepreneur
More entrepreneurs = More diversity
Diversity in: Character, Plot, Setting
Extending the Possible
In Practice
Lots of “stories” in different “media”
Use “literary” tools to “deconstruct”
Use “business tools” to “analyze”
Extending the Possible
We can’t predict the future, but we can help imagine it, and…
Stories enable imagination.
“Science,” Stories & EntrepreneurshipApperception: Educated as we already are, we never get an
experience that remains for us completely nondescript: it always reminds of something similar in quality, or of some context that might have surrounded it before, and which it now in some way suggests. This mental escort which the mind supplies is drawn, of course, from the mind's ready-made stock. We conceive the impression in some definite way. We dispose of it according to our acquired possibilities, be they few or many, in the way of 'ideas.' This way of taking in the object is the process of apperception. The conceptions which meet and assimilate it are called by Herbart the 'apperceiving mass.' The apperceived impression is engulfed in this, and the result is a new field of consciousness, of which one part (and often a very small part) comes from the outer world, and another part (sometimes by far the largest) comes from the previous contents of the mind. (James, 1925: 123)
“Science,” Stories & Entrepreneurship
Apperception is Providing Meaning to What is Perceived: “… based on the well recognized fact that when someone attempts to interpret a complex social situation he is apt to tell as much about himself as he is about the phenomenon on which his attention is focused. At such times, the person is off his guard, since he believes he is merely explaining objective occurrences. To one with “double hearing,” however, he is exposing certain inner forces and arrangements, wishes, fears, and traces of past experiences.” (Morgan & Murrary, 1935: 390)
“Science,” Stories & Entrepreneurship
McClelland, 1961: ix: It is important, therefore, to understand at the outset the simplicity of this book – what it can accomplish and what it cannot. What it does try to do is to isolate certain psychological factors and to demonstrate rigorously by quantitative scientific methods that these factors are generally important in economic development.
“Science,” Stories & Entrepreneurship
McClelland, 1961: 11: The modern economist has become even more insistent in his belief that the ultimate forces underlying economic development lie, strictly speaking, outside the economic sphere. As Meir and Baldwin put it, half humorously, “economic development is much too serious to be left to economists.” (1957, p. 119)
“Science,” Stories & Entrepreneurship
McClelland, 1961: 40: It may be worth considering for a moment why fantasy as a type of behavior has many advantages over any other type of behavior for
sensitively reflecting…
“Science,” Stories & Entrepreneurship
Coding Children’s stories 23 + 40 = 63 countries, random sample of 21 stories each. All stories (“over 1,300 in all”) coded: n achievement, n affiliation, n power, and values.
Stories in Appendix 1.
“Science,” Stories & Entrepreneurship
Identifying Need for Achievement
1. Competition with a standard of excellence.• Winning, or doing as well as or better than others is actually
stated as a primary concern.• If not actually stated, then affective concern over achievement
(vis-à-vis other) is evident.• The competition may be with a self-imposed standard of
excellence, rather than with others.2. Involvement with a unique accomplishment3. Involvement in attaining a long-term goal.
“Science,” Stories & Entrepreneurship
McClelland, 1961: 104-105 “Psychologically speaking, what such findings seem to mean is that n achievement is not only more frequently present in stories from more rapidly developing countries but when it is present, it is more apt to be “means” oriented rather than goal oriented. The achievement sequence more often dwells on obstacles to success and specific means of overcoming them, rather than on the goal itself, the desire for it, and the emotions surrounding attaining or failing to attain it. The adaptive quality of such a concern with means is obvious: a people who think in terms of ways of overcoming obstacles would seem more likely to find ways of overcoming them in fact.
“Science,” Stories & Entrepreneurship
McClelland, 1961: 104-105 “At any rate that is precisely what happens: the “means” oriented stories come from countries which have managed to overcome the obstacles to economic achievement more successfully than other countries… These results serve to direct our attention as social scientists away from an exclusive concern with the external events in history to the “internal” psychological concerns that in the long run determine what happens in history.”
Stories Matter!
McClelland, 1961: 417 “One study suggests that the most effective way to increase n Achievement may be to try simply and directly to alter the nature of an individual’s fantasies.”
References
James, W. (1925). Talks to Teachers: On Psychology and to Students on Some of Life’s Ideals. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
McClelland, David C. (1961). The Achieving Society. New York: The Free Press.
Murray, H. A. (1943). Thematic Apperception Test Manual. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Morgan, C. D. & Murray, H. A. (1935). A method for investigating fantasies: The thematic apperception test. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry. 34: 289-306.
William B. GartnerSpiro Professor of Entrepreneurial
Leadership345 Sirrine HallClemson UniversityClemson, SC [email protected]