Entrepreneurship LO7930

Michael Erickson (sysengr@atc.boeing.com)
Mon, 17 Jun 1996 16:14:42 -0700 (PDT)

Replying to LO7910 --

Hello again.
Seem's I've "stuck my foot in it", at least with you. Let's see if I can
answer some of this.... (threaded thru your response...) OK?

On Sun, 16 Jun 1996, Ray Evans Harrell wrote:
> Replying to LO7884 --
> Entrepreneurship LO7884
> As Michael Erickson replied on
> >Fri, 14 Jun 1996 07:55
> >Fear.... The mind killer
> >DUNE by frank herbert
> snip
> >When you are halfway up an ice sheathed headwall in a snowstorm with a
> >cranky partner and in ill fitting boots, you recognize pretty quick, how
> >mortal you are. Yet I found the Glacier to be a wonderland that I
> >couldn't resist exploring no matter how low the temperature dropped.
> >While I was deathly afraid of many social interactions, the starkness and
> >power of nature you whitness on a mountain top made me feel alive and
> >the fact that I could enter that world and come back with my skin (even
> >if I was a mite bit snowblind) gave me confidance to face the human factor
> >fears that previously were so daunting.
>
> CRAMPONEURSHIP: What is it like to find that the partners that you
> are climbing with have a different definition other than the usual
> one for "crampons?" That they have been working in another area
> of climbing and have been using the word "cramponeurial" to mean
> the ability to use their rubber shoes like spikes that dig into the
> rock as if the rock was ice. But these same people, you are now on
> an ice waterfall with, had never done any work on ice before with
> real crampons. They "talked the talk" but had never "walked the
> walk" at least not on ice.

I think the analogy might have run it's course (as you know, all
analogies break down, however, In my climbing experience, we didn't let
ourselves get into anything really wild, until we knew certain basic
things about our team. I have had experience with "cramponeurs" (wotta word)
so you climb something easy with people you don't know, and work up to
the test. At work, I don't have a long fall before me if my partner
can't stick to the ice... But when I used to climb, I got to know
people, their skills and viewpoints, long before any incompatabilities
could climb out of a sleeping bag and surprise me...

> > As I said earlier, and I don't mean to put anyone's experience
> (with the difficulty of "getting creativity acknowledged" or the
> problems with "complexity arising from the interactions of
> individuals on a team") down, I just don't think that this
> contemporary use of the word "Entrepreneur" is specific enough
> to solve the problems you have all described. These are real
> problems, but I experience your calling yourself entrepreneurial
> as a kind of "put down" to the rest of your team, company or your
> company's policies. I just don't see it building trust or creating
> solutions to the problems you describe. A team needs to feel
> confidence in expertise because everyone cannot know everything.

I think we've been taking the term "entrepreneur" to mean - one who tries
new things, presents a different approach, plants a seed. In my initial
post, I described a difficulty I've had with a co-worker who was just
generally un-cooperative. I wrote then that I didn't mention him to pick
on him, I just needed to understand that point of view-because it isn't
my point of view-and I need help dealing with it. No put down intended.
Our company has openly acknowledged flaws in its former mode of
operation, but talking is as you pointed out-not the same as doing, so we
still work with each other getting over the learning curve. My claim to
"entreprenuership" has to do with my inclination to make connections
that haven't been made before, mostly in the graphics area, but also in
helping engineers and technical types think. I draw what they say, so it
changes the discussion. It's a different way of using graphics in my
little world, so I guess I'm a "low end" entrepreneur. I'm seeking
opportunities.

Your description of yourself fits what I understand to be a "high end"or
maybe high risk entrepreneur. While my definition may be laughable to
one such as yourself, after all I work for a corporation with a nice safe
weekly paycheck and all, and don't bear anything near your level of risk
(producing cds etc. ) I must point out that even a farmer is an
entrepreneur. planting seeds, waiting for them to mature, hoping for
rain and that the bugs don't eat it all... That is risk. It's still the
business of seeking opportunities. This kind of definition is looser,
and not meant to be offensive to the hard core entrapreneures out there
(I sure can't handle that level of risk.)
------clip---
> I have been an Entrepreneur in several different venues of
> Entertainment production and am at present, but only when I have
> to. I would never select being an Entrepreneur over being a
> conductor/ stage director / teacher / singer or anything else I
> can imagine. Having all of your money involved and your friend's
> money involved in the production of a concert, opera series or CD is
> more frightening than my minimal experience on a rock wall.

> The noun or name Entrepreneur does not IMHO offer you those options.
> It is not specific enough to your skills.
----clip--------->
> Being an Entrepreneur reminds me
> more of that ravine on Mount Evans. (Mount Evans is a "drive-up"
> mountain but even though your auto can reach the top you can still
> be killed using the wrong tools and not paying attention to your
> environment.)

I've been the guide on mount Rainier-which is a little higher on the
scale when you consider I had to route find, plan the climb, work out the
hard technical problems in the ice and rock, etc. rather like your level
of effort in the producer business. I've had to navigate by compass over
rough snow and Ice in white out conditions over long distances... The
skill of "seeking opportunities" is how you get to the top of it. The
same as at work. you figure out what works and do it. I once had a
mutiny on a climb. This was a major dis-agreement over the route. One
group opted for speed, and I opted for care. We were in a crevasse field
that was over 300 feet thick - and I didn't want to drop anyone into the
cracks in the ice. I had to negotiate hard to get the team to follow
me-but in the end they did, and most were glad of it.

> >Having faced one kind of fear successfully gave me the nerve to try
> >something REALLY SCARY.... (public speaking). One "survival" lead to
> >another, and my fears (based on a certain amount of child abuse in my
> >youth-therefore-pretty big in my head) fell away one by one.
>
> The issues of skill focus, commitment to correct practice, courage
> to be the job you are practicing and willingness to maintain the
> above as worthwhile communication to an audience, has been eliminated
> from public education for budget and non-pedagogical reasons. It has
> created a great number of managers who perform from the emotion of
> anger, as a cover for fear, rather than the pleasure of the practiced
> mastery involved in communicating singularly with large groups.

I agree

> >So how do you face, and overcome your fear? How do you inspire others to
> >take on the challenge? One thing I always point out to my fear laced
> >work mates... No matter how bad the corporation "screws up", NO ONE IS
> >GONNA DIE OVER IT. (unless you work for the post office, and someone
> >shows up with an uzi).
>
> You can also find pleasurable activities that put you in performance
> situations that are tough in front of audiences as a part of your
> recreation. Do something that is more like your work than sports
> however. Do something that involves the practice of a skill and the
> perfect demonstration of that skill in front of an audience. Goal
> oriented recreation (winning) involves (like river rafting) getting
> to the goal alive. Flamenco on the other hand lets you live humiliated
> in front of your friends, relatives, and business colleagues if you
> are bad at it. I would suggest river rafting for freedom and Flamenco
> for discipline.

This is a good point. My point in bringing up the mountain was more to
show a process of doing what it takes to get fears under control. I
could not have handled the performance activities early on. but it may
be the best starting place for others (do what works for you-theres no
one right way) I "play at" guitar, and have performed to a certain
limited extent. It's a whole other area of growth. I can't say I enjoy
it, but I'm doing it.

> >Since the ultimate "thing to fear" doesn't even enter the picture, there
> >is a certain amount of perspective gained.
>
> Our Escamillo the Bull Fighter in Carmen was a partner in a Wall
> Street firm. I prepared him to succeed and he did magnificently, not
> only for his friends but the NYTimes as well. This changed his life
> at the office as far as performance was concerned. It kicked him
> upstairs and eliminated both singing and Flamenco for a while. They
> wanted his ease of delivery and performance skills as a Manager.
>
So the effort to grow can take you to the most surprising places-wouldn't
you think? OK so maybe the term entrepreneur is getting stretched. It
worked well enough to have this conversation. Isn't that the point after
all?

later.

Michael

-- 

Michael Erickson <sysengr@atc.boeing.com>

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>