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Title: Daring Visionaries: How Entrepreneurs Build Companies, Inspire Allegiance, and Create Wealth by Raymond W. Smilor, Ray Smilor, Guy Kawasaki ISBN: 1-58062-476-6 Publisher: Adams Media Corporation Pub. Date: June, 2001 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.43 (7 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: From the annals of FadCompany magazine...
Comment: No disrespect intended, but I happened to have worked for one of the "daring visionaries" profiled in this book. And from my own observations, it must be said that all too often, in a quest to package and glamourize "madcap" or "wild and crazy" startup cultures and their leaders, authors such as Mr. Smilor quietly ignore the potential liabilities of this style of entrepreneurship.
Put simply, it is all too easy to confuse impulsivity and extroversion for "visionary" leadership- simply because the theatre of wild displays of energy and risktaking are by their nature dramatic and impactful. But building and growing a great company is not a performance art. And the personality given to such behaviors may as easily be simply an improvisional actor portraying the role of a crazed and daring entrepreneur.
It should not come as a surprise to anyone that a talent for such antics isn't a guarantee of anything- especially true leadership skills. From my own experience, the manic charisma of our leader was complimented with a mercurial and frequently even self-destructive personality.
Charismatic leaders often are men or women of character- and I don't mean to imply anything to the contrary. Mr. Smilor makes other points beyond his glamorization of nutty dreamers, and I do not disagree with much of the rest of his book.
But to anyone who would take from this book the author's suggestion that "the wild and crazy things you do to enhance culture form the mythology of the company" I would add simply this. If the mythology of your company isn't the truth of your company, your company is engaged in delusion (at best) and deception (at worst).
Rating: 5
Summary: Skim it First, then Memorize it Last
Comment: When I ordered this book, I was intrigued about statement given by a reviewer explaining how "enterpreneurship is a subset of management." I also had the mind-set that reading this book was going to be a total waste of time. I got prepared to read a motivational book that would not go beyond my short-term memory.
Entrepreneurs are a special breed. I agree that anyone with the desire, training and savvy can accomplish anything once the person is committed to it. Entrepreneurs are leaders, managers, learners and followers. Leadership and management are subsets of entrepreneurship. Mr. Smilor was correct when he admonished the dean at a leading business school. Schools today are only teaching students what they ought to know when they should also be training students on what to do! Entrepreneurs inspire people, create wealth and improve society in America. These are just a few of the many topics covered in short, but very concise chapters.
May I offer a suggestion for the entrepreneur who is just getting started or for the burned-out entrepreneur who has been in the trenches too long (that's me!). Skim the book like the first class taken in a post-graduate degree program. Make this book the first step in the long and winding process. I can assure you that many issues covered will not be fully absorbed the first time. Then, before presenting the start-up to investors, carefully review the book again, as the last step, to make sure you covered all the bases. You will get a new outlook and gain an entirely new appreciation for this book.
One final point. It demands total commitment and takes the ultimate sacrifice to be an entrepreneur. It is a gut-wrenching experience...
Rating: 5
Summary: Inspirational and digestible
Comment: Smilor has captured not only the practical intuition of entrepreneurship - but its vital inspiring essence. His organization is coherent and bite-sized; perfect for a quick pick up, a fast scan, or a page-turning read. He obviously understands the needs of the fast-paced digester, leaving the reader with both solid academic/research/theoretical underpinnings as well as real-life stories of entrepreneurial inspiration. A terrific book for anyone running, growing or starting a new venture!
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