The proponents of the ‘gardening’ economy should stop using ‘gazelles’ as a metaphor and start using broccoli and zucchini instead. If not they should rename the ‘gardening’ economy the ’jungle’ economy!
Jokes apart I am all for the ‘gardening’ economy i.e. a tender, nurturing environment where the biggest enemies are snails and where ALL entrants to the entrepreneurial game are suitably nurtured. Picking winners in business is impossible because the variables are too many; when everything is perfect in your business, your partner runs away with your spouse, or a tsunami hits your town.
Or you can get caught in a bubble, by investing in technology companies only because it is fashionable to do so.. Who is to say that tomorrow’ revolutions will not happen in the service industries or in a most obscure rural community? After all the biggest company in the USA today is a grocery shop that was started by Sam and Helen Walton in a remote rural community.
It seems that reality continues to baffle the cleverly constructed theories of experts who try to pick winners, incubate talent and attract the cultural creative. In reality there is no geography to intelligence and no method to passion; the only hope is for generalized entrepreneurship. The survival strategy of gazelles is not to outrun cheetahs but to breed more. In economic development numbers count and we should promote a culture that encourages millions of people to transform their talents into a way to feed themselves and their families.
Promoting is very different from planning; as the late Peter Drucker used to say: ‘Planning’ as the term is commonly understood is actually incompatible with an entrepreneurial society and economy... Innovative opportunities do not come with the tempest but with the rustling of the breeze.
AUTHOR: Dr. Ernesto Sirolli
Wednesday 26 October 2011
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