Week 3 Reading Reflection

The Entrepreneurial Mind-Set in Individuals Reading Reflection

1) The part of the reading that stood out to me the most was within the global perspective section. I have always admired Oprah Winfrey for her personality and other achievements; however, I did not realize that she was the first woman in history to own and produce her own talk show (started in 1986).

2) The most confusing part of the reading was about a theoretical formula for entrepreneurship, E = f(e). Entrepreneurship is caused by entrepreneur. Within mathematics, this is equivalent to y = f(x), or y = x. This would create an infinite horizontal line. Entrepreneurs need factors in order to improve, such as E = e +c (y = x + c); if that was part of the theory, then it was unclear.

3) The characteristics describing entrepreneurs were described vaguely; you said most entrepreneurs are "a" and some are "b". If you could go back and edit this textbook, would you take the time to survey entrepreneurs and get real statistics rather than guesses?

You mentioned how entrepreneurs that fail deal with stress and loneliness, along with other things. I may not be a professional, but I expect that despite the optimism of entrepreneurs, some become overwhelmed with depression and maybe even take their own life. Why do you not put a small section devoted to the risk of depression and other possible outcomes?

4) One part of the textbook that I disagree with is about calculated risk taking. The author says that successful entrepreneurs are calculated risk takers, not gamblers. I disagree with this statement; unsuccessful entrepreneurs should not be held to a different standard. They are calculated risk takers as well; even though success is more likely, there is still a risk. The difference between the two categories is that the successful beat the risk, while unsuccessful fell prey to the risk.