Invitation to Book Launch Rotman School of Management Tuesday January 28th 2014

The appeal and benefits of pursuing a global economy lie in the theory of comparative advantage whereby global completion will ensure that goods and resources will be allocated in the most efficient way, ensuring the most cost effective production of goods and services to the benefit of all. Yet the more we open ourselves up to globalization the greater becomes the discrepancy in wealth distribution which contradicts the theory. Oh to be sure there is a growing middle class in the highly populated eastern countries like India and China but in effect we are just averaging out the wealth of the poor – improving in the eastern world and declining in the west while those at the top accumulate huge fortunes. Upward mobility  on any kind of scale may be in jeopardy.

Life should be getting better for all of us. Instead large corporations are controlling the marketing of most products largely through effective branding  which allows them to keep the lion’s share of the benefits of low cost production in the form of huge profits rather than either paying a fair price or passing along the benefits to the end user. At the same time the demand for labour is shrinking in relative terms through technology and mechanization undermining wage structures around the world. These large corporations have abandoned their identity as national firms in favour of becoming global entities. They are routed in a culture of control and increasingly rely on acquisitions and outsourcing to give them the innovation and flexibility needed in a fast paced world economy immersed in rapid change. As long as they can control the market they retain control of the profits.

So how do we break this system and allow the mass sharing of the efficiencies being gained? The hope lies in entrepreneurs digging in the corners, finding comparative advantages and getting low cost products to market. The problem is that there are barriers to get products to market and if you manage to break through your company soon joins the club bringing in huge profits.  Rather than breaking the system, those that succeed are embracing it. Greed is a powerful motivation in the face of dynamic achievement. So as it stands now entrepreneurial success lies in pursuing startups and selling out or by leapfrogging through this stage and becoming one of the Bigs. Neither of these trends will break the current trend on wealth distribution which is moving back towards the historical norm.

On a macro level entrepreneurs are the main hope to break the culture of control but there are no guarantees that will happen. On an individual level, pursuing a career as an entrepreneur may be the only ticket to upward mobility. That is why the most important skill anyone can master today is the ability to create and manage their own career. We must all adopt the mindset of the entrepreneur.

Indisputable: We live in a global work space – an economy where timing is everything and competition comes from every which direction, blindsiding us, especially where Tech is concerned. There is tremendous pressure to be first out to fill a market niche and tremendous pressure on innovators around the world to become instant entrepreneurs OR to give up the lion’s share of the economic benefit of their innovation to others who can get them to market in a hurry.

If there is a lesson from the Blackberry debacle it’s that being first gives you a head start but the pack quickly turns to finding ways to do it different and better. There is no time to rest on your laurels. Your advantage is short lived- even much less than ten years ago when Blackberry was first riding high.

Are the expectations of the market achievable or are we simply seeing a new reality where companies come and go with a greatly reduced life expectancy. Apple did fail once. How much longer will it stay at the top this time?

When you visit an incubator/accelerator you will often see tired young people committed to a 24/7 work ethic, working in small space shared with other start-ups focused on perfecting their innovation with little understanding of the fundamentals required to operate a business or build a foundation for a company that can last. Did Blackberry ever establish that foundation? After all it was always in a dynamic state of rapid change initially positive but for the past three years negative.

Can humans really continue to cope with the rate of change that technology allows? Are we being forced to abandon stability in favour of short term success? Overall we find ourselves in an integrated global economy, still wrestling with the ongoing effects of the Great Recession, managed by leaders who are challenged at best, incompetent at worst, where the only sure thing is uncertainty.

For all of these reasons becoming an entrepreneur is an important option. The economic world will place increasing value on resilience and adaptability. In the face of instability and uncertainty the most important skill we may develop will be the ability to create our own job. Big will not be better. Small and flexible will become the key to individual success.

Our economy can best be characterized as fast and furious. The combination of globalization and the technological revolution ensure that the one constant in our economic lives is change. This is an environment
well suited for entrepreneurs who by definition are flexible, adaptable and resilient, unlike big business which has become entrenched and slow to adapt. Big entities grow through acquisition increasingly depending on entrepreneurial enterprise to produce start-ups with potential to feed their growth needs.

Small business entrepreneurs need to get in on the action. Most think that global trade opportunities accrue to the large corporations that can deal in the volumes required by manufacturing giants like China. However there are large numbers of likeminded entrepreneurs in countries like India, Malaysia and Viet Nam that want to network and connect with entrepreneurs here in North America. Entrepreneurship starts with opportunity and there are many around the world that big business will miss or ignore. Oh they will capitalize on the obvious ones like cheap labour in certain countries but it will take energy and determination common to entrepreneurs who disrupt and challenge the status quo to find the myriad of less obvious opportunities.

‘Everyday Entrepreneur’ encourages entrepreneurs to strike out and look for these relationships. They are there to be had. Anecdotes outline experiences in dealing off shore and give insight into different economies and some of the advantages on which entrepreneurs can capitalize.

Praise for Everyday Entrepreneur:
“I just finished reading [this] book and enjoyed it immensely. [Fred has] pulled together a wealth of knowledge and advice crucial to the successful entrepreneur in a highly readable fashion. It is a
must-read for aspiring and seasoned entrepreneurs who are facing today’s complex, volatile, and uncertain world. I especially appreciate the emphasis on thinking globally and adapting proactively.
We have seen too many examples of yesterday’s winner relying on old models to their detriment. It isn’t easy … but it is exciting and gratifying to create your own business and work to see it flourish. The summary at the end of the book should be bookmarked on every entrepreneur’s computer.”
— Dr. Sherry Cooper, former executive VP and chief economist for BMO
and author of three books, including The New Retirement: How it Will Change Our Future.

There are many people who believe that you can’t teach entrepreneurship. They believe it is either inherent or a skill that has to evolve from experience. There is no doubt that as in any other skillset there are people who are naturals. Also experience is a tough taskmaster and the school of hard knocks leading to rejection and failure has produced some great success stories. Opportunity and determination are the cornerstones of entrepreneurship. Recognizing achievable opportunities and the commitment to find solutions and implement then are absolute prerequisites. There is a teachable philosophy involved that enhances both of these attributes. But there is something else we can do for our aspiring entrepreneurs. We can do a much better job of preparing them. We can help them understand the basic philosophy, the many personal challenges they will face and all of the fundamental business issues from team building to funding that are common to every business. The failure rate for entrepreneurs is too high. Some would have you think that this is merely the nature of the beast-part of the mystique. We must add a new word to opportunity and determination and that word is preparation. With preparation we can turn reckless risk into managed risk and greatly improve the success rate. Working with the Creative Destruction Lab at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto I see many brilliant innovators anxious to start a business and get their project to market who lack this basic preparation. This lack extends much further to those entrepreneurs of necessity who will be trying to create and manage their own careers in our fast paced global economy.

Everyday Entrepreneur is written in a format that is relatable for anyone considering a career in entrepreneurship at any level. The focus is to use real anecdotes to put the reader in a business situation so he or she will recognize a similar issue when it develops. Preparation is an essential element of planning. The plan is not an outcome but rather a framework that allows us to anticipate and adjust as things evolve. Preparation and understanding are great assets for anticipation and adjustment. We need not build our businesses from the ground up. We can use the experience of others to prepare us. There are common bonds at every level of entrepreneurship. The goal of Everyday Entrepreneur’ which is coming out in December, is to convey as many ideas as possible that will make all our new entrepreneurs better prepared and help existing entrepreneurs put their challenges into prespective.