Auxiliary Skills and Entrepreneurship

Auxiliary Skills and Entrepreneurship
February 19th, 2010 Author: Guest Blogger
There is always a big debate about whether or not entrepreneurship can be taught. I personally don’t think you can manufacture a spirit of innovation. I also believe that everyone has the inherent ability to innovate but it’s a matter of fostering that ability that makes people entrepreneurs. We are all born with the ability to be creative, Picasso said that every child is born an artist, the trick is getting them to stay an artist as they become adults.
Obviously, learning the fundamental “academic” skills of business are probably pretty important to being an entrepreneur. I say probably because I challenge you to find more than one startup entrepreneur who uses LIFO and FIFO accounting systems in their daily lives. Most of what we end up using we learn as we go or from mentors in our specific industry. So what are the skills that make an entrepreneur function at peak ability? Most life skills will do it, everything from martial arts to knowing how to cook can make you a more effective entrepreneur. The desire to collect skills is the same drive that pushes an entrepreneur to improve upon their ideas.
I have my pilots license and nothing in my entire life has taught me how to multitask better than having to monitor six gauges at once, communicate with other plane and traffic control, read a map and navigate using visual and electronic means, watch for other traffic, and oh yeah, fly the plane. I have taken cooking classes with my wife and through those classes I have learned to plan, not just so that the meal tastes good but so that I can entertain friends or clients at the same time and make it look easy. I study Krav Maga, an Israeli Hand-to-Hand combat style where multiple attackers trying to choke me teaches you how to act and react under pressure. My wife is a Yoga instructor and a regularly take her classes to give find my center in a hectic world and bring a calm to my mind that allows me to think of new ideas and activate new parts of my brain. I’m even getting certified as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). Will I ever need to deliver a baby? Probably not, but I will know how?
I can say that in 90% of the situations I will encounter in my life and my business, I will handle them with confidence and decisiveness. If that doesn’t make you a better entrepreneur I don’t know what will.
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About the Blogger: Ari Meisel is a real estate developer, green building consultant, materials specialist, inventor and author. He started his first company when he was 12 years old and is now working on his sixth venture. Ari’s has been working to foster entrepreneurship since helping create the current entrepreneurship major at the Wharton School of Business. He continues to be drawn to innovations in a variety of fields.