Platinum Lecture XXXIX: What will Entrepreneurs do? An Overview of 35 years of Research on Entrepreneurial Behavior
In one of the more innovative and participatory Platinum Lectures at SolBridge, Dr. William B. Gartner, Professor of Entrepreneurship at California Lutheran University & Copenhagen Business School in Denmark, departed from the usual lecture format and began by asking questions from the audience.
For one hour, Dr. Gartner shared his extensive experience and research on entrepreneurial behavior from the questions he answered from students. In the process, he offered SolBridge students some valuable and practical advice when answering the questions.
While most of the students’ questions pertained to how to be successful as an entrepreneur in today’s competitive business world, the advice he gave to students could be useful in any business setting.
“If you want to be successful you have to be curious how things work,” he said in response to one question. “Sometimes we fail to know what’s important in the world. You have to notice what is going on in the world.”
One thing that he did stress in his answers was that if one wants to be successful, they also have to be ready to fail.
“Failing is what your life is all about,” Dr. Gartner said. “For example, innovation happens through failure,” he said.
And then he imparted some very important advice that could be applied in the classroom as well as the business world: “Learn to fail or you will fail to learn.”
In addition to his Platinum Lecture, Dr. Gartner who visited SolBridge and
“Your job is to create the future. Success is whatever makes you happy,” he said at the end of the Platinum Lecture. “Do good things now, have an interesting life, and have some fun.”