Page 28 - AC/E's Digital Culture Annual Report 2015

Cultural business models on the Internet281. Entrepreneurial ecosystem and entrepreneurshipMichael Gerber stated that “the entrepreneur in us sees opportunities everywhere we look, but many people see only problems everywhere they look”. In my view, this is one of the best definitions I have read on what it means to be an entrepreneur.An entrepreneur is someone who has vision and passion, who is driven by intuition and confi- dence in himself/herself and in the people who surround him/her and knows how to identify the best talent.Someone who, instead of pursuing happiness, creates it.And who learns from each failure and tries again. And although the luck factor evidently exists, the entrepreneur knows very well how to make his/her own dreams a reality.The entrepreneur is an innovator and often a good leader; as Steve Jobs said, “innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower”.Identifying new logics for creating, delivering and capturing value is the opportunity entrepreneurs of any sector have.An innovative attitude is the first step in entre- preneurship, an attitude that spurs a person to “build windmills and not walls when the winds of change blow” (inspired by Kevin Roberts).And of course I believe that creativity is learned, just as one learns to read.Entrepreneurs do not stand out for their IQ but for their own intelligences – normally for their social and emotional skills, which are what sets them apart from the rest.In order to be successful at developing and lead- ing new businesses, it is essential to motivate, inspire passion, transform... basically, we must develop our emotional side to the full in order to make investors, employees, collaborators and customers fall in love with us. Developing empa- thy is the best way of helping an entrepreneurial project succeed.The Internet, disruptive technologies and the new digital economy are causing an impact on our whole society, transforming institutions, cities, education, medicine, transport, the financial system, work, democracy, security... – what we call the era of connected intelligence.And, of course, they are transforming the business models of most business sectors. Identifying new logics for creating, delivering and capturing value is the opportunity entre- preneurs of any sector have.Technology is experiencing exponential growth, whereas today’s organisations and society in general move in pace with linear change and the impact of these technologies on organisations is therefore significant. The business processes in value chains are being transformed by providing greater efficiency and effectiveness; communica- tion and coordination between employees and different areas of business are being eclipsed byHow to encourage entrepreneurship in the culture sector