Understanding What An Ideapreneur Is
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The purpose of this unit is to;
In this unit the learner will learn about Ideaprenurism, key principles behind it and the differing philosophies and approaches of existing key Ideapreneurs.
Learners will;
1. Understanding the role and nature of an Ideapreneur
Learners can;
1.1 Explain the nature of this new role in the work economy
1.2 Research existing Ideapreneurs, and Ideapreneurs from history
1.3 Agree the definition of an Ideapreneur
Definition of an Ideapreneur
Prominent Ideapreneurs
2. Understand what qualities successful Ideapreneurs possess and how they add value in the business world
An interesting article about how Apple’s Steve Jobs and why Apple became such a successful company, some key qualities of entrepreneurs are spotting the right trends at the right time. Read here.
2.1 Identify and articulate any patterns of behaviour observed across a group of Ideapreneurs
2.2 Explain how they will develop this role and describe what is expected of them.
2.3 Discuss what economic, social and cultural forces are shaping this emerging role.
Things that will help the learner develop understanding of this unit;
Mentors please add your ideas, examples, case studies, links to articles, videos, etc. here.
What is an Ideapreneur?
The word was inspired by Peter F Drucker’s book Innovation and Entrepreneurship in which Drucker explains the relationship between innovation and entrepreneurship. ‘Innovation is a discipline, with its own, fairly simple rules. And so is entrepreneurship. Neither of them requires geniuses. Neither of them will be done if we wait for inspiration and the kiss of the muse. Both are work. And only those businesses, and those business executives, who accept this are likely to survive.’
Ideapreneurs are people who succeed in first identifying the opportunity for change in a field, and then execute a strategy that creates shareholder value by bringing innovation into the field.
In his book, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Drucker describes McDonald’s Ray Kroc as the archetype ideapreneur. Kroc identified the opportunity for a standardised fast-food experience and developed innovation that standardised everything from food-production, food quality, staff training, customer service – even the layout of the store.
Prominent Ideapreneurs That Students Could Research
THIS LIST NEEDS TO BE EXPANDED. A NUMBER OF HISTORICAL EXAMPLES OF IDEAPRENEUR ARE DISCUSSED IN DRUCKER’S BOOK
Steve Jobs – Apple were not the first to launch personal computers, MP3 players or mobile phones, but they have earned their reputation for producing game-changing innovation in each field. Jobs is often described as a visionary leader. Students may find it enlightening to read The Second Coming of Steve Jobs.
John de Mol – Some fifty years after George Orwell wrote about Big Brother in his book, 1984, de Mol developed a television format that inspired a wave of reality television programming. This link shows the countries where the format for Big Brother has been sold to television networks.
Sir James Dyson – Although he has brought many innovations to market, the name Dyson will always be synonymous with bag-less vacuum cleaners – something he started working on in the late 1970s. There are good videos of Sir James Dyson on YouTube here, here, and here.
Michael Jordan and how he contributed to some people’s ideapreneurship, and what made him as a sportsman an ideapreneur, here.
When you research some of these people, use multiple sourcesnot just the approved and sanitised biographies and ask yourself were these people the real ideapreneurs in their companies or did they take the work of others and bring it successfully to a wider market. Whats the true role of the ideapreneur – the initial idea or the person that rolls that out to a wider audience. What about the compromises needed to get the investment needed -was it worthwhile – did the end justify the means? A good debate to have!
Innovation in Open Networks
Watch it here.
SMLXL: Reboot
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Comment by newbie Mentor: Jonathan MacDonald – As budding Ideapreneurs, we have more technological capability at our disposal than at any time in history. We have more connectivity, more access and more distribution channels. Click here to view a TEDx talk where I discuss whether it’s easier to change the world nowadays with everything we have in our hands. I hope it will be of value to you. Excuse the bad hair day.
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A snippet of how entrepeunarial journalism. I believe this has got that ‘breaking away’ from the tradition of a one interest.
Think about the best article you read last year. The hard hitting, excellently researched, insightfully written article that you just couldn’t put down. Now think about how much money you spent to read it. Was it in a magazine you subscribe to? Or perhaps a website that you accessed and read for free? For every conversation anyone starts about the future of journalism, the question that seems to follow closely behind is: what does the new business model for journalism needs to be in a world where the average citizen is increasingly expecting journalism to be a service provided for free (or at least, subsidized by someone else).
Over the past few years, every time I spoke at a gathering of local newspaper professionals at theAmerican Press Institute (API) or participated in a journalist-centric event from an organization like the South Asian Journalism Association (SAJA), the signs of worry in the industry were clear. A solution has started to emerge that is not only making waves in the field of journalism today – but also has the potential to reinvent the way that we consume and share media with one another.
Entrepreneurial Journalism describes a field of media where journalism is the underlying discipline upon which to create content-based businesses and services that can make money.Rather than the popular view of journalism as a type of objective professional public service to be provided to the citizenry of the world – entrepreneurial journalism offers the chance to think of content creation in business terms. As it gains popularity, this field also has the potential to change the way that we find and consume information, and change our world in the process. Here are a few ways it is already happening:
- A New Generation Of Entrepreneurial Journalists. Predictably, the idea of entrepreneurial journalism found a rapid home among forward thinking Professors of Journalism who have started to incorporate this into their coursework at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Last year, CUNY announced the first 4-semester dedicated Entrepreneurial Journalism program as part of the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism. Author and Professor Jeff Jarvis* leads that program, and also founded a wiki where other educators teaching similar programs could gather to collaborate and share curriculum or ideas. This combined with visionary educators like Columbia School of Journalism’s Sree Sreenivasan who has been teaching journalism students social media skills for years will lead to a new generation of voices in journalism who are trained to think entrepreneurially and embrace social media.
- New Ideas Influencing Older Media Entities To Evolve. In the middle of 2010, a brilliant experimental journalism site called True/Slant was purchased by Forbes. In his final blog post after the sale, founder Michael Roston shared that what made the site unique was the arrangement they created with 300 writers who were incentivized to create content directly for their audience instead of pandering to an editorial filter. This new editorial model thrived on the site and demonstrated to the world that there was a valid place for this type of journalism – and a place that a “traditional” media organization like Forbes saw great value in.
- Startups Create Excitement And Pioneer New Forms Of Media. The Poynter Promise Prizewas one of the first of what will likely be several competition style idea gathering efforts to bring some of the most pioneering ideas in entrepreneurial journalism to the attention of many. As more of these startup-style ideas enter into the discussions about the future of journalism, they will unlock new forms of content creation and new business models that the entire industry will eventually look towards.
- Overlaps With Big Social Media Trends Such As Content Curation. One of the biggest trends that is already shaping the future of marketing is the focus on content curation as a way to provide value to consumers and share an expertise without necessarily creating content. Aside from creating content as parts of new stand alone organizations, more and more individuals with journalism backgrounds will be sought after by companies to create and organize content on their behalf. “Journalists-In-Residence” will become a part of large companies, opening up yet another entrepreneurial career path for those with journalism training.
Below is an interesting panel discussion from the Carnegie Journalism Educators Summit last year about the future of Entrepreneurial Journalism as well, for those who are seeking more context and information:
*Image Credit: http://practicumpioneers.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/entrepreneurial-journalism-defined/
*Note: Best wishes to Jeff for a speedy recovery, as he recently shared on his blog that he is now once again fighting cancer. His work and thinking have been a big inspiration for me and many others, so I wish him the best in his new battle and am sure he’ll emerge on top as he has before.
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The Current Ideapreneurs (2011) Definition of ‘An Ideapreneur’
A form of entrepreneur, an ideapreneur is a radical inventor of change, instigating original ideas that add value which are sustainable commercially. An ideapreneur is a person that is continuously initiating innovative ideas which are centered around the core goal of solving problems and acting upon them.
Influences, personality traits, and characteristics
Sharing many of the traits of entrepreneurs and artists. All possess focused and determined minds that generate ideas with the purpose of causing a reaction. Though like an entrepreneur they act upon their ideas to create a sustainable enterprise. Achieving results through a proactive attitude, leading others into the often unknown and therefore are considered risk takers and pioneers. Restlessness, unpredictable, extroverted and creative are often words used to describe them. Ideapreneurs share the same leadership qualities as an entrepreneur, they often collaborate with individuals who have financial or operation management backgrounds.
Difference to Entrepreneurs
Unlike entrepreneurs, an ideapreneur only represents those with original ideas that also bring value. An ideaprenuer should be a catalyst within their industry evoking change and disrupting the status quo.
Examples
Bono
Bono can be seen as an ideapreneur because of his creative vision of a Poverty-Free world and the way he has acted upon his ideas of how to solve this problem. Starting (RED) a social enterprise and his over ventures are great examples of an ideapreneur looking to create a radical change.
Luciano Benetton
Luciano Benetton, the chairman of The Benetton Group, demonstrates ideapreneurial business ethics, facilitating the exchange of value for social, economical and commercial benefits. His controversial advertising campaigns are radical, instigating change in social behaviour, as well as generating profit. An example of this is his ‘Empty your Wardrobe Campaign’.
Richard Branson
Richard Branson is considered an ideaprenuer due to his his pioneering and risk taking attitude. Branson has been disruptive in every industry, adding value with original ideas. One example of this is his vision of commercial space tourism and spearheading this with his enterprise Virgin Galactic.
Education
Ideapreneurship is currently being taught exclusively at The School of Communication Arts 2.0 in London, ENGLAND. It is the first course of its kind, the Dean, Marc Lewis is a self-confessed ideapreneur and recruited Andrew Missingham as Head of Ideapreneurship. The first known students to have studied Ideaprenuership are Sam Jenkins, Will Chapman, Jack Cheetham and Ross Bailey.
Examples of Ideapreneurs
Conrad Hilton
Conrad Hilton founder of Hilton Hotels created the world’s first international hotel chain. In all, Hilton eventually owned 188 hotels in thirty-eight cities in the U.S., and fifty-four hotels abroad. Hilton had the vision to do what other hoteliers had not, he lead his team into the unknown. Hilton was a catalyst in his industry who evoked change and pioneered a new part of the hotel industry.
“Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.”
Conrad Hilton
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