Published: May 19, 2004 in Knowledge@Wharton Most images of entrepreneurship tend to focus on the vision and guts involved in getting ventures off the ground. Like the test pilots in Tom Wolfe's book The Right Stuff, the entrepreneur is often portrayed as someone resembling Chuck Yeager, the first pilot to shatter the sound barrier, with a spreadsheet. But at a recent panel discussion at the Lauder Institute Alumni Association Global Business Forum in New York, a group of entrepreneurs – some just a few years into their venture, and at least one with decades of experience – offered a portrait of the entrepreneur that seldom makes it onto the cover of Business Week: The entrepreneur as mensch.

 

Panelists emphasized less the solitary aspects of the entrepreneurial life than the social ones. Forget genius, they said; what really counts most is building a strong network to turn to for help and advice, treating people with dignity, and serving your customers well.

 

Chaired by Lauder Institute governor Edgar Bronfman Jr., the chairman and CEO of Warner Music Group, the panel featured Tom Bendheim, the CEO of Rheingold Brewing Co.; George Bennett, the chairman and CEO of Health Dialog; Luis Gonzales, COO and founder of Vidalink, a Brazilian pharmaceutical supply company; Charles Rashall, president and founder of brandadvisors; and Diane Ty, chairman and co-founder of YouthNOISE.

 

Although evidently proud of their accomplishments, the panelists on the whole were quite down to earth about what it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur and what you don’t need. One element that seems to be overrated is the so-called big idea. “In most settings, there is either someone who will pay to get it faster, or someone who will pay to get it cheaper. You don’t have to invent Xerox or the PC in order to be an entrepreneur,” said one panelist, “if in fact you can identify areas where there’s a way to feed yourself and maintain a competitive lead.
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