Do dysfunctional families breed entrepreneurs?

http://entrepreneur.venturebeat.com/2009/09/23/do-dysfunctional-families-breed-entrepreneurs/

by fjabre • 17 years ago

19 10 17 years ago

entrepreneur.venturebeat.com

edw519• 17 years ago

At the town drunk's funeral, both of his sons were there. One was the president of the local bank and the other was the new town drunk.

A bystander asked the bank president how he turned out that way.

He responded, "With a father like that, how else could I turn out?"

He asked the same question to the drunk who responded, "With a father like that, how else could I turn out?"

lamby• 17 years ago

The only difference being that your analogy doesn't use a condition that the majority of its readers would self-identify with and thus validate themselves.

dkl• 17 years ago

Nice that they turned out so "well", but I think the real measure isn't their title and this cute story doesn't convey much information about the men. My father came from a large family, at the head of which was a drunk father. All but him followed in the footsteps of their father.

However, having said this, I've often thought that extraordinary people (and you often find the heads of companies are extraordinary) often came from environments that were extraordinarily harsh. I always thought that if the harshness of the childhood didn't break them, it would make them super strong or driven compared to people that had "normal" childhoods.

embeddedradical• 17 years ago

I’ve found that between a quarter and half of the students I consider 'hard-core' entrepreneurs/founders (working passionately to found a company,) self-identified as coming from a less than benign upbringing.

he believes that a quarter of people in a group warrants correlation?

jhancock3• 17 years ago

I'm not sure why he feels this is a correlation. But if you consider that access to capital is one of the best ways to reduce risk when starting a business, it may be surprising to see such a large number of those with no access to capital trying to do so.

pmichaud• 17 years ago

Whether there's a correlation depends entirely on the proportion you find in the general population.

jhancock3• 17 years ago

I recall sometime around my 2nd or 3rd year in college someone remark that students go into engineering mostly from "blue collar" families. I never thought about it before that of course who would want to work so hard at engineering when you could go to law or b-school instead. Much later, I recalled when in high school, I was offered a scholarship in dramatic arts from a top school. I was very certain when I rejected the proposal that theatre would be a horrible way for me to earn a living. I was 17 at the time, how was I to know that as an adult people would commonly tell me I remind them of Tom Hanks and look like Robin Williams?

I'm not sure that being from a tough or financial disadvantaged background makes one more appropriate or better at being an entrepreneur. However, it may make it so your apparent options direct you to being an entrepreneur.

Two traits I find commonly lacking in entrepreneurs from tough or financial disadvantaged background are 1 - discipline and 2 - access to capital. I think both these attributes are more indicators of entrepreneurial success than anything else.

neilk2• 17 years ago

Your last sentence is phrased as a double negative. Do you mean to say that entrepreneurs from disadvantaged backgrounds often lack discipline and capital?

jhancock3• 17 years ago

yes, of course. sorry, the above bad sentence structure has been edited/fixed ;)

neilk2• 17 years ago

I've worked for a child of a dysfunctional family. The company was run like a dysfunctional family.

On the whole, dysfunctional families are poor preparations for anything. That's why they are called dysfunctional.

The one thing I could maybe agree with -- in a dysfunctional family, sometimes the children learn to take on responsibility and budgeting at an earlier age. Maybe they learn to challenge authority. That may be an 'advantage' over some pampered brat, although a dubious one since it leaves less time and resources for studying or hacking or other growth opportunities. There are less damaging ways to learn responsibility.

Do dysfunctional families breed entrepreneurs?

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