Daring Visionaries: How Entrepreneurs Build Companies, Inspire Allegiance, and Create Wealth

If you are entrepreneur, aspiring to be an entrepreneur or an employee in a company being driven to be more entrepreneurial, this is the book for you. It is chunked into small chapters, easy to read and full of wisdom gained from years of study and experience. Ray Smilor is one of the premier researchers, thinkers and advocates for entrepreneurship not only in the U.S. but the world. When I read a book, I do what people tell you not to do. I dog-ear the pages I think contain valuable insights or important facts. This book has probably a third of its 250 pages dog-eared. Smilor writes, "The American economy of free agency reflects Charles Dickens's famous opening line in A Tale of Two Cities, "These are the best of times; these are the worst of times." For workers, we have a tale of two economies - the big-company economy and the entrepreneurial economy. On the one hand, many workers are experiencing enormous dislocation. Traditional values of job security, seniority, and loyalty have been jarred by demands for flexibility, productivity, and performance. Driven by international competitiveness, innovative labor eliminating technologies, requirements for new kinds of skills and more decentralized, autonomous team approaches to getting the job done, large corporations have dramatically cut employees, changed reward systems, and altered management structures. In other words, they are trying to become more entrepreneurial." Like it or not, we will all likely be asked to operate more entrepreneurially regardless of our profession. Smilor offers his sage advice and analysis in six sections - The Soul of the Entrepreneur, Secrets of Entrepreneurial Success, Skills of Entrepreneurs, Experience of Entrepreneurship, Managing the Dark Side and Social Impact of Entrepreneurship - and 50 chapters. In the foreword, Guy Kawasaki, CEO of Garage.com, writes, "This book is about evangelists and revolutionaries - those daring souls who envision a better world, blaze new trails in business, and upset the status quo...I've come to the conclusion that all successful entrepreneurs have the elements of both within them." Ray Smilor comments, "...each of us owns our own dreams. These dreams give purpose to our lives. A sausage manufacturer in Kansas City beams when talking about the quality and taste of his sausage; a software developer in Austin, Texas, radiates when describing her product; and a young designer of CD-ROMs in San Diego glows when showing off his latest innovation." "George Bernard Shaw provides the essential insight into one's purpose. He said, "This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mightily one." writes Smilor. But it's more than a dream; there is responsibility. "Ownership, however is a two way street. Those who own have the responsibility to perform. Fulfillment and actualization of dreams come only with performance and achievement." If you're interested in dreaming and then actualizing your drea

When I ordered this book, I was intrigued about statement given by a reviewer explaining how "enterpreneurship is a subset of management." I also had the mind-set that reading this book was going to be a total waste of time. I got prepared to read a motivational book that would not go beyond my short-term memory.Entrepreneurs are a special breed. I agree that anyone with the desire, training and savvy can accomplish anything once the person is committed to it. Entrepreneurs are leaders, managers, learners and followers. Leadership and management are subsets of entrepreneurship. Mr. Smilor was correct when he admonished the dean at a leading business school. Schools today are only teaching students what they ought to know when they should also be training students on what to do! Entrepreneurs inspire people, create wealth and improve society in America. These are just a few of the many topics covered in short, but very concise chapters.May I offer a suggestion for the entrepreneur who is just getting started or for the burned-out entrepreneur who has been in the trenches too long (that's me!). Skim the book like the first class taken in a post-graduate degree program. Make this book the first step in the long and winding process. I can assure you that many issues covered will not be fully absorbed the first time. Then, before presenting the start-up to investors, carefully review the book again, as the last step, to make sure you covered all the bases. You will get a new outlook and gain an entirely new appreciation for this book.One final point. It demands total commitment and takes the ultimate sacrifice to be an entrepreneur. It is a gut-wrenching experience...

Smilor has captured not only the practical intuition of entrepreneurship - but its vital inspiring essence. His organization is coherent and bite-sized; perfect for a quick pick up, a fast scan, or a page-turning read. He obviously understands the needs of the fast-paced digester, leaving the reader with both solid academic/research/theoretical underpinnings as well as real-life stories of entrepreneurial inspiration. A terrific book for anyone running, growing or starting a new venture!

This book proves that entrepreneurship is not about making money rather its about becoming who you are. The chapter "The Irritant in the Oyster" is a great way to see how entrepreneurs start companies, interesting insight too into how pearls are made! Great book for all entrepreneurs.

This book is powerful and visionary as Smilor is himself. A superlative job in telling us, as the author puts it, "About evangelists and revolutionaries -- those daring souls who envision a better world, blaze new trails in business, and upset the status quo."A must-read for anyone who is or aspires to be an entrepreneur.