Entrepreneurs vs. Manager 2017-12-15T13:33:31+00:00

Entrepreneurs vs. Managers

Entrepreneurs are the change agents. Managers are the maintainers. In times of accelerated change organizations need innovators and entrepreneurs. In more stable times, organizations need managers.

• “Innovators are the dreamers: They create the prototypes, work out the kinks — and then get bored, anxious to return to what they do best, which is inventing more prototypes. They are rarely concerned, ultimately, with the financial viability of what they do.”

• “Entrepreneurs are the builders: They turn prototypes into going concerns — then they get bored. For them, financial viability is the single most important aspect of what they do.”

• “Professional managers are the trustees: They secure the future by installing and overseeing the systems and infrastructure needed to make sure the going concern keeps going. Unfortunately, in the nonprofit sector, often because resources are scarce, organizations try to shoehorn people into positions where they don’t fit, and many of the problems nonprofits have when they begin adopting entrepreneurial strategies arise. “

Boschee & McClurg “Toward a better understanding of social entrepreneurship: Some important distinctions “

Society needs social innovators in times of rapid change to keep our institutions functioning and in balance.- M. Pomerantz

The challenge for social innovators is not so much to develop good ideas and solutions. That’s the easier part. But, rather to “move” those who cling to the old dysfunctional ways and block needed change. It may be easier to move their emotions and perceptions, than to move them out of the way.- M. Pomerantz