10 Big Differences Between MBAs and Entrepreneurs

Almost everyone has heard the amazing stories of small entrepreneurs who have made it big, but for as many of these high-profile situations, there are many more smaller successes that go unnoticed. Entrepreneurs fill society with their pluck and determination to bring their vision to reality. At the same time, there is also a huge number of people working hard to earn their MBA from business schools around the globe in an effort to make it to the top in the business world. While many entrepreneurs have MBAs and have worked hard to achieve success in both education and business, there are people who believe in basic differences between the two sets. Here are ten big differences seen by many to distinguish between entrepreneurs and MBAs.

1. Born, not made. This old adage explains one of the most commonly-held differences between entrepreneurs and those with an MBA. While entrepreneurs typically have a drive and ambition that may also be present in those with an MBA, they usually are willing to take risks in order to succeed that stands them apart from others, and this risk-taking character trait is typically not something that can be taught.
2. Causal reasoning vs. effectual reasoning. According to Dr. Saras D. Sarasvathy, a leader in the researching and teaching entrepreneurship, the difference between entrepreneurs and MBAs lies within the way they reason. According to Dr. Sarasvathy, MBAs gather information about the environments and markets, then make decisions based on what they can control within a situation. On the other hand, entrepreneurs approach decisions with the idea that they can control the situation, and they invoke creative decisions and problem-solving techniques in order to maintain their control over a situation.
3. Knowing the nuts and bolts. MBAs may gain more knowledge to help them to grow or maintain a business’ success whereas an entrepreneur may excel in how to get the business off the ground, but might benefit from what is learned in school to know about finance, marketing, and strategy.
4. Non-conformist. According to research, entrepreneurs are non-conformists. Not only do they want to forge ahead when told they can’t do something, they even take a certain amount of pride in the fact that they do not meet up with set standards. While there are most certainly non-conformists among the MBA set, most people choosing to earn their MBA are embracing what is not only seen as a socially acceptable method of achieving success, but one held in high esteem.
5. Adaptability. While MBAs learn how to create and implement solid business plans, successful entrepreneurs usually rely on a large amount of adaptability to keep their ideas going in the right direction. Good entrepreneurs learn to recognize when their original ideas may need fine tuning or when they might need to take a completely different path to achieve their goals.
6. Willingness to fail. While no one wants to fail, entrepreneurs who experience failure (and that is usually quite a few), learn from their experiences and keep moving forward. MBAs can and do as well, but the basic structure of school is that you succeed. Failing several classes will certainly result in no longer being a part of the program when working for an MBA, but the same can’t be said of entrepreneurship.
7. Security. For many, the goal of getting an MBA is to secure a good job and achieve success in the business world. Achieving success in this manner is much safer than the goal of many entrepreneurs, which is to obtain the same success in business, but without safety net of security. Entrepreneurs may risk their time, energy, and savings to reach a goal that may or may not materialize. For most graduates with an MBA, especially if it is from a top-tier school, landing a good job after graduation is much less risky.
8. Belief in their dreams. Entrepreneurs are well known for following their dreams even, and maybe especially, in the face of adversity. While MBAs also have goals and aspirations, theirs are usually more down-to-earth, such as graduating and securing a good job or becoming CEO of a company. For entrepreneurs, they may be holding on to a dream that seems crazy to others yet they believe fervently has potential.
9. Learning to learn. The business school experience can teach you how to learn. More than just listening, preparing to learn by having a solid baseline of knowledge from which to start, that can come from business school, will eliminate any wasted time getting up to speed when learning from peers and mentors alike. Additionally, getting to know professors and learning about what impassions them can deepen the amount and quality of what is learned. Entrepreneurs can still gain the ability to learn how to learn, but it may not be synthesized into such a short amount of time.
10. Create the future. According to John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan in their book, The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World, entrepreneurs create the future by developing and communicating a clear vision of the future as they see it based on, sometimes, years’ worth of thinking about that vision. While MBAs frequently have insight to what can make a business successful, the entrepreneur typically relies on a type of insight that isn’t taught in school and is created specifically from the vision within.

Article posted on Selectcourses.com