Is there a more admired presence in business than the entrepreneur? The entrepreneur is the creator of new paradigms and the arch enemy of the establishment. The enabler of innumerable new and exciting jobs and the creator of wealth par excellence.

The Webster definition of an entrepreneur is: "A person who organizes and manages a business undertaking, assuming the risk for the sake of profit."

By my account, that is only part of the story. For me, entrepreneurship holds a connotation with something that has not been done before in business. An entrepreneur by my book is an innovator and, more often than not, one who moves from one innovative idea to another without being overly concerned with the financial success of his innovation.

An entrepreneur has a high tolerance for failure; he just dusts himself off and starts all over again. The quintessential entrepreneur is the wrong person to manage a business; he is getting bored stiff when asked to sweat the detail and put processes in place by which to develop and steer the business that will take his invention "to market".

There are few true entrepreneurs in business, at least as measured against the huge number of business owners.

That does in no way diminish the importance of business owners who may not meet my definition of an entrepreneur but are running a business every day and employing millions of people in the process. These business owners are viewed by many as the engines of economic growth in America and they are the target clients for Aileron* www.aileron.org a one of a kind (non-profit) training school for small to medium size privately owned businesses located in Dayton, OH.

Business owners who get engaged with Aileron will inevitably be asked to think about their purpose of being in business. It is not easy to answer that question honestly. No doubt there are quite a few owners who have not given that question much thought: they own the business and they are running it to make money and keep the doors open. Period. That is all there is to it.

However, for a purpose driven company, it will be vitally important to do a little more soul searching and delve deeper into the rationale for being in business.

What might this rationale be? That depends mostly on the owner's motivation:

• Quite a few owners, when they are honest with themselves, will see their business simply as a tool to earn a decent living for themselves and their families. They would probably have great difficulty working for others and are driven by the desire to be their own boss. When they have had enough and can afford to retire they may simply wind down the business, close the doors and be done with it.
• Many owners will see their business not merely as a tool to provide income, but also as a tool to accumulate wealth for themselves and later generations. They will work to maximize value in the business and - when it is time to retire - sell it or transition it to the next generation.
• Others see their business in the first place as a societal tool offering useful products or services to the public and employing a large number of people.
• Yet others, entrepreneurs included amongst them, have a desire to create something immortal that will last for the ages and will be a monument to their creativity.

There is no value judgment implied in this listing of various motives for being in business. However, it is important for stakeholders of any kind to know what type of business they are engaging with: Employees, customers and suppliers all have a right to know to what they can expect from the company in terms of continuity beyond the current ownership. And the community in which the business operates has a right to understand if the company is part of the fabric of its economy or just a fleeting presence. All stakeholders have a right to understand if their engagement with a company supports a purpose that they can actually embrace.

A modern day business owner should not hide from him/herself, from his/her family and heirs or from any other stakeholders what the larger purpose is for being in business.

*Readers who are business owners in a range of up to $50 million in sales and want to bring their operation "to the next level" should check out this incredible resource with its own entrepreneurial origin!

(Frans Jager is Principal of Castnet Corp. www.castnetcorp.net a Business Consultant for the Green Industry and an Executive Coach. He frequently writes about matters pertaining to the Green Industry and business in general. He can be reached at castnetcorp@gmail.com

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