As much as possible, I think it’s a good idea to get a feel for how things work in the real world. Especially for me, being someone who turns to books on any pretext it is easy to think you may know something because you read it.

I thought I knew that the values that you have as a business owner definitely impact the way you run your business and the culture that ensues. It doesn’t have to be deliberate but it has an effect. What I didn’t know, which you only can from experience, is that just because you may have strong values/a strong culture it does not mean that your clients will be the same. Infact, your most lucrative relationships maybe with the complete opposite of you!

This is one of the best things I learnt from our first guest speaker Oliver Legitt of I.E Design Consultancy. I like that he has cultivated an environment where the relationships around him are important. I imagine that working for him is a lovely and rewarding, warm and fuzzy kinda experience BUT, he is was quick to explain that he runs a business and people get fired and hired. Tough decisions have to be made. He also pointed out that NOT hiring your clone is a great way to progress, you need someone to challenge you afterall. I had never thought of things in this light before, as naturally you would think someone who thinks like you would always understand what needs to get done but in a business environment, especially a creative one a different perspective is invaluable. I won’t be forgetting this piece of information in a hurry!

While I.E’s culture was a more deliberate effort, the one at The Phoenix Partners (marketing) was not. Rachel Hargrave, its Director, commented on how she only realised that there was a culture (and that it was not for everyone) after someone had to leave because they could not keep up with the pace. Her approach to business is different to Oliver’s in that they are very focused on meeting the bottom line, as that is the point of a business. She pointed out that she was very good at what she does and that in the end is what singles you out.

Interestingly enough, just because the approaches of the two businesses may be different there were a few similarities. For example, Rachel also had to think about whether or not they should take on certain clients for example if the fees was too low, especially now during the recession because once the recession lifts then re-negotiations have to take place, meaning your recession as a business can last longer.

Both put emphasis on following your own instincts and doing what was best for the client. Very tasty food for thought…

This word ‘cultural’ in the phrase ‘cultural entrepreneur’ really tripped me up, and this is problematic because our class has been tasked with trying to define what a cultural entrepreneur is.

I found myself wondering why it was there at all, this word cultural because don’t businesses have some kind of social impact anyway? Doesn’t it somehow affect the surrounding culture and if it is a very successful business, like Coca-cola (and the re-invention of Santa Claus) it can impact culture in a huge way. Any successful individual makes an impact right? and they don’t have to be in business at all. Then I thought, well I can’t be the only person in the whole wide world to think this, and the fact that the term exists means there is a distinction somehow.

So I did the only thing I could: I turned to ‘The Independents,’ the Demos report on how creatives work and why cultural entrepreneurs matter. According to the reoprt ‘Over and above their role in generating new jobs and economic growth, and in promoting social cohesion and a sense of belonging, they have been seen as providing a ‘new’ model of work and creative production.’

Well, the more I read refreshed my memory (I had read this before you know) and I remembered Annette saying not to assume that business practise in the creative sector was normal i.e. collaborative approach for specific projects, not necessarily knowing or being deliberate about business etc…by doing so I was able to reign myself in.

Entrepreneurial traits, I find are easier to distinguish I guess partly because of how popular the term is nowadays you’ve got everyone from Kimora Lee Simons to Philip Green to Bill Gates being described as one (at some point there was joke that anyone who said that was basically unemployed).

I decided to go with Oprah Winfrey.

She is constantly in the top 10 Forbes Rich list or other, her show which is watched in 144 countries has been the number1 talk show in the U.S for 22 years. There definitely is a strong cultural impact there! Especially in daytime television which so many women tune into on a daily basis, phrases like having an ‘aha moment’,  or ‘live your best life’ are part and parcel of the culture. She owns the studio that produces the show (making her the third woman to do so in American history) and she produces films, has 2 magazines, a radio show and related products like her book club. All these things help create ‘The Oprah Effect‘ where whatever she backs up becomes a success. She is also about to launch, if she hasn’t already, her own network OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network) and ofcourse the philanthropy.

People’s feelings vary from extreme adoration to annoyance but the steady and decided way in which she has built her ‘empire’ over the years and maintained it demonstartes a strong entrepreneurial trait. I would say she ticks all the boxes when it comes to a cultural entrepreneur, what do you think?