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In his new book, Entrepreneurial Excellence: Profit From the Best Ideas of the Experts, Richard Goossen tackles a question that has long been asked, answered, re-asked, and re-answered: Can entrepreneurship be taught? Goosen's answer, according to a Businessweek article, is that while some elements can be taught, some must be learned on the job.
The formula for creating the perfect startup is like the Entrepreneur's Shangri-La: Maybe it doesn't actually exist, but nonetheless many will embark on the quest to figure it out. This article by Harvard Business School mentions that Harvard has been asking this question for half a century (and then gives the history of entrepreneurial education at Harvard.) Whether or not it can be taught, you can learn it at Harvard! Fortune Small Business magazine wrote a cover story on the subject in 2006, with a similar yes-and-no conclusion to Goossen's. (Disclosure: I was previously employed by Fortune Small Business.)
In the "Yes it can be taught" camp, we have an article from Entrepreneur magazine—not only can it be taught, here are the 100 best schools to learn it. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a non-profit which promotes entrepreneurship, also points out what a vibrant field entrepreneurship education has become.
In the "no" camp is a group of researchers at Northeastern University who found, quoth this Inc. article, "Only 1 percent of more than 200 U.S. entrepreneurs surveyed cited higher education as a significant motivator toward starting their own venture, while 61 percent cited their 'innate drive.'" In another study (warning: link downloads a pdf) by professors at the University of Missouri-Columbia, the authors conclude, "Surprisingly, we find little connection between the leading approaches to entrepreneurship education and economists’ understanding of the entrepreneurial function."
With history as our guide, two things are for sure: no one has a definitive answer to the question, but fascination with the subject should shower Goossen's book with plenty of attention.
