David Kluskiewicz

The world described in Carl Schramm’s book, The Entrepreneurial Imperative, will be terrifying to every middle manager you know. Schramm points out how the current cycle of status quo management has gone on too long. Droves of people flocked to investing, operations and professional services to support a waning base of companies and organizations. But, there’s been a corresponding loss in creativity - not creativity as in art, but creativity as in innovation.

Cycles of innovation and management are natural, but right now America seems to be entrenched in a managerial cycle. The danger in this, Schramm suggests, is that managerial cultures lose their appetite for risk and pass that on to their children. One of the most telling signs of this is the precipitous decline in children’s interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Fortunately, America still reveres the entrepreneur in the garage. And, as long as he’s genuine and honest, the community supports him, even if his business is one of the 9 out of 10 that don’t make it. This, Schramm says, is a big part of what we should teach in schools - cycles of innovation and failure. Comfort with these may soon become more of an asset than perfect test scores.