Joining the Entrepreneurial Elite. - book reviews

Black Enterprise, May, 1997 by Sheryl E. Huggins

Many books purport to teach you how to be an entrepreneur. Joining the Entrepreneurial Elite, by Olaf Isachsen, shows you how to identify what kind of entrepreneur you are and the style that suits you best.

Isachsen the founder and head of the Institute for Management and Development, says that by identifying your particular style, you can capitalize on your natural strengths and achieve great success.

The four basic entrepreneurial types described are: administrators, who build existing businesses within known industries; tacticians, who deliver spectacular performance within a known technology; strategist, who take a concept and put it into action; and idealist, who turn dreams into enterprises.

The book includes a questionnaire for identifying one's style. There's also advice about capitalizing on strengths, recognizing weaknesses and profiles of successful entrepreneurs using each style. At times, Isachsen overidealizes the virtues of entrepreneurship, but as he says, it isn't about "what is the very best you possibly can.