Is Entrepreneurship a Management Science? (for Harvard Business Review)

I'm excited to have just published the first of several articles on entrepreneurship for the Harvard Business Review online. Although much of it will sound familiar to readers of this blog, what's new is my first step towards the "new entrepreneurship" that is my goal for 2010.

My explicit goal in working with HBR is to foster a dialog between entrepreneurs and more traditional general managers. I think we have a lot to learn from each other. So, I'd like to ask you a favor. Unlike previous cross-posting I've done for blogs, where a lot of the discussion happens here, I'd like to ask you to take a minute and click through to read the full article. If you can spare an additional two minutes, would you leave a comment or - better yet - reply to one? I'd be honored to have you join the conversation.

Without further ado...

Is Entrepreneurship a Management Science? - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review

For most of us, the phrase 'management science' conjures up a decidedly non-entrepreneurial image, and for good reason. The preeminent management science, for much of the twentieth century was general management, pioneered by twentieth century giants like Peter Drucker and Alfred P. Sloan. As an entrepreneur, I often saw the best practices of general management fail startups. Applied out of context, they were dangerous.

This conflict has played out in many companies that I've worked with. My most recent startup created a marketplace for customers to buy and sell virtual goods for their 3D avatar. So you can imagine how I expected some skepticism when pitching ideas about technology innovation to, say, the U.S. Army. This was my first surprise: they understood that innovation needs to be understood at the level of principles, not just tactics.

Read the rest at The Conversation - Harvard Business Review...