by
Cyril Morong
ABSTRACT
The psychology of entrepreneurship can be better understood by
comparing it to the hero's adventure (as well as the trickster's) In mythology
because myths are often seen as symbolic representations of the psyche. The
hero and the entrepreneur are found to be similar in their respective
adventures, a three part sequence of separation from the community, initiation
into new creative powers and a return to the community with a boon for his
fellow citizens. Both are creative, curious, energetic risk takers who are
guided by mentors. Entrepreneurship can be seen as a manifestation of a
universal human psychological condition, the desire for individual creativity.
INTRODUCTION
It has not been
uncommon in the past, and even today, to refer to the entrepreneur as a hero.
Burch (1986), for example, writes "In America today, many people view the
entrepreneur as the hero of capitalism and the free enterprise system" (p.
24). Another, Gilder (1984), refers to them as "the heroes of economic
life" (p. 24) and says we have "An Economy of Heroes." Sarachek
(1978) compares them to the heroes found in the myths of Horatio Alger. But
what is a hero? None of these authors defines one. The important question is:
Are entrepreneurs in any way like the hero from mythology? If these authors are
using a standard dictionary definition, then the entrepreneur is the central
figure of capitalism and possesses courage, strength, nobility, achievement and
"other qualities." Such a conclusion is consistent with what is
commonly thought about entrepreneurs by those who would call them heroes. What
is important is that the nature of these characteristics possessed by the
entrepreneur closely resemble the characteristics of the hero in mythology. It
is a standard belief that not only are myths symbolic representations of our
psyches, but that the role of the hero in myth is universal and that myths help
to instruct individuals in charting a course for their own lives. This
assertion is based on the work of psychoanalysis. This is because in myths, according to
Campbell (1968) "symbolic expression is given to the unconscious desires,
fears, and tensions that underlie the conscious patterns of human
behavior" and that understanding the myth puts us in touch with "the
deep forces that have shaped man's destiny and must continue to determine both
our private and our public lives" (p. 255-6). Leeming (1973) shares this
view (p. 9) along with, according to Barnaby and D'Acierno (1990), a large
number of Jungian interpreters (p. 3). Jung
(1951) himself said "Myths are original revelations of the
pre-conscious psyche, involuntary statements about unconscious happenings ...
" (p. 101).
This paper compares, and finds many similarities between the hero In
mythology and the entrepreneur. Finding such similarities has important
implications regarding the psychology of entrepreneurship, the nature of
capitalism and government control over economies.
But the importance may be even
deeper than this. Myths, to the extent that they are about the hero's journey
(which will be summarized later) were stories about spiritual development,
self-discovery, and the tapping of great creative power. They teach us how to find
these things in ourselves by showing us how the hero does it. To the extent
that the hero and the entrepreneur are similar, there may be a heretofore
unacknowledged spiritual dimension to capitalism if its essence is seen as
entrepreneurship. This added spiritual dimension is important because as Gilder
(1981) points out, capitalism is not usually seen for its own inherent but as
unheroic and merely not as bad as the other economic (p. 4). Schumpeter (1962),
in a way, also saw capitalism as "unheroic." He wrote "I have
called the bourgeois rationalist and unheroic. He can only use a rationalist
and unheroic means to defend his position or to bend a nation to his will"
(p. 137) and "[C]apitalist civilization is rationalistic 'and anti-heroic'"
(p. 128).
Showing how the entrepreneur is like the universal hero in mythology
might help to show that there is a chance for spiritual and creative
fulfillment and self discovery in capitalism through entrepreneurship. If
government economic policies and economic systems should be based on human
nature (which may be to seek adventure and self discovery) and if the
entrepreneurs are like mythological heroes, a strong case can be made for the
superiority of capitalism (or some system that allows a large degree of entrepreneurship).
The late mythologist Joseph Campbell, of whom the psychologist James
Hillman said "No one in our century, not Freud, not Thomas Mann, or
Levi-Strauss, has so brought the mythical sense of the world back into our
everyday consciousness" (Cousineau, 1990, p. 178), called the entrepreneur
the "real hero" in American capitalist society without rigorously
analyzing that thesis (New Dimensions-See Appendix). This paper uses Campbell's
description of the hero's journey. Archer Taylor (1964, p. 128) summed up some
of the major work on heroes and the patterns of their stories with:
"Four scholars have perceived a biographical pattern in tales.
The texts used by Hahn, Rank, and Lord Raglan are stories of gods and heroes.
Campbell goes farther and includes a few fairy tales. Propp believes that his
formula for fairy tales lead ultimately to a story of a dragons layer, in other
words, to the story of Perseus and Andromeda that the three others analyzed.
The ways in which these scholars see and describe the tales vary, but the
differences could be reconciled with rather little effort. The discovery of a
biographical utilization of a pattern is no very surprising result of their
labors. It is a natural utilization of a pattern easily inferred from life itself,
or from biography, history, and human psychology. The four scholars have
declined to go very far beyond pointing out the pattern. Campbell goes further
than any of the others in commenting on its variations."
Campbell's model
of the hero's adventure is also quite similar to Leeming's (1973) and Mircea
Eliade's (1990, p. 39). Segal (1990) shows that Campbell's hero is Jungian (p.
42) and similar to Erik Erickson's in that the hero's journey is a quest for
personal identity (p. 34). Jung (1956) himself said that the hero archetype
represents this need of the human psyche (p. 178). Eliot (1990) reports that,
in fact, Jungian therapists use Campbell's work in guiding their patients'
journey (p. 232). Even modern Freudians see myths as a useful tool (Segal, 1990,
p. 44). This paper examines the parallels in the role of the hero (which
Campbell found to be similar In many of the world's cultures) and the
entrepreneur.
A relevant issue here is empiricism. Although this paper presents no
original empirical analysis, it does rely on entrepreneurial research that is
empirically based (e.g., The Encyclopedia of Entrepreneurship). This is
also true of the writings of George Gilder, who used Karl Vesper's New
Venture Strategies and the annual Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research
as well as The Encyclopedia of Entrepreneurship to explicate the
subject. Bull and Willard (1993) "accept that much of the innovating
entrepreneur's decision process is beyond systematic calculation (p.
188)." Bygrave (1993) feels that it may be mathematically impossible to
model entrepreneurship "because there is 'an essential non-algorithmic
aspect to conscious human action'" (p. 255). Karl Vesper, editor of The
Encyclopedia of Entrepreneurship, feels that both empirical and reflective
papers are needed to understand entrepreneurship (from personal
correspondence). This is intended to be a reflective paper.
The model of the hero's adventure presented here probably does not
apply completely to all entrepreneurs. No single model could. But given that
the evidence and views compiled here show entrepreneurship to be similar to the
hero's adventure, a new and important perspective on the psychology of the
entrepreneur is gained. The entrepreneur, however, is seen as a hero, not a
saint. The adventure involves both creation and destruction. Negative aspects
of entrepreneurship such as business failure and job destruction are just as
real as the positive aspects. The entrepreneur, therefore, may be a trickster,
another mythic figure, as well as a hero. Tricksters and heroes are both agents
of change. Tricksters are as universal as heroes and may be creative or
subversive. (Willis, 1993) writes "Mischievous, cunning and humorous,
tricksters are often seen as possessing the ability to switch between animal
and human personae." (p. 24) A parallel, and very negative view of the
entrepreneur comes from Karl Marx:
"Every man
speculates upon creating a new need in another in order to force him to a new
sacrifice, to place him in a new dependence, and to entice him into a new kind
of pleasure and thereby into economic ruin. Everyone tries to establish over
others an alien power in order to find there the satisfaction of his own
egoistic need. With the increasing mass of objects, therefore, the realm of
alien entities to which man is subjected also increases. Every new product is a
new potentiality of mutual deceit and robbery. Man becomes increasingly poor as
a man; he has increasing need of money in order to take possession of the
hostile being. The power of his m 0 n e y diminishes directly with the growth
of the quantity of production, i.e. his need increases with the increasing
power of money. The expansion of production and of needs becomes an ingenious
and always calculating subservience to inhuman, depraved, unnatural and
imaginary appetites. Private property does not know how to change crude need
into human need; its idealism is fantasy, caprice, and fancy. No eunuch
flatters his tyrant more shamefully or seeks by more infamous means to
stimulate his jaded appetite, in order to gain some favour, than does the
eunuch of industry, the entrepreneur, in order to acquire a few silver coins or
to charm the gold from the purse of his dearly beloved neighbour. The
entrepreneur accedes to the most depraved fancies of his neighbour, plays the
role of pander between him and his needs, awakens unhealthy appetites in him,
and watches for every weakness so that later on he may claim the remuneration
for this labour of love." (p. 78)
Such critiques
of modern advertising are well known. The entrepreneur may be a bringer of
death and destruction rather than a creator boons. His or her journey may be
one that prepares them for and develops their ability to cause harm to the
community rather than to help it. Which ever is true depends upon the motive
for starting a new business:
maximization or the spirit of adventure. While economics assumes profit
maximization, some research suggests the need to be creative and the spirit of
adventure (see p. 17). Even Schumpeter (1983) saw the spirit of adventure and
the joy of creating as motives for entrepreneurship. (p. 923) Perhaps, like
many human actions, entrepreneurship results from mixed motives. In that case,
then, the entrepreneur is both hero and trickster. This makes sense because as
Eliade (1969) points out, tricksters often perform heroic deeds. (p. 156) Jung
(1964) saw the trickster as a step in the evolution to one's becoming a hero or
even a shaman. (p. 147) A recently published book called The New
Entrepreneurs: Business Visionaries for the 21st Century sees entrepreneurs
as heroes who will contribute to the overall well-being of the community. Just
as the trickster evolves into the hero in mythology, the entrepreneur may be
evolving into a hero from the trickster of Karl Marx .
Before moving on to the actual
comparison, two facts need to be noted.
The first is that the assertion of the universality of
entrepreneurship is now being explored by other scholars. One example is a
recent study done by Ian MacMillan and Rita Gunther McGrath of the Wharton
School's entrepreneurial center. They found that "entrepreneurs think
alike, no matter what country they call home" (The Wall Street Journal,
February 6, 1992, p. AI). Another is Berger (1991) who shows how
entrepreneurship IS a worldwide phenomenon that is transforming economies even
in the most unexpected of places.
The second involves the idea of
using mythology or psychology in economic analysis. This is not new and there
are several notable examples. The first, from O'Donnell (1989), is Keynes's
idea that irrational animal spirits are necessary for an adequate level of
entrepreneurial initiative (p. 256). The second, from Rostow (1960), is the
inclusion of the desire for adventure as an important element in human behavior
(p. 149). The third is work done by Ian Mitroff (1983) which uses archetypes to
analyze the behavior of stakeholders in social systems. He even cites the work
of Joseph Campbell. Fourth, this is an era in which mythology is being used to
understand economics. Silver (1991) analyzes the ancient economy through mythology while Putka (1993) reports
that business case studies are now being written which compare literary
figures, including heroes, to business managers (p. A1). Even two business
professors at Stanford University, Catford and Ray (1991), have written a
popular book on mythology partly inspired by Campbell. So it is not surprising
that Eliade (1990) wrote "The mythic imagination can hardly be said to
have disappeared; it is still very much with us, having only adapted its
workings to the material now at hand" (p. 42). Finally, Shapero and Sokol
(1982) believe that for a complete understanding of entrepreneurship it will be
necessary to delve into such fields as occupational psychology, cultural anthropology,
the sociology of religion and personality psychology (p. 74). Mythology is
really not too far away from those disciplines.
THE HERO'S ADVENTURE
This part gives a basic outline of the hero's adventure in
mythology.
The page references in this part are all from Campbell (1968).
The hero 's adventure
This section provides a brief summary
and description of the hero's adventure.
The following summary of the hero's adventure comes from section 3,
the Hero and the God, which is in Prologue: The Monomyth in The Hero With a
Thousand Faces.
"The
standard path of the mythological adventure of the hero is a magnification of
the formula represented in the rites of passage: separation-initiation-return:
which might be named the nuclear unit of the monomyth. A hero ventures forth
from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous
forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back
from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow
man. "(p. 30)
In short,
"The myths tell of a dangerous journey of the soul, with obstacles to be
passed" (p. 366) Examples are Prometheus who stole fire from the gods and
Jason who found the Golden Fleece. The universal nature of the myth is proclaimed
with " ... whether presented in the vast, almost oceanic images of the
Orient, in the vigorous narratives of the Greeks, or in the majestic legends of
the Bible, the adventure of the hero normally follows the pattern of the
nuclear unit above described: a separation from the world, a penetration to
some source of power, and a life-enhancing return" (p. 35) and
"Everywhere, no matter the sphere of interests (whether religious,
political, or personal), the really creative acts are represented as those deriving
from some sort of dying to the world; and what happens in the interval of the
hero's nonentity, so that he comes back as one reborn, made great and filled
with creative power, mankind is also unanimous in declaring" (p. 35-6).
The myth helps us to understand "the singleness of human spirit in its
aspirations, powers, vicissitudes, and wisdom" (p. 36). So there is a
basic pattern to the hero's adventure which is universal.
The following is Campbell's own summary of the entire adventure
whose specific phases will be referred to later in where it is compared to the
process of entrepreneurship.
"The
mythological hero, setting forth from his commonday hut or castle, is lured,
carried away, or else voluntarily proceeds, to the threshold of adventure. There
he encounters a shadow of presence that guards the passage. The hero may defeat
or conciliate this power and go alive into the kingdom of the dark
(brother-battle, dragon-battle; offering, charm), or be slain by the opponent
and descend in death (dismemberment, crucifixion). Beyond the threshold, then,
the hero journeys through a world of unfamiliar yet strangely intimate forces,
some of which severely threaten him (tests), some of which give magical aid
(helpers). When he arrives at the nadir of the mythological round, he undergoes
a supreme ordeal and gains his reward. The triumph may be represented as the
hero's sexual union with the goddess-mother of the world (sacred marriage), his
recognition by the father-creator (father-atonement), his own divinization
(apotheosis), or again-if the powers have remained unfriendly to him-his theft
of the boon he came to gain (bride-theft, fire theft); intrinsically it is an
expansion of consciousness and therewith of being (illumination,
transfiguration, freedom). The final work is that of the return. If the powers
have blessed the hero, he now sets forth under their protection (emissary); if
not, he flees and is pursued (transformation flight, obstacle flight). At the
return threshold the transcendental powers must remain behind; the hero
re-emerges from the kingdom of dead (return, resurrection). The boon that he
brings restores the world (elixir)" (p. 246-7).
Earlier it was
stated that Campbell's view of the hero's adventures is similar to Eliade's
view. Below is Eliade's (1990, p. 39) own summary:
"Another
class of widespread myths concerns those of the king's son who is abandoned
after birth because of a prophecy threatening danger to the king. Consigned to
the waters, the child is saved by animals or shepherds, and is suckled by a
female animal or a humble woman. When full grown, he embarks on extraordinary
adventures (monster slaying, etc.) Later he finds his parents and takes
revenge, finally being recognized and winning rank and honor. In most of these
myths, the dangers of trials of the hero (encounters with monsters and demons,
descents into hell, being swallowed by an aquatic monster, etc.) have an
initiatory meaning. By overcoming all these ordeals, the young man proves that
he is surpassed the human condition and henceforth he belongs to a class of
semidivine beings. Many epic legends and folktales utilize readapt the highly
dramatic scenarios of a hero's initiation (e.g., Siegfried, Arthur, Robin Hood,
etc.).
THE PROCESS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
This part describes the process of entrepreneurship. A brief,
general description is given first. Then the process of entrepreneurship
according to Burch, Schumpeter, Kirzner and Gilder will be summarized.
Entrepreneurs
are those people who are able to discover an opportunity for economic profit
either through developing a new method of production that results in greater
efficiency or by producing a new product. In either case, the entrepreneur must
be both a creator and a risk taker. They are creators in the sense that they
simply have an idea for a more efficient production process or a new product.
If the idea were not new, the new method or product would already be used or on
the market and there would be no creativity. In that case, no opportunity for
economic profit would exist. This is because in a competitive environment
economic profits will erode when new firms enter the market. They are risk
takers because if it were absolutely certain that economic profits could be
made, there would be no risk. It would have been clear to anyone that the
economic profits were available and in a competitive environment entry of firms
into the market would have again eroded away the economic profits. Since there
is uncertainty, there is always some element of risk in starting any new
business endeavor. The entrepreneur is always taking a chance that the new
venture will not only fail to yield economic profits, but may fail entirely.
Their actions are based only on a hunch. Why does an individual take such a
risk based only on a hunch or their own creative work where no one else has
done so before? What type of individual will be both creative and willing to
take a risk? The next four sections deal with these questions.
Burch on Entrepreneurship
According to
Burch (1986), " ... the essence of entrepreneurship is the initiation of
change," (p. 17) and is the "process of giving birth to a new
business" (p. 18). It usually appears from outside the present structure
(p. 19). He lists the five types of innovations brought by entrepreneurs that
are from Schumpeter (Burch, 1986, p. 26):
1. Introduction
of a new product or service that is an improvement in the quality of the
existing product or service.
2. Introduction
of a new method that increases productivity.
3. The opening of a new market, in particular
an export market In a new territory.
4. The conquest of a new source of supply of raw
materials, half manufactured products or alternative materials.
5. The creation
of a new organization.
According to
Cauthorn, these are typical innovations and the list was not meant by
Schumpeter to be exhaustive (Cauthorn, 1989, p. 8). But where do these
innovations come from?
"For making
these or other innovations, systematic and logical thinking can lead you just
so far. For thinking innovatively, imagination is more important than
knowledge. Imagination and the ability to think creatively come from the right
side of the brain. There we learn to think intuitively and creatively and learn
how to deal with fuzzy, messy problems" ( p. 28).
They do not come
from logic. Reliance on "Logic alone points away from entrepreneurial
activity" (p. 32).
The process
of entrepreneurship leads to
"Large
corporations [which] soon become risk-averting and cautious and are run, not
by, innovating entrepreneurs, but by bureaucratic committees. These
bureaucratized giants eliminate the entrepreneur and replace him or her with
cautious and conservative managers who are, at best, maintainers" (p. 24).
Schumpeter on Entrepreneurship
The process
whereby the above innovations occur was called "Creative Destruction"
by Schumpeter (1962). This was
"The opening
of new markets, foreign or domestic, and the organizational development from
the craft shop and factory to such concerns as U. S. Steel illustrate the same
process of industrial mutation if I may use that biological term-that
incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from with in, incessantly
destroying the old one, incessantly creating the new one. This process of
Creative Destruction is the essential fact about capitalism. It is what
capitalism consists in and what every capitalist concern has got to live
in" (p. 83).
Later he writes,
while discussing the above mentioned types of innovations (which he calls the
function of entrepreneurs), "This kind of activity is primarily
responsible for the recurrent "prosperities" that revolutionize the
economic organism and the recurrent "recessions" that are due to the
disequilibrating impact of the new products or methods" (p. 132). He saw the
undertaking of these new things as a distinct function performed by people who
go outside the normal economic structure.
Kirzner on Entrepreneurship
Kirzner
discusses entrepreneurship in terms of entrepreneurial or economic profit. This
discussion was given at the beginning of this part. Kirzner further clarifies
the process with
"But, during
the instant of an entrepreneurial leap of faith, the instant of daring the new
line of production, there is scope for the discovery that, indeed, the ends achieved
are more valuable than had hitherto been suspected" (p. 163).
Kirzner calls
this as replacing the "old ends-means framework" with a new one.
Kirzner saw
the essence of entrepreneurship as "unawareness both by the entrepreneur
himself and by the market in general that he in fact possesses the resources of
vision at all" (p. 180). And what does market entrepreneurship do? It
"reveals to the market what the market did not realize was available or,
indeed, needed at all" (p. 181). But although the entrepreneur was unaware
of the opportunity for economic profit, he still must be alert to see the
opportunity when it comes along.
There are two main elements in entrepreneurship that Kirzner
emphasizes:
1. Luck- The entrepreneur had a vision, he
made a discovery. There was no systematic or efficient attempt to find a better
product or method of production. But he was alert to the new opportunity.
2.
Purposefulness-he acted in a systematic way based on his hunch or vision
How is luck an
important element of entrepreneurship? For example you can find a large sum of
money, and that is luck. You might also stumble on a process or technique that
can yield economic profits. Is such a discovery luck? It must be. This raises
the question of whether pure profits can be sought systematically or
purposefully. No. A person may claim to be searching for economic profits and
erroneous valuations of resources by the market. But they must guess at where
and how to search. If they guess correctly, they were lucky. The entrepreneur
simply has to be alert to opportunities for economic profits and act on them
when they come.1
Gilder on Entrepreneurship
For Gilder
(1984), the entrepreneur and entrepreneurship make up what he calls the
"real economy" in capitalism, not the "colliding multinational
corporations, national industrial policies, and macroeconomic tides that
overwhelm the simple energies and enthusiasms of individual entrepreneurs"
(p. 31). Perhaps the following passages best illustrate what Gilder thinks
entrepreneurship is:
"The
entrepreneurial start-up is the most creative domain in American enterprise
largely because it affords the best learning process. A man who builds a
company from scratch acquires depth of understanding of what makes it work that
an imported chief executive, however, effective his management information
systems, however many cases he has explored in depth at the Harvard Business
School, cannot easily command. The entrepreneur gains a dynamic and integrated
view of his company and a realistic view of enterprise.
"Because he
started in rebellion against established firms, he bears a natural skepticism
toward settled expertise. Because he had to make scores of decisions before all
the information was in, he recognizes that enterprise always consists of action
in uncertainty. The entrepreneur prevails not by understanding an existing
situation in all its complex particulars, but by creating a new situation which
others might try to comprehend. The enterprise is an aggressive action, not a reaction.
When it is successfully launched, all the rest of society government, labor,
other businesses-will have to react. It entails breaking the looking glass of
established ideas-even the gleaming mirrors of executive suites-and stepping
into the often greasy and fetid bins of creation" (p. 247).
He calls
entrepreneurship an "irrational process" carried on by "orphans
and outcasts" (p. 275) in the face of a hostile environment (p. 56). The
entrepreneur brings, through creativity, the unexpected boon by discovering the
"unknown continents of the real economy" (p. 56). Entrepreneurship
"requires a life of labor and listening, aspiration and courage" (p.
258) while being the "redemption of an oppressed and desperate world"
(p. 258). The creativity comes from the immigrants, outcasts and former
employees who are outside the established, large and dominant firms (p. 132).
To summarize these remarks, it
could be said that entrepreneurship is a kind of creative, irrational rebellion
committed in the face of uncertainty which occurs while the courageous
entrepreneur is journeying on his own, personal path breaking adventure.
Gilder also sees entrepreneurship as
a psychological journey of the entrepreneur.
"Any creative
breakthrough, in science or art, enterprise or love, depends on glimpsing and
engaging some higher realm of life. Beyond the long labyrinths of things, the
multifarious carrels of fact, the inspired explorer can finally break out into
the mansions of providential mind. He then sees the limits of the culture of
thanatopsis: the dismal mazes of entropy and death, the grim aporias of sense
and flesh, the vain hoards of sterile wealth. He can stand at last with wild
surmise on the frontiers of matter where life and God again begin, and see a
world renewed and shining with possibility" (p. 70).
COMPARING THE HERO AND ENTREPRENEUR
It should be recalled that the hero either leaves his native land
and takes the risk of facing a new environment alone or challenges the
authority of his society. In either case, he is taking a risk based on a belief
in his own personal integrity and creativity. Just like the entrepreneur, the
hero is a creator and risk taker.
Some of the possible parallels between the hero's adventure and the
activity of the entrepreneur can be seen by examining the section titled
"The Hero and the God" from Campbell (1968). (see p. 6) First, the
basic pattern of the myth needs to be recalled: a separation from the world, a
penetration to some source of power, and a life-enhancing return. An
entrepreneur must step out of the ordinary way of producing and into his
imagination about the way things could be to discover the previously undreamt
of technique or product. The "fabulous forces" might be applying the
assembly line technique or interchangeable parts to producing automobiles or
building microcomputers in a garage. The mysterious adventure is the time spent
tinkering in research and development. But once those techniques are discovered
or developed the hero-entrepreneur now has the power to bestow this boon on the
rest of mankind.
Campbell (1968)
also has a section called "The Cosmogonic Cycle" which "unrolls
the great vision of the creation and destruction of the world which is
vouchsafed as revelation to the successful hero" (p. 38). The connection
to Schumpeter's theory of creative destruction is clear. A successful
entrepreneur simultaneously destroys and creates a new world, or at least a new
way of life. Henry Ford, for example, destroyed the horse and buggy age while
creating the age of the automobile. But even more to the point is the fact that
the hero finds that the world "suffers from a symbolical deficiency"
(p. 37) and that "the hero appears on the scene in various forms according
to the changing needs of the race" (p. 38). The changing needs and the
deficiency may directly correspond to the changing market conditions or the
changing desires for products. The entrepreneur IS the first person to perceive
the need or opportunity for market profits.
A summary of the basic parallels between the hero's adventure and
the activity of the entrepreneur is as follows: both the entrepreneur and the
hero must go through separation. For the hero this may mean leaving his native
land. For the entrepreneur it may mean leaving a present job or company to
start out on his own. The hero is usually initiated by a mentor who teaches him
the use of some supernatural aids. The entrepreneur may need to learn from his
mentor how to manage and organize people and production (once the product has
been developed) or perhaps some technical or research skills necessary to
develop the new product. In the return stage the hero brings back a
"boon" to mankind. Examples that Campbell gives are Prometheus (fire)
and Jason (the golden fleece) (p. 30). The entrepreneur steps out of his
workshop and returns with an idea that may also be a boon to mankind.
Heilbroner (1989) provides a good example from history in James Watt, the
inventor of the steam engine (p. 74).
Comparing the Hero's Adventure with the
Process of Entrepreneurship
This section
shows the similarities between some of the details from the various phases of
the hero's adventure with events that happen during entrepreneurship. What the
various writers have written about entrepreneurship will be cited as evidence
of these similarities for each phase, which will be discussed one by one, in
the order that they were presented by Campbell. Each phase belonged to the
three stages of the adventure, Separation or departure, Initiation, and
Return. The salient facts of each phase necessary for the comparison will
be noted.
Separation
This is the separation from the world.
Before discussing the details of each phase of each stage of the
hero's adventure, some general similarities between the process of
entrepreneurship and the Separation will be given. It will be recalled
here that the "hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a
region of supernatural wonder." In what way is there a separation and such
a venturing forth for entrepreneurs? Gilder (1984) makes many observations
about entrepreneurship that indicate that a kind of separation occurs. These
are:
1. The
entrepreneur starts in "rebellion against established firms" (p.
247).
2. The
"endlessly recurring miracles of capitalism" are carried out by
"outcasts and orphans"(p. 257).
3. "The
fastest-growing new firms often arise through defections of restive managers
and engineers from large corporations or through the initiatives of immigrants
and outcasts beyond the established circles of commerce" (p. 132).
4. "In the
beginning of the entrepreneurial life there is nearly always a crisis of
breaking away" (p. 26).
Shapero and
Sokol (1982) mention that entrepreneurs are very often outsiders (p. 74). They
see the road to entrepreneurship as one of displacement, which takes on many
forms. But only some people will see a given event as a displacement and turn
it into an opportunity. Campbell says that few people are heroes, while Gilder
and Schumpeter say that only a rare person does or can become an entrepreneur.
Perhaps those people believe in locus of control. It is interesting to note,
that in criticizing Marxism, Campbell (1988) says that we are responsible for
our own fates (p. 161). So he describes the hero in two ways that are similar
to the advocates of entrepreneurship: he attacks Marxism and says the hero
believes in locus of control. This goes along with Brockhaus's (1982) finding
of a high correlation between the need for achievement and belief in internal
locus-of-control (p. 43).
Shapero and Sokol (1982) also report that many entrepreneurs start
their ventures at the time of their midlife crisis (p. 81). Reynolds (1991)
reports that "those most likely to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities
are those with post-secondary education, in their late thirties, and with an
established career record (p. 63). Segal (1990) says that the Jungian hero of
Campbell is one who is starting out on the journey of self discovery in the
second half of life (p. 42).
Brockhaus (1982) also supports the idea that entrepreneurs separate
as do heroes because he says that many entrepreneurs are immigrants, refugees
and those dissatisfied with their jobs (p. 53).
Finally, Leeming (1973) sums up the Jungian importance of myths
with:
"The person
who lives without myths lives without roots, without links to the collective
self which is finally what we are all about. He is literally isolated from
reality. The person who lives with a myth gains 'a sense of wider meaning' to
his existence and is raised 'beyond mere getting and spending. "' (p.
321).
For the entrepreneur, this process of
getting and spending may be secondary because Burch (1986) and Levenhagen and
Thomas (1990) argue that money and profit maximization are only secondary
motives. Below each phase of the adventure will be summarized followed by a
description of how it is similar to entrepreneurship.
The Call to Adventure. The "Call to
Adventure," or the signs of the vocation of the hero is the first phase of
the Separation stage. Here the hero is awakened by some herald (which
may be luck, a wandering eye, or a meeting with a strange creature) which
touches the unconscious world and the hero's creative destiny. The call to
adventure takes the hero out of his familiar surroundings into a new world of
both pain and creative power. Campbell also says that very often a well or some
such similar device is used to symbolically represent the infinitely deep
unconscious of the human mind.
Entrepreneur:
According to Kirzner (1979), the essence of entrepreneurship is
"unawareness both by the entrepreneur himself and by the market in general
that he in fact possesses the resources of vision at all" (p. 180). The
hero does not know he has creative power until the call comes. There is some
herald which signals this. Kirzner has noted that entrepreneurs may be lucky,
or alert (the wandering eye) (p. 169-170).
In "The
Call" the hero awakes to his creative destiny and Gilder (1984) says that
"The entrepreneurial start-up is the most creative domain in American enterprise
because it affords the best learning process" (p. 247) The entrepreneur
learns by "stepping into the often greasy and fetid bins of creation"
(p. 247). These bins are like the dark wells of Campbell mentioned above. And
just as the hero sets out into unknown territory, the entrepreneur tries to
"discover the unknown continents of the real economy."
Furthermore, Burch (1986) says that entrepreneurs "All have a
yen to adventure," (p. 15) are drawn to new ventures and quests, and are
irresistibly drawn to the unknown (p. 36).
Refusal of the Call. This is a very dull
case, when the adventure is refused because the subject refuses to give up what
he thinks is his own best interest (to stay where he is, either figuratively or
literally). The result is not only boredom but separation from the vast
creative power he could have realized. Campbell (1968) also calls this phase
the folly of the flight from god (p. 37). Gilder sees the entrepreneur who has
answered the call as someone who not only has not fled from God but actually
knows the laws of God. So both the hero and the entrepreneur avoid the folly of
the flight from god.
Supernatural Aid. The hero receives aid
from a mentor who himself has taken on his own adventures. The mentor is a
protective figure who represents the peace of Paradise and the forces of
nature. Here Campbell (1968) also said that "the hero's act coincides with
that for which his society is itself ready. He seems to ride on the great
rhythm of the historical process" (p. 71-2).
Entrepreneur:
Schumpeter, of course, has referred to this as creative destruction. Gilder
(1984) says that the entrepreneur prevails by creating a new situation to which
the rest of the world will have to react, if successful. It is the successful
entrepreneur who is the source of the historical process of creative
destruction. He further looks to the historical process with "The spirit
of enterprise wells up from the wisdom of the ages and the history of the West
and infuses the most modern technological adventures" (emphasis
added) (p. 258).
Burch (1986) says that entrepreneurs tend to imitate a personal hero
from childhood (p. 30). This is like aid from the mentor since Campbell says
that the characters in the myth represent feelings from our infantile psychology.
Shapero and Sokol (1982) emphasize
the role that mentors had In inspiring and influencing the budding
entrepreneur. In fact, in many of the cases they cited, the entrepreneur came
to the know their mentors unexpectedly because they were from other countries
or cultures (p. 52). This is similar to the hero being called to the adventure
by some surprising or unexpected herald. Brockhaus (1982) supported the
importance of mentors (p. 52). It must be noted the word mentor comes from
Greek mythology. Mentor was the name of Odysseus's trusty friend and counselor.
The Crossing of the First Threshold.
Before the hero can enter the zone of unknown powers, he must first cross a
threshold which is guarded by demons who are also a source of power to the hero
because he must give up his ego to face them and enter the belly of the whale.
In Campbell (1968) the crossing releases the "divine enthusiasm that
overturns the reason and releases the forces of the destructive-creative
dark" (p. 81-2). Entrepreneur: Where Gilder says that entrepreneurship
makes up the real economy, he refers to the enthusiasm of entrepreneurs. The
word enthusiasm means full of god, from the Greek, with en meaning in and theos
meaning god. It is interesting that Campbell uses the term destructive-creative
along with enthusiasm because it is the enthusiastic entrepreneurs who generate
the creative destruction in capitalism.
Gilder (1984) also says of entrepreneurs that they are able to
"penetrate the frontiers of the darkness that is always closing in on
mortal minds, and [can] reach-in risk and worship-for the inestimable treasures
of light beyond" (p. 67). Campbell (1968) has a similar passage: "The
adventure of the hero represents the moment in his life when he achieved
illumination-the nuclear moment when, while still alive, he found and opened
the road to the light beyond the dark walls of our living death" (p. 259).
Gilder (1984) suggests that the entrepreneur must kill his ego with
"Entrepreneurs can be pompous and vain where it doesn't count; but in
their own enterprise, the first law is listen. They must be men meek enough and
shrewd enough to endure the humbling eclipse of self that comes in profound
learning from others" (p. 246). Again, the entrepreneur taps into the vast
well of creative ideas not by being arrogant but by being humble enough to
listen to others.
Another quote from Gilder (1984) illustrates this point. "Their
self interest succumbs to their deeper interest and engagement in the world
beyond themselves (this recalls separation and crossing the threshold) impelled
by their curiosity, imagination, and faith" (p. 254).
Burch (1986)
adds to be a successful entrepreneur "You must be able to travel an
uncharted course" (p. 32) and that entrepreneurs are willing to enter a
tunnel of darkness (p. 36).
The Belly of the Whale. The entering of
the whale symbolizes the hero's realization of his creative ability by giving
himself up to a higher power.
Entrepreneur:
Kirzner refers to the instant of an entrepreneurial leap of faith. This is when
the entrepreneur gives himself up to a higher power in order to be more
creative. According to Burch (1986) he gives up the logic of his ego and
listens to his imagination. Entrepreneurial activity is a result of imagination
more than of logic (p. 29). Gilder (1984) adds "Any breakthrough, in
science or art, enterprise or love, depends on glimpsing and engaging some
higher some higher realm of life" (p. 70).
Initiation
This is the penetration to the source of power.
The Road of Trials. Once the hero has
crossed the first threshold and entered the belly of the whale, he faces a
seemingly endless road of tests and trials with the aid of his mentor or the
benign power of nature. He slays dragons at each trial, but only if he can
constantly put his ego to death.
Entrepreneur:
Anyone who has started a new business given the rate of new business failures
necessarily must face a road of trials which include getting capital, land and
labor to mesh together efficiently and creatively. There are long hours of
work, bureaucratic regulations to deal with, irate customers, mechanical
breakdowns, competitors, etc. that have to be overcome in order for the
entrepreneur to succeed. Gilder (1984) writes "The entrepreneurial
achievements of the 1970's and the early 1980's came in the face of a hostile
press, resistant culture, and a stagnant "economy." The breakthroughs
of these entrepreneurs are an amazing testimony to human will and ingenuity,
vision and tenacity in defiance of the odds" (p. 56).
Gilder (1984) also writes of the difficulties faced by the
entrepreneur with "In their own afflicted lives, they discover the hard
predicament of all human life, threatened by the creeping encroachments of
jungle and sand" (p. 18) and "In the harsh struggles and remorseless
battles of their lives, entrepreneurs are no saints, and far from sinless. They
bear scars and have inflicted many. Since their every decision has met an
empirical test beyond appeal, they are necessarily the world's true realists,
most proven pragmatists" (p. 256)
Burch (1986) adds "Few, if any entrepreneurs have escaped
failure.
Most have seen
the wild beasts of failure trample on their rose gardens" (p. 33).
The Meeting with the Goddess. The
importance of the goddess for the hero here is not that he must meet her and
fall in love with her, but that the goddess is representative of the universe.
If the hero can come to know this "mother" universe, he can learn the
creative secrets of the physical universe, which will enable him to deliver a
boon. That is, if the hero can look at the world (or universe) as a protecting
and nourishing place, like a mother, or be "married" to the universe,
he will be able to deliver boons because he will be in tune with those creative
secrets.2 Entrepreneur: It must be recalled that this section and
the next are very symbolic and do not relate directly to the hero's
relationship to actual women. The hero needs to see the universe as a nurturing
place. Burch (1986) refers to the entrepreneur's ability to take charge of and
watch over a venture until it can stand alone as a "nurturing
quality" (p. 29).
Woman as Temptress. Here the hero must
not see the woman as someone tempting him with the pleasures of the flesh,
rather he must accept the fact that we live in a material world and that
everything we do is related to that fact. If he can go beyond seeing women as
merely material things, he can keep the power attained in the meeting with he
goddess.
Atonement
with the Father. The hero has a father or knows
someone who is a father figure who initiates him with new techniques, duties
and attitudes so that he can take the place of the father and later become an
initiator himself. The hero must also outgrow the notion that the father is an
ogre and come to believe that the father is merciful. This is necessary for the
hero to gain the creative power.
Entrepreneur: Gilder (1984) gives
importance to the family and the father of the entrepreneur. "Most
[entrepreneurs] were driven by conscious feelings of deprivation and guilt
stemming form broken families and connections. Many had lost their fathers in
childhood through death or divorce. Resulting pangs of guilt and failure may
unleash personal drive to vindicate themselves and retrieve a family
order" (p. 18). He goes even further in discussing the role of the father
by saying of entrepreneurs "Many lose their fathers, early fill their
role, and transcend it gloriously in the world "(p. 18). This is echoed by
Sarachek.
Shapero (1982) reports that many entrepreneurs had fathers who were
entrepreneurs (85-6).
Apotheosis. This is the act of making a
god out of a person. To become a god or god-like, the hero must become
selfless. But to become selfless, the hero must transcend the pairs of
opposites (especially birth and death) that make up the world as perceived by
our rational minds. The hero must stand and be able to go between two worlds,
the conscious and the unconscious and see the divinity and oneness in all
things. This is shown to be the case for the entrepreneur in the step of the
journey called "Master of Two Worlds" in the next section on The
Return.
The Ultimate
Boon. The ultimate boon is for the hero to deliver
the knowledge of the divinity and oneness of all things to his community. This
leads to the knowledge of the infinite creative abilities within each
individual.
Entrepreneur: It
has already been noted that both Schumpeter and Campbell understood the
importance of the process of creation and destruction. Earlier it was noted
that Schumpeter (1962) said creative destruction is "primarily responsible
for the recurrent "prosperities" that revolutionize the economic
organism" (p. 123). That is, he saw creative destruction as a bringer of
boons.
Return
In Campbell (1968) this is the life-enhancing return which is
necessary to the "continuous circulation of spiritual energy into the
world" (p. 36).
Refusal of the Return. Some
heroes refuse the return because it might annihilate all recollection of the
enlightenment found or it will be too difficult to bring this knowledge to the
world. Kirzner says not to act on a hunch shows that it was not a hunch at all.
This would mean that no enlightenment had been found in the first place. So
someone who refuses to act on his hunch (or not return) . would not be an entrepreneur
(or hero) to Kirzner.
The Magic Flight. If the hero displeases
the gods in some way, he must flee from them on a flight of what Campbell
(1968) calls "magical obstruction and evasion" (p. 197).
Rescue from Without. The hero, having
touched the eternal, may wish to stay there rather than return to the world, in
which case the world has to somehow bring him back.
The Crossing of the Return
Threshold. If the hero does not have to be rescued from without, he must
realize that although he has glimpsed and touched the divine that the world he
left and to which he will return is also just as real. This allows him to cross
the threshold rather than stay In the eternal so that he might deliver his
boon.
Master of Two Worlds. The two worlds are
the known, material world he left, and the one he entered on the adventure
where he discovered creative power. Somehow the hero must be able to use the
energy and creative ability discovered in his adventure for the benefit of
mankind. He has to be able to delve into his unconscious and bring out that
which the world needs without letting common, everyday concerns distort his
gift. He has this ability if he has killed his ego.
Entrepreneur:
Gilder (1984) writes something similar about the character of entrepreneurs.
"It is the entrepreneurs who know the laws of the world and the laws of
God. Thus they sustain the world" (p. 19). The following elaborates on
this:
"Every
capitalist investment has the potential for a dual yield: a financial profit
and an epistemological profit. One without the other is sterile. Economies
progress when the process of investment is informed by the results of previous
investments. What makes the capitalist entrepreneur uniquely valuable as a
force for growth, and progress is that he combines in one person these two
yields of enterprise" (p. 254).
The entrepreneur
clearly must be a master of two very different worlds.
Freedom to Live. The hero is finally
able, once he has killed his ego, to detach himself from the fruits of his own
labor and sacrifice them to
God. He has
discovered the creative, divine power that was in him all the time. According
to Campbell (1968) he is "the champion of things becoming, not of things
become, because he is" (p. 243).
Entrepreneur:
Burch (1986) says that corporations tend to cease taking risks and are not run
by entrepreneurs (p. 87) while also acknowledging that entrepreneurs are good
at starting companies and making them successful, but not at managing them (p.
26). The entrepreneur is not a champion of the already existing corporation but
of those that are becoming, to which he is giving birth. Campbell (1988)
strongly emphasizes the heroic nature of mothers who give birth because of
their sacrifice for another (p. 125). Gilder (1984) also lists sacrifice as an
important characteristic of entrepreneurs. He says of entrepreneurship "It
IS a world of service to others-solving their problems and taking on new ones
for yourself-it is the prime source of leadership and wealth" (p. 247) and
of entrepreneurs "By the process of creating and responding to markets,
they orient their lives toward the service to others" (p. 255). MacMillan
and McGrath found that "American entrepreneurs give back more than others
to society" (The Wall Street Journal, February 6, 1992, p. A1).
The most telling Gilder (1984)
observation for this phase is "His (the entrepreneur) success is the
triumph beyond the powers and principalities of the established world to the
transcendent sources of creation and truth" (p. 258). The entrepreneur
masters the two worlds of business and creativity.
CONCLUSIONS
Given that we
need to know more about the psychology of entrepreneurship and to the extent
that actual entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial process as well as what has
been written about them coincide with the nature of the hero and his adventure
in mythology, this paper provides important insights into the psychology of
entrepreneurship because myths are representations of our psyches. Since the
entrepreneur's (ad)venture so closely resembles the hero's adventure which in
turn represents the internal action of the human psyche, entrepreneurship is a
very natural human instinct. It is human nature to go both on the vision quest
of the hero's adventure as outlined by Campbell as well as the vision quest of
entrepreneurship. This is not to ignore the negative, destructive aspects and
pay attention only to the creative side. They may be heroes but they are not
saints. They could also be part trickster and all of the skills and knowledge
they learn on their Journey can be used for purposes that cause harm as well as
bring benefits. The hero and trickster are both agents of change, and change is
always a two-edged sword. It may, however, be a moral imperative for society to
allow entrepreneurship to take place. Even though few people become heroes or
entrepreneurs, their creative energy and world redeeming work is what makes for
a vital and dynamic society as Jonathan Hughes pointed out in The Vital Few:
The Entrepreneur and American Economic Progress. The work from systems
theory attests to the need for systems to be open to new energy and ideas that
can only come from the outside. When a system or society is closed off, entropy
sets in and the system starts to stagnate and die. We must allow the heroic
entrepreneurs to leave the society or system (the separation) so they can be
initiated into new sources of creative energy which they can bring back as a
boon upon their return.
FOOTNOTES
1. From personal
correspondence with Israel Kirzner he writes "I should point out in my own
treatment of the entrepreneur, he is not seen as a "hero". Moreover,
in my own treatment pure luck is not seen as entrepreneurial. (but as the act
of deliberately putting oneself into a situation which one hopes will prove
lucky is entrepreneurial") It is my contention that the best way
for a person to put themselves into a situation in which they will be lucky is
for them to follow Campbell's advice that is based on his analysis of the
hero's adventure. This is to follow your bliss, to listen to the wisdom of your
heart and do what you love, not what the social system would have you do. If
you follow your bliss, you are a hero. I believe that the most successful
entrepreneurs follow their bliss and are therefore heroes.
It is
interesting to note that Schumpeter listed three classes of motives for
entrepreneurship: the will to found private kingdom, the will to conquer, and
the joy of creating. The first one, although seemingly only one of greed,
ranges, however, from "spiritual ambition down to mere snobbery"
(Schumpeter, 1983, p. 92). The second he saw like a sporting event, with money
used to keep score, and not as an end in itself (Schumpeter, 1983, p. 92). This
is consistent with other, more recent research (Burch, 1986, p. 29). The
entrepreneur who fits the third class of motives is in it for the sake of
"exercising one's energy and ingenuity" and for the delight in
venturing (Schumpeter, 1983, p. 92-3). All three classes of motives are
anti-hedonistic, with the third being the most so. This certainly makes it
plausible to see the entrepreneur as someone who follows his or her bliss.
2. Campbell (1968), p. 121, says that the
adventure is essentially the same for men and women. The interested reader
should see The Female Hero In American and British Literature by Carol
S. Pearson and Katherine Pope as well as The Heroine's Journey: Woman's
Quest for Wholeness by Maureen Murdock. These are listed in the references.
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Appendix
Tape #1901:
"Call of the Hero" with Joseph Campbell interviewed by Michael Toms
New Dimensions Foundation audio tape from a live interview on San Francisco's radio station KQED
The following
exchange was part of a discussion of the question of: What IS creativity?
Toms: In a sense
it's the going for, the jumping over the edge and moving into the adventure
that really catalyzes the creativity, isn't it?
Campbell: I
would say so, you don't have creativity otherwise.
Toms: Otherwise
there's no fire, you're just following somebody else's rules.
Campbell: Well,
my wife is a dancer. She has had dance companies for many, many years. I don't
know whether I should talk about this. But when the young people are really
adventuring, it's amazing what guts they have and what meager lives they can be
living, and yet the richness of the action in the studio. Then, you are going
to have a concert season. They all have to join a union. And as soon as they
join a union, their character changes. (emphasis added, but Campbell
changed the tone of his voice) There are rules of how many hours a day you can
rehearse. There are certain rules of how many weeks of rehearsal you can have.
They bring this down like a sledge hammer on the whole thing. There are two
mentalities. There's the mentality of security, of money. And there's the
mentality of open risk.
Toms: In other
societies we can look and see that there are those that honor elders. In our
society it seems much like the elders are part of the main stream and there is
a continual kind of wanting to turn away from what the elders have to say, the
way it is, the way to do it. The union example is a typical one, where the
authority, institution, namely the union comes in and says this is the way it's
done. And then one has to fall into line or one has to find something else to
do.
Campbell: That's
right.
Toms: And it's
like treating this dichotomy between elders and the sons and daughters of the
elders. How do you see that in relationship to other cultures?
Campbell: This
comes to the conflict of the art, the creative art and economic security. I
don't think I have seen it in other cultures. The artist doesn't have to buck
against quite the odds that he has to buck against today.
Toms: The artist
is honored in other cultures.
Campbell: He is
honored and quickly honored. But you might hit it off, something that really
strikes the need and requirements of the day. Then you've given your gift
early. But basically it is a real risk. I think that is so in any adventure,
even in business, the man who has the idea of a new kind of gift
(emphasis added) to society and he is willing to risk it (this is exactly what
George Gilder says in chapter three, "The Returns of Giving" in his
book Wealth and Poverty). Then the workers come in and claim they are the ones that did it. Then he (the entrepreneur) can't afford to
perform his performance. It's a grotesque conflict, I think between the
security and the creativity ideas. The entrepreneur is a creator, he's running
a risk.
Toms: Maybe in
American capitalistic society the entrepreneur is the creative hero in some
sense.
Campbell: Oh, I think he is, I mean the real
one. Most people go into economic activities not for risk but for security. You
see what I mean. And the elder psychology tends to take over.
This discussion ended and after a short
break a new topic was discussed.