Leaders Agree – No Correlation between Smarts and Successful Entrepreneurship

Today marks the 2nd Annual World Entrepreneurship Day (WED). WED was founded to celebrate, connect and educate entrepreneurs. For New Yorkers, the celebration started Wednesday, April 14 with the WED Kick-Off at the Untied Nations.

The kick-off featured various discussions and presentations that included helpful tips and advice, as well as stories of success. A panel including Marc Ecko, founder and chief creative officer of Marc Ecko enterprises, Don Moody, founder and CEO of Word World, LLC, John Petry, partner at Gotham Asset Management, and Leonard Brody, best-selling author and co-founder & CEO at NowPublic.com, discussed how to develop the new generation of entrepreneurs. The panel was moderated by Ira Sockowitz, co-project director & executive vice president public affairs, The Ready to Learn Partnership and CEO of the Phoenix Consulting Group. While each panelist made a point to identify the importance of education, they also noted that being an entrepreneur is not necessarily about knowledge.

“As long as man doesn’t change, the skills to be an entrepreneur won’t change,” Moody said.

Ecko agreed with Moody’s perspective and says entrepreneurism doesn’t involve a specific skill set, but an intrinsic motivation to create something new. He also believes there could be more of an emphasis on encouraging entrepreneurism within the school system.

“You don’t have to be smart,” Brody says. “Being an entrepreneur has nothing to do with being smart. In fact, most entrepreneurs are illogical…being an entrepreneur is about tenacity. It’s about getting ten punches to the stomach and getting up for the 11th one.”

The point the panelist made was illustrated through the event itself –the co-founder, Lauren Amarante, a 21-year-old junior at Arizona State University, created WED last year with Troy Byrd, the co-founder and advisor for WED. While WED has managed to reach 22 countries and 22 states in America, the kick-off event with the UN was planned in a mere four weeks.

Amarante, an example of the new generation of entrepreneurs couldn’t have prepared for a 30-minute delay to the event, uncooperative microphones, and short-lived computer batteries. However, like a true entrepreneur, Amarante handled each issue as it came, and the kick-off continued kicking.

For more information on WED, visit their website and read their blog to catch up on the latest entrepreneurship news. Also, follow WED on Twitter.