Real heroes of the rich big in heart and mind

By VICKI JAYNE

Gerry Hargitai escaped Communist rule when he was 18, dodging armed border guards on a 125cc motorbike.

He'd heard Swedish people could choose from seven different types of bread, instead of the two he knew in his Hungarian homeland.

He dreamed of a better world and risked all to chase it - a mindset that helped Hargitai to later business success and qualified him for inclusion in American real estate billionaire Craig Hall's recent book The Responsible Entrepreneur: how to make money and make a difference (The Career Press, $74.95).

It profiles 10 entrepreneurs - 11 if you count Hall, who rose from 18-year-old landlord to a major player.

The subjects come from diverse backgrounds and their fields range from business to charity, diplomacy and religion.

A point Hall wants to make is that although entrepreneurs share similar traits, the need to make money is not necessarily central.

"Part of what I'm focusing on [in the book] is that entrepreneurism is a mindset - it's about thinking innovatively and taking risks.

"To say money is reinforcement enough for such people is shallow. "Most entrepreneurs, like anyone else, want to be thought of in a positive light."

Which, as Hall explains from his California home, is really why he wrote the book - to shift the perception that successful entrepreneurs are necessarily hard-nosed, self-serving money-grubbers. And to explain why 'responsible entrepreneurship' should be made a priority in society.

What links his subjects is a sort of unstoppable optimism that carries stress easily, delights in tackling tough challenges and dodges barriers others see as insurmountable.

Such can-do types have a lot to contribute and ought to be nurtured, says Hall.

It's a view intensified by his recent years living and working in central and eastern Europe, where corrupt robber baron-type business tactics have helped make entrepreneur a dirty word.

He's out to clean up that image and promote the creation of more entrepreneur-friendly environments - ones in which people can make the most of their talents and not get clobbered into oblivion if they fail.

"I think the lessons of failure are critical for entrepreneurs to learn."

That doesn't mean being mollycoddled when risks don't pay off, or forgiving the sort of failures of honesty apparent in the unravelling Enron mess.

"But you can lose or constrain talented people if there is no path back from a failure that happened because their timing was out, or their idea didn't work."

Governments, he says, can help by openly promoting the concept of responsible entrepreneurism, by having legal systems that are strong on fairness but lean on red tape, and workable bankruptcy laws that allow second chances.

He'd also like to see education systems that help level the playing field for poor or otherwise disadvantaged youngsters and which encourage entrepreneurial spirit.

In essence, he's out to replicate for others the American dream that allowed him to become a self-made millionaire in his early 20s and to rebuild following a near-fatal plummet in business fortunes 20 years on.

"I do believe strongly in the American dream for the significant amount of hope and opportunity it offers."

A similar enthusiasm for capitalism does have some qualifications, however. In particular he "deplores" the corporate juggernauts that seem to have shed any sense of personal responsibility in favour of greed.

"With some of those big corporations, you get an entrenched management whose concern is on short-term results and the big bonuses they might bring.

"They're not there because they've taken huge personal risks, or had great innovative ideas."

His responsible entrepreneurs are people such as American Steve Mariotti who was pursuing a successful financial career in New York when a bad beating at the hands of poor teenagers prompted a total direction change.

He turned his talents to educating the underprivileged and set up a national foundation for teaching entrepreneurship (NFTE), which aims to encourage youngsters to help themselves out of the poverty cycle.

Or there's Austrian-born Doraja Eberle who took on a task other charities had rejected as impossible, using faith and guile to shift 900 tonnes of food from Germany to Bosnia during the Serbian conflict.

The organisation she established not only provides food and supplies, but also builds homes for people displaced by war or disaster.

"There are many people who work their hearts out, tackle huge challenges, take on risks that could make or break them, but don't do it for money," says Hall.

Some have never been particularly after personal wealth; others have achieved it only to discover its moral emptiness.

"For many people, as we live longer, we accomplish what we think are our goals and then think 'is that all there is?'

"Many people are now looking for something that is satisfying in a deeper, more spiritual sense than can be found in materialistic goals - particularly if they've been successful."

Other myths about entrepreneurs he wants to bust are that nice guys come last (they're often the best winners) or that success comes overnight (usually only after many years of hard graft).

As to the old question whether entrepreneurs are born or made, he reckons nature has a big part to play but that people often don't recognise their entrepreneurial abilities, which is what the final part of the book is about.

Of the traits listed, says Hall, some are critical.

"I don't know if there's any simple way of identifying the entrepreneurial spirit, but a sense of optimism is absolutely critical.

"These are generally people who have hope, who see the cup as half-full rather than half-empty.

"I think entrepreneurism is something you can be born with in a wide range of societies. I guess over time, it's either cultivated or not."

* vjayne@iconz.co.nz