Videos
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Daniel Isenberg: Scale Up for Growth -
Fostering Entrepreneurship - Babson College Workshop
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Opening Remarks with Dan Isenberg
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Greater Boston Video: The Benefits Of Business Failure
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Daniel Isenberg on The Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Strategy as Economic Policy -
Global Entrepreneurship: Lessons from Around the World
Learn More About Daniel Isenberg
Cities and regions that are centers for long-lasting growth and prosperity are the ideal environments to operate businesses in. How can organizational leaders cultivate that ecosystem from scratch in places where it is not well-developed?
Helping companies solve this puzzle is Daniel Isenberg, Ph.D. A world-renowned global entrepreneurship expert and a gifted, highly engaging teacher, Isenberg’s innovative work has revolutionized the way regions and businesses scale through the transformative Scale Up Ecosystems methodology. An investor and business leader, he has taught this framework all over the globe and it has been used in the U.S., U.K., India, Colombia and other countries. Isenberg has taught at Harvard, Columbia, the Israel Institute of Technology (Technion), INSEAD, Babson Executive Education and more.
“Scale Up Ecosystems uses entrepreneurship to help economies grow in tangible, measurable ways,” explains Isenberg, author of the bestselling book “Worthless, Impossible and Stupid: How Contrarian Entrepreneurs Create and Capture Extraordinary Value” (Harvard Business Review Press). “Corporations can use the same method to make sustainable profits, create value for shareholders and employees, and help grow the economies they benefit from.”
Founder of the former Babson Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Platform, Isenberg’s methodology goes well beyond theory to create practical results and broad-based prosperity, typically visible within 12 to 24 months of launching an initiative. Essentially, he has answered the question of what generates sustained, inclusive growth, as evidenced by successful projects in diverse global markets such as Colombia, Milwaukee, Northeast Ohio, Trinidad and Tobago, and more.
Spark Real Growth in Small and Medium Enterprises
As the startup movement continues to sweep the globe, Isenberg – with his years of experience investing in dozens of startups and writing dozens of Harvard Business Review articles on entrepreneurship – believes policymakers and leaders should refocus the conversation on the kind of real growth that only scale-ups can deliver.
“Startups may command the limelight, but without a scale up frame of mind – a template of what real growth looks like and entails – entrepreneurs, investors, corporations and societies will not benefit from the positive potential of entrepreneurship,” explains Isenberg. “Not only must small and medium business entrepreneurs learn the language of growth, but policymakers must also remove barriers to achieving it.”
With a systematic set of policies and tools that can encourage and reap the benefit of entrepreneurial growth, Isenberg helps leaders create value out of a product or business that looks less important to everyone else. By demonstrating extraordinary value where others believed there was none, he challenges our long-held beliefs on what it takes to be successful in business, opening up new opportunities for organizations and customers alike.
A compelling, witty presenter, Isenberg challenges conventional thinking with actual practice and a unique approach. Leveraging growth entrepreneurship to scale ecosystems that will support businesses of all sizes, ages and sectors, he’s renowned for guiding organizational strategy to produce measurable and sustainable returns.
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For more than 35 years, Daniel Isenberg has been a teacher and practitioner in the field of entrepreneurship and supply chain management. Author of “Worthless, Impossible and Stupid: How Contrarian Entrepreneurs Create and Capture Extraordinary Value” (Harvard Business Review Press, 2013), he is a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review (HBR). Following his seminal 2008 piece “The Global Entrepreneur,” his 2010 article “How to Start an Entrepreneurial Revolution,” was named an HBR “Big Idea” and introduced the now-famous concept of an entrepreneurship ecosystem. A subsequent article, “Entrepreneurs and the Cult of Failure,” along with his HBR blog on entrepreneurship has attracted millions of readers. Isenberg has also been an expert contributor for The Economist, The Huffington Post and QZ.
In 2012, Isenberg was awarded the Pio Manzu Gold Medal for “pioneering and innovative work in economic development,” signed by Mikhail Gorbachev. In addition to Harvard, Columbia and Babson, Isenberg has taught at INSEAD, Reykjavik and the Technion, where he created Israel’s first course on technology-based entrepreneurship in 1987.
Isenberg continues to supervise and advise ongoing projects in urban and semi-urban regions around the world, including in Canada, Colombia, the United States and Trinidad and Tobago.
Daniel Isenberg is available to advise your organization via virtual and in-person consulting meetings, interactive workshops and customized keynotes through the exclusive representation of Stern Speakers & Advisors, a division of Stern Strategy Group®.
How to Create a Scale Up® Ecosystem
“Light the spark of entrepreneurial spirit and the fire of economic prosperity will begin to grow.” It’s a call to action so simple, yet many leaders from across the globe still don’t know how to stimulate and support entrepreneurship which will, in turn, support regional growth. Daniel Isenberg, Ph.D., has traveled the world to help transform regions in a way that encourages long-term economic development and broad-based prosperity. In this talk, Isenberg reveals the methodologies to transform regional economies in just a few years, with tangible progress in as little as 12 to 24 months. Leaders walk away understanding the nine principles for changing local institutions and culture to accelerate economic growth within their region.
Policies for Startup or for Scale Up®
The startup movement has swept the globe. But Daniel Isenberg, Ph.D., despite his experience investing in dozens of tech startups primarily in Israel, believes governmental and other leaders should refocus the entrepreneurship discussion on the real growth that only scale-ups can deliver. Startups may command the limelight, but without a scale-up frame of mind – a template of what real growth looks like and entails – entrepreneurs, investors, corporations and societies will not benefit from the positive potential of entrepreneurship, he explains. In this engaging talk, Isenberg shows that not only must entrepreneurs learn the language of growth, but policymakers must also remove barriers to achieving it. Pointing to large-scale economic development interventions, such as the work of Manizales Más in Colombia, he offers specific action principles and tools that can be used to stimulate Scale Up Ecosystems. Audiences walk away understanding how his systematic set of policies and tools can encourage and reap the benefit of entrepreneurial growth.
Spark Real Growth in Small and Medium Enterprises
Think of the word “entrepreneur” and the image of a youthful, tech savvy Silicon Valley founder may come to mind. But that portrait is one of the many misconceptions we have when it comes to ideas about entrepreneurship, says Daniel Isenberg, Ph.D. Innovation, expertise and youth are not prerequisites to becoming a successful entrepreneur. Rather, it’s realizing extraordinary value – sometimes in seemingly worthless, impossible and stupid ideas – where others believed there was none. The most effective small and medium enterprise entrepreneurs create value out of a product or business that looks less valuable to everyone else, opening up opportunities for customers. In this talk, Isenberg celebrates this contrarian mindset and its ability to transform society, challenging our long-held beliefs on what it takes to be successful in business.
Applying the Ecosystem Metaphor to Entrepreneurship: Uses and Abuses
(The Antitrust Bulletin, December 2016)
Worthless, Impossible and Stupid: How Contrarian Entrepreneurs Create and Capture Extraordinary Value
(Harvard Business Review Press, July 2013)
Spark Entrepreneurship and Growth in Your Region
Local and regional growth can provide vast benefits to both economies and organizations across sectors. Daniel Isenberg, Ph.D., closely works with companies and governments around the world to show economic development professionals how to spark entrepreneurship, growth and broad-based prosperity in their regions. In this highly interactive workshop, Isenberg draws from his renowned ScaleUp methodology as well as real-world case studies to provide participants with exercises, tools and skills for helping the ecosystems they operate in grow, ultimately benefitting local economies, customers, entrepreneurs and companies alike.
“Dan was an absolute highlight of the conference and both his presentation style and his “contrarian” content were exactly what we wanted DRIVE to be. He sparked some of the most engaged discussions at DRIVE and many people are taking notice of his work.”
“His speech in 2016 GEW Korea was very insightful, especially for government officials like me. His five, sequenced policy principles for developing entrepreneurship (eg labor flexibility, market encouragement, focus on scale ups) ecosystem impressed me because I hadn’t seriously thought of policy execution affecting entrepreneurship. His advice was extremely helpful for Korea and renowned Korean newspapers published his recommendations. I expect that Professor Isenberg’s speech during 2016 GEW Korea will reshape lots of related policies and people’s mindsets about Korea’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.”
“Daniel Isenberg is an enthusiastic, passionate speaker. He makes the effort to prepare the slides up until the presentation day, and does his best to be interactive. His presentation based on his book “Worthless, Impossible and Stupid” was easy to understand, and it goes against people’s perception. In my personal opinion, his speech was helpful for our audiences to have them think about entrepreneurship and startups from a different angle.”
“Daniel Isengerg is quick witted, clear, concise and yet still entertaining! We presented a panel together at the World Economic Forum, and I will be honored to work with and recommend him many more times!”
“My first World Economic Forum experience was the Creative Spark session on Experimentation, which was led by Daniel Isenberg. Daniel did a marvelous job of keeping the audience and panelists all engaged emotionally and intellectually, continually keeping us thinking yet keeping the discussion moving. Daniel opened by having all the participants plan and execute an experiment in 5 minutes propelled the discussion forward, and I couldn’t believe how fast the next 40 minutes raced by.”
“Thanks to the superior moderating skills of Dan Isenberg, today’s panel was one of the best discussions I have ever attended at Davos.”
“I have had the distinct pleasure of meeting Daniel Isenberg, one of the most strategic presenters I have worked with. Isenberg has demonstrated outstanding leadership skills while maintaining a clear sense of purpose. From beginning to end, he eagerly embraces his subject matter—entrepreneurship—with an interactive, candid and enthusiastic performance. He is an impressive speaker who is extremely energetic and a natural entrepreneur who is not only magnetic, but inspiring to all those around him.”
“Daniel Isenberg is a rare commodity. He has successfully crossed over from the experienced entrepreneur into being an incisive and exciting orator. This is truly a remarkable feat; a testament to this was my first hand experience of the rapt attention and subsequent excited feedback during his keynote speech at the 10th International Entrepreneurship Forum [IEF2011]. I would thoroughly recommend any organization or institution to utilize and exploit his unique talent. I myself am asked to speak internationally, and would consider that I am a mere amateur to the professionalism and polished performance that I witnessed.”
