Obstacles and Setbacks

 

Obstacles… roadblocks… detours… personal setbacks. These will be a part of every entrepreneurial journey. This is what we focused on in Introduction to Entrepreneurship this week. Uncomfortable things will happen whether through our own decisions, the economy, the weather, boats stopped off the coast of California or someone else’s choices. How an entrepreneur faces those challenges determines whether they have the chops to be successful or not.

One of my textbooks this semester is “A Field Guide for the Hero’s Journey” by Jeff Sandefer and Rev. Robert Sirico. The subtitle on the book is “Inspirational classics and practical advice from a serial entrepreneur and an entrepreneurial priest.” (I didn’t realize priests could be entrepreneurs! I’ll have to ask my Catholic mom about that!)

The book is a series of short stories, some famous, some not, interspersed with stories from the authors. I’ve always been a fan of biographies, and one of the stories I read this week was about Nikola Tesla. I never realized that Tesla pretty much got the shaft from Thomas Edison! But I’m jumping ahead. Edison hired Nikola Tesla to redesign inefficient direct current generators for a specific amount of money, which he accomplished. Edison reneged on the deal, so Tesla quit. Tesla then got a job digging ditches to make ends meet while he worked on further scientific discoveries,  one which led to him being hired by the Westinghouse company. Tesla’s invention won the competition to power the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. Tesla’s invention is still used to this day. Tesla faced more bad luck however, as Edison’s company orchestrated a smear campaign against Westinghouse and soon Tesla was out of a job again.

Nikola Tesla

Tesla kept innovating, experimenting, and inventing, but not without constant problems. Most of the things he invented, he didn’t receive credit for, nor did he become rich. Because he was considered by many to be eccentric, people started avoiding him. Tesla died in a hotel at the age of 86, almost destitute.

Depressing, right? Yes, it could be seen as depressing for Tesla. However, humans across the globe are blessed by the creativity and innovation of Nikola Tesla. After Tesla died, the United States Supreme Court upheld Tesla as the true inventor of radio. That and many other things that we use today were invented by Tesla. He was a man who didn’t give up despite criticism, setbacks and derision.

Rev. Robert Sirico states, “He pursued his dreams, his ideas, even when doing so was hard, draining and even demeaning.” He goes on to say, “We need brilliant men and women like Tesla: we need people with a broad vision of what can be and what really is of lasting value, people with the strength to surmount obstacles and maintain a definition of success that is deeper and more authentic than what we find in today’s celebrity tabloids.”

Maybe that’s why this story resonated with me – we don’t read or hear about too many people like this in our current culture. I think Tesla, though some may look at his life as tragic, was an excellent example of what courage, drive and persistence really look like. I think vision is an essential quality that an entrepreneur needs to maintain. Even when things are difficult, remembering your why, remembering what the end result of your goal is, so that you can maintain focus on that -- is what helps to keep pushing on when the only person pushing you, may be you.