Whilst the entrepreneurial spirit can be applied to a wide range of disciplines and professionals it is perhaps most closely associated with the world of business and incorrectly used to describe many successful business people, when in fact very few individuals can truly demonstrate an entrepreneurial spirit.
Historical Context of the meaning of entrepreneur
The word itself is French in origin and if interpreted in its literal context means "between jobs". It is interesting that a word that has come to project the very pinnacle of success should have such mundane roots as a means of describing being unemployed.
This article examines a number of concepts that appear intrinsic to what constitutes entrepreneurial spirit.
Summary
In conclusion whilst there are certainly key characteristics which encapsulate the entrepreneurial spirit it would be foolish to pretend that any one individual has all those traits and even more foolish to believe that such a concept can be comprehensively defined. It is also short sighted to believe that those with entrepreneurial spirit are only evident in the business community, indeed many different disciplines and vocations have historical and existing individuals contained within them that could be essentially described as entrepreneurs.
Well Known individuals exhibiting the entrepreneurial spirit : Richard Branson, Clive Sinclair, Freddy Laker, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Anita Roddick.
Words often used to describe individuals with entrepreneurial spirit : Mavericks, Tycoons, pathological liars, risk takers, self made business people, successful, charismatic.