Entrepreneurs – Idiots Savants

  • Details
  • Text
  • Audio
  • Downloads
  • Extra Reading

It is almost de rigueur for populist entrepreneurs to deny any link between their business success and their previous education. This lecture explores the reasons for thuis view and the extent to which it is based on fact or myth.

This lecture was a part of the series Education for Enterprise.
The economic success of industrial societies is closely linked with the achievements of entrepreneurs. Wedgewood and Arkwight reshaped their worlds as profoundly as Gates and Noyce are reshaping ours. Many achieved their success and built their businesses around their ability to convert opportunities created by advances in knowledge or understanding into new businesses or industries. Despite that link, the relationship between education and enterprise is poorly understood and often doubted. This series of lectures explores this relationship and builds on the latest research to highlight the likely changes we might expect during a knowledge-based industrial revolution.

Download Text

This event was on Wed, 19 Nov 1997

Tom Cannon

Professor Tom Cannon

Professor of Business

Tom Cannon was the Mercers’ School Memorial Professor of Commerce at Gresham College between 1996 and 1999.

He holds Visiting Professorships in Britain, the USA...

Find out more

Support Gresham

Gresham College has offered an outstanding education to the public free of charge for over 400 years. Today, Gresham plays an important role in fostering a love of learning and a greater understanding of ourselves and the world around us. Your donation will help to widen our reach and to broaden our audience, allowing more people to benefit from a high-quality education from some of the brightest minds.