Book Review;EntrepreneursHeadbangingWorld Changers: 25 Entrepreneurs Who Changed Business As We Knew It. By John Byrne.Hero-worship is out.Most serious writers are more interested in “forces” and “factors” than in heroes and heroines.And even biographers specialise in exposing feet of clay.Lord Acton's dictum that “great men are almost always bad men” has become a commonplace.Yet one group has escaped from this general cynicism: entrepreneurs.Company executives may be boring Gradgrinds, bankers the spawn of the devil and politicians crooks and liars.But all agree that entrepreneurs are a cut above the rest of mankind.The obvious reason for this is that entrepreneurs represent the creative side of “creative destruction”:it is not hard to see how Richard Branson and Steve Jobs have madethe world a better place, or even Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks.A less obvious reason is that entrepreneurs appeal to our anti-establishment instincts:some of the very emotions that lead us to dislike chief executives and bankers also lead us to admire entrepreneurs.They are impatient with stuffy conventions.They turn the world upside-down. And they get fabulously rewarded for their efforts.John Byrne's “World Changers” is a classic exercise in hero-worship.The author provides some interesting insight into what makes entrepreneurs tick.
