"If people aren't calling you crazy, you aren't thinking big enough."
Many of you may have heard the phrase that ‘to be an entrepreneur you have to be a little bit crazy’, and this is certainly a sentiment shared by Linda Rottenberg, the co-founder and CEO of Endeavour, the world’s leading organization dedicated to supporting fast-growing entrepreneurs, and regarded by many as ‘the entrepreneur whisperer’. In her new book, Crazy Is A Compliment: The Power of Zigging When Everyone Else Zags, (we love this book title!) she encourages everyone to start thinking and acting like an entrepreneur. In today’s highly competitive and fast-paced world, she reminds us all of the need to be nimble, adaptive, daring—and maybe even a little crazy—or risk being left behind.
For all those aspirant women entrepreneurs who perhaps have a business dream, but don’t know how to turn that dream into a viable reality, Linda Rottenberg’s new book could provide the inspiration to take that first big step. She draws on her unrivaled personal experience to suggest a wide range of tried and tested techniques to help everyone to achieve their dreams. At a practical level, she tackles how to successfully overcome fear; how to deal with those critics around you who might not share your dreams and aspirations and who might look to pour cold water on your ideas; how to generate the required support from those around you; and how to exploit chaos for your own entrepreneurial benefit. Linda’s Rottenberg’s approach in Crazy Is a Compliment is to use a combination of highly inspirational stories, solid and original research, and practical advice to create a road map for getting started and going bigger.
Every day I meet people with a dream. Maybe you’re serving coffee and fantasizing about launching a microbrewery; maybe you’ve skipped college and yearn to start your own design firm; maybe you’re sitting in your cubicle and brainstorming a new idea that can improve your company. You have a dream, but you don’t know how to turn your dream into reality. Or you’ve already launched your dream but you’re unsure how to take it to the next level. This book can show you the way.
What is really interesting about Crazy Is a Compliment, is that she breaks a few myths about the idea of entrepreneurship being some kind of big global boys club. For example, she makes a point that in today’s hyped-up, Silicon Valley led, young male dominated entrepreneurial environment (she calls them the young boys in hoodies), the fact is that the fastest growing groups starting businesses are actually women and baby boomers over the age of 55 – interesting eh? Linda also makes an interesting observation that if you are creating something new and innovative, then you should expect to be called crazy – it has always been that way. It comes back to her notion of zigging when everyone else is zagging!
There are so many really fascinating observations in this book that will undoubtedly resonate with women entrepreneurs, and will inspire and motivate those who have aspirations to be them someday. Perhaps one of the most powerful of these observations, and one that will strike a chord in most women entrepreneurs, is that it is no longer a pre-requisite of the world of entrepreneurs to be a workaholic and spend every hour possible at the office at the expense of family and personal relationships. Today, women entrepreneurs realize the importance of balance and flexibility, particularly when it comes to managing critical family time. Linda breaks every myth in the book on this subject, and it is great and very comforting to read.
About the author
Linda Rottenberg is an American businesswoman and New York Times best-selling author. She is the CEO and Co-founder of Endeavor, a non-profit organization that pioneered the field of high-impact entrepreneurship. Named one of “America’s Best Leaders” by US News & World Report and one of 100 “Innovators for the 21st century” by Time Magazine, Rottenberg is considered one of the world's most dynamic experts on entrepreneurship, emerging markets, innovation, and leadership. She has been profiled in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, USA Today, The Economist, People, and the Financial Times, and has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, Nightline, MSNBC, NPR, CNBC, CNN, Fox News, Fox Business, and Bloomberg. In addition, Rottenberg was named “Ms. Davos” by Business Insider in 2011, Veuve Clicquot's Businesswoman of the Year in 2008, and featured in Dell's “Take Your Own Path” advertising campaign. She was referred to as the world's "Mentor Capitalist" in Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat and as the “entrepreneur whisperer" by Good Morning America and NPR.
A frequent lecturer at Fortune 500 companies, Rottenberg has been the subject of four case studies by Harvard Business School and the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She also serves on the board of directors of Zayo Group, a global provider of bandwidth infrastructure that is listed on the NYSE, and on the advisory council of Abraaj Capital, an $8 billion global private equity firm.
Why LoA loves it....
Linda Rottenberg’s book, Crazy is a Compliment: The Power of Zigging When Everyone Else Zags, is a great read for any women entrepreneur, or those thinking about making the brave and bold step towards realizing their entrepreneurial dreams, often in what seems to be a man’s world. She is a woman after our own heart here at Lionesses of Africa, as she believes that everyone in this day and age needs an entrepreneurial spirit and the courage to overcome the obstacles, balance the risks, weigh up the benefits, and the wisdom to follow their dreams. She also believes in the power of being ‘crazy bold’ as part of that journey. We love the fact that she is truly on a mission to help entrepreneurs from around the world turn ideas into action, no matter how inexperienced the founders or outlandish the concept. Her new book is written with great humour, passion for the power of entrepreneurship, and real wisdom, having guided so many people on their own entrepreneurial journeys, getting them to think big along the way. This is a real rallying cry for women’s entrepreneurship, and should inspire any Lioness of Africa going forward.