Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship are a pairing for success in the professional arena. To stay entrepreneurial you need to be digitally equipped; to be digitally innovative, one needs to possess an entrepreneurial mind. This was made apparent to me through the inclusion of the speaker series throughout the course. For example, most speakers referenced the necessity to stay tuned in on the newest, latest, and greatest in the digital sector for enterprise upward stability. By staying akin to newness in the market, I discovered a unique commonality between the principles of digital innovation and entrepreneurship.
This course largely validated my reasoning for choosing to be an MIS major. I believe that MIS and Digital Innovation are the overarching themes within the major. The courses are structured in a way that encourages an individual mindset with an acknowledgment of harnessing the power of a team; simultaneously, revolving this social structure around the upward trajectory of digital progress. In summation, this was almost the perfect encompassment of my time in the major at the University of Georgia. In the classroom, MIS students are taught to iterate and improve like technology which thereby makes them an entrepreneur of self.
Throughout this course, I’ve seen the troughs and peaks of this lifecycle possessed both by entrepreneurs and technology alike. It is interesting to see the commonalities. Although the “Hype Cycle” is a digital term, it can be redistributed to the professional flow of an entrepreneur. Take Dennis Crawley and Andy Ruben; their professional careers were not linear, they learned from each mistake and took corrective action to become better. To become model 2.0 of themselves. Crawley experienced an early boom-bust that opened a door for individual improvement, humbling him to a position he once might not have considered previously. This new version of Crawley was able to then go on to make FourSquare. In Ruben’s case, he experienced an extreme upheaval in overall purpose and repositioned after exposure to an uncharted interest he did not know he possessed. But, once acknowledged, he could then unlock that potential for ultimate marketing and monetization. I conclude that to be an entrepreneur one must think of themselves as a technological object in the digital sphere. The parallels stem straight from my 3 takeaways per speaker, in that, the terms “growth”, “iterate”, “learn”, “agility”, and many more usurp consolidation. Therefore, one must be agile and resilient, introspective to insecurity, and eager for improvement.
Moving on – as I said in class – “to not get too heady” – in reference to digital innovation through the lens of an entrepreneur…
I believe that society experiences fixations. In the 16th century that may have been visual art, in the 70s it was music, in the 60s it was fashion. Now, the renaissance is centered in the digital arena. Meaning, the entrepreneurial qualities of humans are being streamlined towards innovating technology and unleashing the potential it may hold. As a result, people are the drivers of where progress is felt, not the inanimate vortex of technological progress. When people decide where they want innovation to ensue they put forth their land, labor, entrepreneurship, and capital to hasten the pace.
Looking back to these periods of fixation, experts in the field are respected and admired, and supported through capital investment. Satoshi Nakamoto is the technological Banksy. Sam Bankman-Fried is the technological Kanye. And, Bill Gates is the technological Edison.
Each duo’s counterpart experienced immense success at the apex of their industry’s lifecycle. Funding poured into the likes or surroundings of Banksy, Kanye, and Gates during these periods to promote more of their work or others’ in adoration and replication. However, humans own a remarkably slim attention span; therefore, the societal focus is extreme yet short.
Right now, funding and focus surround the first person of each of the comparisons listed above. We want more from financial technology, digital education, and technological hardware that bring ease to everyday life. That’s why the fintech market is oversaturated and MIS majors are pursued heavily and SkyMall is colored with the most outlandish innovations. Therefore, this class is rather an apex in its stature and presence. We are studying the current and modern-day renaissance, where the potential is endless yet on the clock.
Ultimately, I believe humans will divert their attention to a new sociological stage or return to one that needs an update. As a result, progress will reach a stalemate in the digital age. Yes, it will still progress but it will not experience the same inertia it is and has been. That is also why I am not fearful of a “technological takeover.” We’ve discussed the scary inhumane qualities found within innovations like ChatGPT and AI and the potential harm they could inflict on humanity. However, humans are the drivers of these innovations, and as a result, this fear is obsolete.