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Linda Rottenberg: Developing High Impact Entrepreneurs

Published on28 OCT 2014

Linda Rottenberg, co-founder and CEO of nonprofit organization Endeavor, which identifies and supports high-impact entrepreneurs in developing countries to promote long-term economic growth, discusses the concept of entrepreneurship and the power of taking risks.

On the origins of Endeavor: “In the mid-1990s, there wasn’t really a word for ‘entrepreneurship’ in Spanish or Portuguese or Arabic or Turkish. Now they all exist, but 20 years ago they really didn’t as words or as concepts. I had an “aha” moment and thought, ‘What if there was an organization that supported big dreamers who could create jobs and wealth and change their industries?’”

On taking risk: “[Through growing Endeavor], I realized that entrepreneurship is not just for entrepreneurs. It is a skillset and a mindset that we all need, and while taking some risk seems scary – the riskier strategy in today’s world is to take no risk at all.”

On penning her book, Crazy is a Compliment: The Power of Zigging When Everyone Else Zags: “I wanted to give people a perspective that you don’t have to risk it all, but giving yourself permission to take some risk – to see the world differently, to be slightly contrarian – is the way you’re going to get ahead."

On leadership: “It’s important to be less super, more human.”

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