370 ENTREPRENEURSHIP
challenge of the entrepreneurial workplace is to enable employees to share the founders’
excitement, motivation, commitment, and satisfaction. Otherwise, they will fail to
carry out their tasks and responsibilities energetically and effectively. Part of the entre-
preneur’s responsibility is to create an organization where the culture, the ethics, and
the human resource management system are consistent with the goals and ambitions of
the enterprise.The Entrepreneurial Culture
The culture of the organization is reflected in its philosophies, rules, norms, and values.
It defines “how we do things around here” for both employees and customers. A strong
entrepreneurial culture mirrors the entrepreneurial values of the founders. Entrepreneurs
often start their businesses because they want to do things “their own way,” and creat-
ing an entrepreneurial culture is their opportunity to allow others to do it “their own
way.” Therefore, it is imperative that the entrepreneurs communicate what they believe
is important. This communication can be one-on-one, or it can be shared in meetings,
employee newsletters, or other written formats. Often the culture is communicated in
rituals, rites, and the folklore of the company.^71 Entrepreneurial companies can do things
their own way. For example:Amy Miller, president of Amy’s Icecreams Inc., of Austin, Texas, is a self-described “hyper-
active,” so she wants her stores to be hyperactive too. She encourages her employees to toss
ice cream from scoop to bowl, and she allows and encourages employees to dance on the
freezer tops. To recruit people as uninhibited as herself, she gives potential applicants a
paper bag and asks them to do something creative with it.^72
At Tweezerman Corp. in Port Washington, New York, the slogan is “We aim to tweeze” and
the goal is 24-hour service. Working for the tweezer and body-care products company can
be frenetic and tense. Because the owner, Dal La Magna, does not employ secretaries, all
the employees are constantly in a mad rush to answer phones, letters, and customer
demands. The pace creates tensions and fights, so the company has “Fight Day” once a
month when all the stored-up steam can be let off. Postponing the arguments gives most
people a chance to cool off and get down to work. Also, the company sets space aside for
employees to meditate when the atmosphere gets too wacky.^73
Frank Meeks has 45 Dominos Pizza units in his Washington, D.C., franchise area. Every
week he and his managers do a no-nonsense 10-kilometer run before their meeting. “The
company believes in integrating health and fitness,” Meeks says. Recruits are told about the
requirement before they are hired, and the only excuse not to run is a deathbed plea. Meeks
does not want any lazy people on the team. The competitive atmosphere makes the meet-
ings more like pep rallies than sales reports.^74The entrepreneurial culture is clearly different from the culture of traditional large
organizations. It is future-oriented and emphasizes new ideas, creativity, risk-taking, and
opportunity identification. People feel empowered to manage their own jobs and time.
Everyone contributes to the firm’s success, and the common worker is a hero.
Communication is frequently horizontal and bottom up—while the worker serves the