Entreprendre

French language has a wonderful verb. Entreprendre.

In the modern acception of the verb, entreprendre is mostly associated to startups and high tech. An entrepreneur (a real one) has an outstanding ability to be resilient. Creating something is much harder (and longer) than destroying something because you constantly face the adversity of nature, bending rules, zig-zagging across the status quo and disturbing the established order. You fight conventions.

Entrepreneurs also fight with themselves. They question themselves all the time, and don’t settle with what is good enough. The best entrepreneur have this natural modesty and bravery to accept change with themselves too.

Although entrepreneurship has waken up in recent years in France, i feel the entrepreneur spirit is absent in France at large. For too many years France has rested on its own laurels, refusing to fight status-quos, blinding itself to the growing dangerous social and political climate. France needs more than ever to “entreprendre” to break the cycle it is prisoner of

The tragic recent events, will require important self-questioning, will require actions, will require constant vigilance and resilience to bad news.

France needs this entrepreneur spirit, again. The entrepreneur spirit is not something related to economics and high tech, but an attitude towards change. It applies of course to economy, but not only. In a way being an artist is a sort of entrepreneur.

I have lived in Israel for the past 10 years, a country constantly hit by terror: how on earth can such a country, hit from all over, hated by so many, surrounded by so much danger, can on the other side have such an insolently good economy and irrational success in technology and innovation? Some will say this is because of its military power …but look no further: this is the miracle of a startup nation, where the entrepreneur spirit is so deeply entrenched in the culture for generations. This spirit has given Israel the ability to be resilient to fear, to terror and to sadness and overcome it.

France has no choice: a dramatic change has to happen in its society in face of the immediate danger. Political and military decisions won’t be enough. The nation has to change from within, at once to adapt to this new reality and needs to entreprendre decisive changes at the core of its society.

Journalists will have to make better calls at their analysis and how they present facts, Educators have to be more rigorous and accurate in teaching events and history, Internet users will have to be a lot more vigilant and not just passive towards hate, people will have to learn self-defense, internet services will have to create better tools to make it harder for terrorists, our leaders will have to invest a lot more in technology and adapt surveillance and security systems, Parents will have to be a lot more responsible with their kids, religious leaders will have to show more love towards other communities and denounce more regularly extreme radicalisation, even in their own camp,…

France has invented the expression “entrepreneur”. It’s time to show the world why.