Self-Understanding Through Self-Awareness for New Entrepreneurs

Abstract

In order to have a successful career, it is widely recognized that an entrepreneur needs to get core competencies in marketing, finance, strategic management, human ressource management, management information systems, etc, during his education. These competencies could be attained by attending any good MBA programme anywhere in the world. But something essential and indispensable is missing: a sense of holistic view of the world, a sense of the self for itself and a sense of the self related to the others and to the environment. We argue in this paper that Self-Awereness and Personal Growth courses are fundamental for new entrepreneurs. In a world dominated in the past years by corporate scandals (Enron, WorldCom, Parmalat, Societe Generale, Khalifa, etc...) the role of education related to these phenomena is questioned by many scholars. Business Ethics is taught in some MBA programmes but it does not seem to be enough. We postulate that Self-Awareness courses may give to the student a sense of morality and ethics to act in the corporate world in a responsible manner. After explaining what Self-Awareness is and why it is a relevant concept for today's good business, we will present in this paper what we teach in India and in France. We will end by presenting avenues of research for scholars: especially the need for a combination of two differents views of Self-Awereness: an Eastern view and a Western view.