The Idea Entrepreneur

Here at Idea Platforms, Inc., we have long been fascinated by a very distinct and intriguing kind of actor on the American stage: the idea entrepreneur.

Edward Tufte, for example. His idea is that visual design fundamentally affects, for better or worse, the meaning of information. Starting in 1983, with his first book The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Tufte has built an idea platform around visual literacy that includes books, speaking, consulting, merchandise, and works of art.

Idea entrepreneurs like Tufte harbor a desire to change the world, just as social entrepreneurs do, but through a profit-making enterprise. They can take in millions of dollars, billions even, but making money is never the goal, only the fuel that sustains them and their idea.

Idea entrepreneurs always have a strain of the educator in them. Martha Stewart, driven by the belief that women can be thoroughly modern and also love pursuits considered as traditionally female (cooking, decorating, entertaining), sells a lot of cookware and utensils, but magazines―filled with ideas and practices―are her bread and butter.

Which brings me to the book. Even in the age of tweets and blogs, the book is essential to creating an idea platform. Yes, people read books differently than they did even a couple of years ago―in short bursts, many at once―but a book is still valued as a symbol of authority and a form of legacy. Ben Franklin, our earliest idea entrepreneur, would not hold the place he does in our society―even with the almanac, the consulting, the speaking, and the inventions―without his books.

A book is not enough, however: idea entrepreneurs must live and embody their idea, often overcoming severe reversals and great hardships to do so. Greg Mortenson, co-author of Three Cups of Tea and driven by the idea that education brings peace, found his mission in a failed attempt to climb K2 in honor of his dead sister. He spent years laboring, with little help or money, to build schools in the wilds of Pakistan before the book created what has become an incredibly strong idea platform.

There are many would-be idea entrepreneurs, but very few who attain the influence of Dr. Andrew Weill (you can heal yourself); chef Bryant Terry (food is justice); Bear Grylls (rely on yourself); Mireille Guiliano (French style improves everything); or Jim Collins (good is the enemy of great).

Who do you consider to be an idea entrepreneur?