It does strike me that there are some obvious examples of entrepreneurship in the academy, especially with researchers building movements around new disciplines. Examples from your world might include the pioneering researchers who made video games, robotics and human-computer interaction each legitimate fields of academic study.

In other disciplines, the recent Positive Psychology movement comes to mind as does the much older osteopathic approach to medicine (from the late 1800s).

I'm very curious about this now…

From my experience in academia entrepreneurial thinking is a cornerstone of progressive scientific thinking. While there are some researchers that stay within the boundaries of their theories and disciplines, more common in historically established disciplines (economics, psychology, etc), there are a few others that seek to building new disciplines, new research centers, that study new phenomena. These researchers face the same problems as entrepreneurs, an uphill battle for acceptance, perhaps even ridicule by the establishment that cynically views new ideas until recognition permeates the greater scientific community. I would contend that what you call entrepreneurial thinking is the same impetus behind these researchers, the motivation and willingness that propels their journey to seek out new knowledge despite the risks and ridicule.

Again I draw this corollary because I don't think this process is unique to business or academia, I think entrepreneurial thinking is a common tenant of our society, at least from our perspective in Western Culture. While the methods themselves may be different, and unique to each context, the premise of entrepreneurial thinking is common. To extrapolate further, I guess what I'm trying to articulate is that entrepreneurial thinking and methodology will always face an uphill battle against the established paradigm. This is both consistent with the scientific process and the process of the business world.

I mean really, if being an entrepreneur wasn't such a challenge, would it be as much fun?

I think you're right that businesses with a purpose have a competitive advantage. This is something I've been wanting to write about and probably will before too long. Still, there are two trends that unsettle me. I wonder if you're seeing anything similar:

1. Many entrepreneurial companies see their social contributions as something they do philanthropically, outside of their businesses. I was this way with TicketLeap and partially with Anthillz — I say partially because Anthillz began with a vision for social impact. I wish the social contributions were baked into the core business.

2. Entrepreneurial thinking has barely penetrated outside of business. This is part of the reason I want to disentangle the term entrepreneurship from commerce. I want change makers in other disciplines to use it without having to explain themselves so much.

Your point about everyone's inner entrepreneur reminds me a lot of DreamIt founder and Congressional candidate Steve Welch. He likes to say, “We are all born entrepreneurs.”

In this sense, he drew a clear line in the sand between starting a business, being a freelancer, and even innovation and risk taking…and behaving “entrepreneurially”.

I'm also curious what makes you feel that entrepreneurs are missing out on their communities, causes, and education. If anything, I feel that the pendulum has swung the other way, where the most entrepreneurial companies are not just creating value, but affecting change and teaching others (and themselves) as a part of their efforts. Sure, there are LOTS of people out to build businesses for no other reason than to make a buck. Some of them win and some of them lose. But I've noticed a trend that the ones that continue to value higher purposes win on a much more consistent basis.

I wrote about the Civic Entrepreneurship in the past, and I think it does a good job of encapsulating the values of community, cause, and education you describe. Maybe what you're yearning for is for the pendulum to swing in that particular direction?