Question

Read “The Man in the Arena” passage below by Theodore Roosevelt. Write a minimum of one well-developed paragraph capturing what this means to you from an entrepreneurship perspective. Be specific in your interpretation, ending with your general takeaway.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Answer 1

From an entrepreneurship perspective, the passage describes the efforts and the lengths to which an entrepreneur goes while trying to accomplish the goals he/she has set for themselves. Theodore also provides encouragement and courage to the ones out there taking little risks every day through all the ups and downs. There is a great amount of detail in the struggles of an entrepreneur as they participate in this path of success. He glorifies the entrepreneurial spirit in not giving up despite little setbacks and praises every single effort they make to reach their goals while making a noteworthy point about the critics that they don't matter. This is because they are not the ones putting in any effort or taking any of the risks that an entrepreneur takes and will not be able to comprehend what it is to win or lose because of their failure to participate. The most significant point the author of the passage makes is to be proud of all the efforts you make in trying to reach your goal and to ignore the ones that have not walked in your shoes as you progress.