Entrepreneurial Leadership in the Daoist Framework

By embracing creativity and innovation, an entrepreneur's products or services can bring about business growth, productivity improvement, job and wealth creation, an enhanced image for the economy, and ultimately a better quality of life for all. As such, entrepreneurs are an extremely important part of the global economy and of society as a whole. However, as small founder-driven companies tend to grow into larger organisations, the issue of leadership soon becomes of vital importance. In this paper, we discuss a two-phase entrepreneurial leadership model, presenting the challenges entrepreneurs have to meet for a successful transition from phase one of formative growth into phase two of institutional growth. Quoting chapters from the Daodejing, we provide a Daoist framework of entrepreneurial leadership as a response to these challenges and as an alternative to the traditional Confucian and Legalist frameworks. We especially emphasise the concepts of wei wu wei, zi ran, and wateristic leadership personality within the article.