Bottling The Entrepreneurial Spirit

UK Scientists studied tech entrepreneurs and found (duh) that they exhibit more "highly adaptive risk-taking behavior" than their non-startup, corporate-slaving counterparts. They suggest that this difference results in better outcomes during stressful business situations.

The research, which was published in Nature magazine, also suggests that these risk-taking tendencies are linked to the neurotransmitter dopamine. Because the ability to make quick decisions under stress "may have evolutionary value as a means of seizing opportunities in a rapidly changing environment", there's talk of developing drugs to aid the risk-adverse.

If being risk-adverse is your only "flaw", and all your other entrepreneurial stars are aligned... then why not?

Putting health reasons aside, society doesn't consider risk-aversion as a cognitive deficit. It's socially acceptable (or is it?) to take drugs for dyslexia, ADD, and the like; but a business person taking risk-aversion drugs is more like an athlete taking steroids.

Pharmacological-induced "entrepreneurship" won't create successful entrepreneurs. It will only promote risky behavior without the attached risk-calculation and thoughtfulness. A true entrepreneur will figure it out. She will know her weakness and surround herself with those who compensate. And that is nothing you can bottle.