Hi,

I am here to lead the discussion on business development from an academic standpoint. In this forum I will be detailing some of the academic interests that may be of use to an entrepreneur or small business developer endeavoring in the world of business.

Currently, there are many schools of thought that state that only the "street smart survive", or the "street smart" get ahead.

I hate to break it to you but what you consider "street smart" is not the definition the successful entrepreneurs use when they speak.

In order to clarify this and put it into a manner you can benefit from, let us define "street smarts".

When you were a child, and you learned that some people do not respond in kind to how you speak, you acquired "street smarts". This is what we would refer to as a "wisdom acquired through learning experience". Any street smarts you gain is actually "wisdom". It's not something you can be born with, or gain without having the appropriate exposure. If you never met a rude person in your life, you would not have wisdom of the world, and would lack "street smarts" in this respect. The opposite of this is commonly referred to as naivety.

It may seem almost redundant to write this, but many aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners act like they have it "all figured out" after listening to some Kiyosaki tapes, going to a few business seminars, or become part of an MLM. Let me be the one to break the news to you: you haven't gained any street smarts from these experiences. Street smarts are what you acquire when your ego is bruised, when you have to run off the beaten path and fend for yourself, or when you have make rules according to your own devices. Street smarts are not acquired in a classroom, an MLM conference, a motivational tape, or any other mass produced external agent. The only street smarts you acquire is what you internalize from the journey that sets you apart from others.

After saying this, you may say "what on earth could this person possibly tell me that would be of benefit to me? He is talking about academics, and trying to explain this is obviously contradictory - what's the point?"

If you are prepared to say something like that, you better be prepared to say it to all instances of your life - and not hold bias where it is most convenient. That's street smarts too.

Moving along, I want to use this thread to discuss what business development is, and how street smarts is integrated. I open the floor to questions, concerns, rants, complaints, and so on.