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From the article: > Over the last 5 years I’ve asked over 500 of my students how many of them grew up in a dysfunctional family (participation was voluntary.)
by GuiA 12y ago
From the article:
> Over the last 5 years I’ve asked over 500 of my students how many of them grew up in a dysfunctional family (participation was voluntary.) I’ve been surprised at the data. In this admittedly very unscientific survey I’ve found that between a quarter and half of the students I consider “hard-core” entrepreneurs/founders (working passionately to found a company,) self-identified as coming from a less than benign upbringing.
So... between half to three quarters of the students he considers hardcore entrepreneurs come from non-dysfunctional families. If he had asked students for their favorite ice cream flavor, chocolate would probably have gotten similar numbers- so chocolate lovers make better entrepreneurs!
It's hard to face the data when you're in love with your narrative.
(Considering that there's a 50% divorce rate in the US, it seems likely that the percentage of "dysfunctional families"- whatever that means - is also between 25 and 50%)
- cpeterso 12y agoAnd what percentage of the general population self-identifies as "growing up in a dysfunctional family"? I would not be surprised if that number fell in the wide range "between a quarter and half".
- graeme 12y agoGood catch. Of course, we'd have to know the base rate of dysfucntional families to know if it's significant. We'd also need better data, as his sample is small and non-random.
- wpietri 12y agoIs this relevant to my point, which is that there is a known pattern of behavior that may apply in this case? I'm not seeing why the relative proportion of people is relevant. Also, he gave a pretty clear description of what qualified as a dysfunctional family, so I think your "whatever that means" is unnecessarily snotty. Start with the bit about, "an environment where fighting, abusive or drug/alcohol related behavior is the norm" and go on from there.
- vacri 12y agoSuch a straw poll is pointless, because plenty of people are in dysfunctional families without knowing that they are. It's not something that people are able to self-identify well, unlike favourite icecream flavours.