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Artivate:	A	Journal	of	Entrepreneurship	in	the	Arts																																																																																																																																								Volume	8,	Issue	1	
http://artivate.org																																																																																																																																																																																																																		pp.	69-71	
	
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Copyright	©	2019,		Scott	Blackshire		
	
	

BOOK REVIEW  
Classroom Exercises for Entrepreneurship: A Cross Disciplinary Approach, by James D. 
Hart 
Reviewed by R. Scott Blackshire, Ph.D., McNay Art Museum  
 

Abstract 
In Classroom	Exercises	for	Entrepreneurship:	A	Cross-Disciplinary	Approach,	James	D.	

Hart	 offers	 an	 expansive	 pedagogy for entrepreneurship training through creative play and 
experiential learning. 
 

Nearly a century after political economist Joseph Schumpeter’s (1934) gesture that 
entrepreneurship involves innovations developed to meet a societal need, the what-is-
entrepreneurship debate continues—but not for James D. Hart, Director of Arts Entrepreneurship 
at Southern Methodist University. He quickly moves past definition roadblocks and sets about 
presenting aspects of entrepreneurship in a series of theatrical lessons. In Classroom Exercises 
for Entrepreneurship: A Cross-Disciplinary Approach, from the Elgar Guides to Teaching series, 
Hart elects to demonstrate entrepreneurial behaviors in action to support “‘dream making’ as an 
entrepreneurial lifestyle outside of the classroom” (p. xi). This book’s wealth of classroom 
exercises supports learning about entrepreneurship. However, it does not follow a standard 
business format. It speaks directly to the artist-entrepreneur with a theatre or performance 
background whose nature might be aligned with Schumpeter’s “getting things done” attitude or 
an action mindset. Hart intuitively animates his classroom practice and writes vividly about 
students’ responses. For someone who does not have a performance background, leading these 
activities may not be as easy as Hart describes. Hart taps into his deep roots as a performing 
artist, identifies creativity as critical for entrepreneurial success, and through his training invites 
entrepreneurs to explore (or learn!) creativity alongside business practices. If neither instructor 
nor students embody a performative mindset, the activities may seem daunting. 
 Still, there are lessons less-theatrical entrepreneurship instructors might find workable for 
their less-theatrical students. In the forward, entrepreneurship scholar Gary Beckman states, 
“students make choices based on their desire for success – and intriguing life experience” (p. x). 
Hart knows classroom activities inform students’ future actions, so he stewards students toward 
entrepreneurial actions through experiential learning. Hart posits creativity as a cycle of 
constituent parts—stimuli trigger impulses that spark imagination, eliciting actions refined 
through reflection, a necessary step in experiential learning (p. 11). From this cycle emerge 
powerful learning experiences (PLEs), exercises applicable and adaptable to entrepreneurship 
curricula. PLEs engage students in the moment, but more importantly, have an enduring “impact 
on one's thoughts and actions over time, and transfer to a wide range of contexts and 
circumstances” (Rowland, Lederhouse, and Satterfield, 46). Hart’s learning objectives lead 
artists—and entrepreneurs-in-training—to understand the power that comes from a toolkit of 
entrepreneurial skills and competencies.  
 In addition to the focus on creativity, Hart emphasizes communication—pitching ideas, 
networking with others, marketing to publics, and the like. He stresses confident communication. 
“Confidence is the key. The more one publicly presents, the more comfortable they become 
doing so” (p. 27). Interestingly, the inability to “confidently communicate their ideas” (p. 27) is 
often an unforeseen stumbling block for artists. Despite artists’ abilities to communicate stories, 
moods, or ideas within and through their craft, it is not always easy to talk about one’s artistry or 
creativity. Understanding the artist-communication conundrum, Hart advocates that during “the 
entrepreneurial process it can serve students to articulate what is personally meaning to them” (p. 



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46). Over the course of more than fifty exercises, entrepreneurial pedagogy takes the form of 
creative action to support, among many outcomes, confident communication. Hart flips the 
business school script and takes advantage of artistic ways of working as the primary means to 
develop an entrepreneurial mindset.  
 Two core themes emerge from the text. The first gives educators and students across 
disciplines permission to explore entrepreneurship through creative play and experiential 
learning – whether wading in bit by bit or jumping into the deep end. The second encourages 
discussions and conversation among students to articulate their vision of change via 
entrepreneurial engagement. To those ends, classroom exercises mimic real world, day-to-day 
entrepreneurial work, which bode well both for creative classroom settings and for instructors 
and students who are less inclined to “play.” In sections “Part 1: Ideation” and “Part 2: Action,” 
the spectrum of classroom exercises aims to move students’ theoretical ideas into practices of 
action. “Part 3: Introspection and Reflection” cements the meta-cognitive nature of experiential 
learning, directing students to think about what they have created or done. Throughout the text, 
Hart also provides helpful citations and footnotes that, respectively, add context and direct 
readers across sections of the book to lessons with compatible outcomes. Hart extends broad 
creative license to instructors, encouraging them to map their course—pair, scaffold, or combine 
any and all exercises that meet teaching goals, imbuing classrooms with equal parts creativity 
and flexibility to benefit students’ learning. Any given exercise might be approached from 
different perspectives. Although students follow the same exercise an artist, for example, might 
focus their learning in the context of a local theatre scene, while another student interested in 
business might consider the larger context of international markets. 
 The activity titled “Find your voice” exemplifies the importance of communication. Hart 
notes, “by finding their creative voice, the entrepreneurial creator comes to best utilize their 
talents” (p. 79), ringing true in realms of art making and venture creation. By blogging, online 
participants use their “voice” to write about an idea or well-researched perspective and then 
respond to comments. Students explore the greater blogosphere for examples of different, 
unknown ways to connect with audiences or “develop the loyal following of ‘true fans’” (p. 80). 
“Finding your voice” also requires interaction with others. As one way to overcoming anxiety 
some feel in public forums, students are urged to consider what their audiences say. An 
audience’s collective voice, in turn, may inform an artist’s clarifying response or, perhaps, 
innovations to meet fan base expectations. A “Plans and strategy” exercise titled “Defense of 
plans” (p. 192) might be better called “Confidence in plans.” Through this lesson, students 
interrogate the breadth and depth of knowledge needed to defend their dream making. They also 
learn to accept critical feedback and suggestions made in the cycle of creative, entrepreneurial 
work. In short, “Defense of plans” stresses preparedness and knowledge, and engenders 
confidence—the confidence to communicate (incorporating “Find your voice”), to think quickly 
and deeply, and to respond professionally to queries about one’s ideas. The book’s final exercise 
“Why do you create?” (p. 295) represents a summative assessment of sorts. Taking Hart’s cue to 
use exercises in innovative ways, if “Why do you create?” is deployed as the first and last 
exercise in a course, instructors might collect formative and summative data to evidence 
students’ entrepreneurial growth over a semester.  
 The richness of Hart’s pedagogy applies to the various types of entrepreneurship—
business, social, cultural, feminist, arts, intra-, collective—that have evolved since Schumpeter’s 
framing of the term. Beyond the classroom, Hart’s students will stand on a “philosophical 
foundation helping them to keep perspective regarding what stage of their entrepreneurial 
adventures they may be in” (p. 279). Classroom Exercises for Entrepreneurship reflects Hart’s 
commitment to entrepreneurship, and he shares the philosophies on which he meditates to 



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answer the “questions of ‘what makes you different and necessary’” (p. 36). For academia, 
Hart’s pedagogical innovations speak to what entrepreneurs do and accomplish, not how 
entrepreneurship is defined. Accordingly, for students, Hart frees the next generation of 
dreamers, artists, makers, and entrepreneurs to communicate their visions of change confidently. 
 

References 

Rowland, Gordon, Amber Lederhouse, and Diana Satterfield. “Powerful learning experiences 

 within coherent learner groups.” Performance Improvement Quarterly 17.2 (2004): 46-

 64.  

Schumpeter, Joseph A. The Theory of Economic Development: An Inquiry into Profits, Capital, 

 Credit, Interest, and the Business Cycle. Cambridge: Harvard U P, 1934.  
	


