Just because someone doesn’t start a company, doesn’t mean that he or she isn’t an entrepreneur. All that is require is to create something new and useful that did not exist before.
To wit: Florence Nightingale (aka “The Lady with the Lamp”)
Most of us are vaguely aware that Florence Nightingale attained fame as a British nurse during the 19th century during the Crimean war. However, her remarkable life yielded much more than her heroic contributions to the recovery of wounded and comfort of the dying in a nearly forgotten war.
Growing up as the daughter of a wealthy member of the new British industrial class, Nightingale chose a very different path than most well born women at a time when nursing was viewed as something of a disreputable calling. She could have made what was then known as a “suitable marriage” and enjoyed a life of privilege and ease. Instead, she chose service and medical entrepreneurship instead and often under the harshest of conditions. Her work during the Crimean conflict (where 900,000 died, mostly from disease, not combat) made her famous but her most lasting contributions were the making the use of statistical analysis an indispensable tool in public health decisions and the laying the training foundations for the modern nursing profession.
However, she may not always have been the paragon of compassion that have characterized depictions of her life. A family member observed that her vision of what nursing and public health could be transcended her reputation as an angel of mercy: “She has little or none of what is called charity or philanthropy,” her sister wrote. “She is ambitious—very…. and would like…to regenerate the world.” (Some many see in this statement a likeness to the late Steve Jobs who could be difficult in his personal relationships yet made remarkable contributions.)
You can learn more about this entrepreneur who revolutionized a profession that benefits us all in this fascinating article featuring new research on her life: “The Defiance of Florence Nightingale”
