I read to my one-year-old daughter every night before she falls asleep. One night after I finished reading to her Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss, I suddenly became reflective and told her that the moral of the story is to tenaciously pursue her goals just as Sam-I-Am persistently badgered a guy to eat green eggs and ham. Persistence is an entrepreneurial trait that is defined as the action of continuously doing or trying something despite difficulty or opposition. Once I told her the moral of Green Eggs and Ham, I was inspired to think of how it teaches other entrepreneurial traits.

The plot of Green Eggs and Ham centers around Sam-I-Am’s undaunted attempts to get Guy-Am-I, who was unnamed in the original publication, to eat a dish of green eggs and ham. At the beginning of the book, he enters Guy-Am-I’s house riding a dog and holding a sign which says “I-Am-Sam”.  Sam-I-Am then exits and returns riding a cat and holding a sign that says “Sam-I-Am”.  After Sam-I-Am exits, Guy-Am-I furiously proclaims, “That Sam-I-am! That Sam-I-am! I do not like that Sam-I-Am”. Sam-I-Am returns with a fishing rod apparatus equipped with a glove holding a plate that he has reeled towards Guy-Am-I’s face and asks, “Do you like green eggs and ham? Guy-Am-I firmly replies, “I do not like them, Sam-I-Am. I do not like green eggs and ham.” Sam-I-Am is not discouraged and continuously asks if he would eat them in or on different environments and locations (here, there, house, box, car, tree, train, dark, rain, and boat) and with various animals (mouse, fox, and goat), but Guy still angrily refuses, regardless of the circumstances by saying, "I do not like them here (this place) or there (the other place). I do not like them anywhere."

Keep in mind that Sam and Guy are transported to these different environments and locations. In the book, Sam and Guy are in the car which is on top of a two-car train that derails into a body of water where the boat is located. Sam and Guy splash into the water. Finally, an exhausted Guy-Am-I reluctantly tries the dish just to get Sam to "let him be". Guy eats the entire dish and proclaims that he would eat them in all of the places and with all of the animals mentioned earlier. The story ends with Guy and Sam becoming friends, and Guy happily saying, "I do so like green eggs and ham. Thank you! Thank you, Sam-I-Am."

We learned that the entrepreneurial trait of persistence paid off for Sam-I-Am because he was able to get Guy to try and like green eggs and ham. What are other entrepreneurial traits that can be obtained from this story?

1.       Boldness

At the beginning of the story, Sam-I-Am presents himself to Guy in a bold, unconventional way by riding on a dog and a cat. Sam-I-Am has no fear of being ridiculed or ostracized. Boldness as an entrepreneur involves taking calculated risks and learning from the outcomes to take consistent action.

2.       Ingenuity

Ingenuity is defined as the quality of being clever, original, and inventive. Sam-I-Am’s presentation of the green eggs and ham dish involved ingenuity. He didn’t just hand Guy-Am-I the dish and ask, “would you please try green eggs and ham?” Sam-I-Am designed an apparatus which presented the dish to Guy. As an entrepreneur, you need ingenuity to come up with solutions to customers’ problems.

3.       Creativity

Sam-I-Am demonstrates creativity by asking Guy-Am-I to try the green eggs and ham in different environments and locations. He continuously came up with new ideas to get Guy to try green eggs and ham. As an entrepreneur you need creativity to pivot from one idea to the next until the customer’s problem is solved.

4.       Resilience

Resilience is the ability to endure or recover swiftly from difficulties. Sam-I-Am maintained his composure while asking an increasingly disgruntled Guy-Am-I to try green eggs and ham. Resilience is key for an entrepreneur to become successful due to challenges and setbacks along the way. Without resilience, an entrepreneur would quickly become discouraged and give up on pursuing their business goals.

It is amazing that you can learn entrepreneurial traits from a simple children’s story like Green Eggs and Ham. I’m enthusiastic about what else I will learn after reading the next bedtime story to my daughter.