By Jamie Merchant
“We always study entrepreneurs, you know? Looking at the employees of a startup is a little different.”
James Bort has a slightly unconventional outlook for a scholar of modern business.
“My dad was a line-level employee in a factory, and he had a very adversarial relationship with work,” he candidly shared in a recent interview. “So, when I started working for people who ran their own companies, that completely changed my view of what the world could be.”
An early exposure to the unique culture of startups — their collegial atmosphere, the give-and-take between employees and leadership — offered Bort a different model for understanding the workplace in the 21st century. That experience piqued an intellectual interest that motivates his research to this day.
Bort’s curiosity eventually led him to the academic study of startups, particularly the startup workforce. However, he points to the value of his on-the-ground experiences as an early-stage employee, entrepreneur, and musician for prompting the questions he asks about the modern workplace. Prior to joining academia, he was a software engineer, information technology manager, and restaurant owner in a career that spanned multiple industries. He even launched his own independent record label during his time in graduate school at Syracuse University.
It’s a research agenda shaped by art, science, and his personal history.
“Research is ultimately me-search,” Bort said, echoing the well-known statement of his graduate advisor, Johan Wicklund. “It’s a journey of self-discovery.”
Over the course of these experiences, the new assistant professor in the Driehaus College of Business became fascinated by the mutual lines of influence that run between startups and their employees: a startup is uniquely open to employee input and guidance, while at the same time it can serve as a springboard into future opportunities as the venture grows and evolves.
“There is this sort of bidirectional influence where you’re drawn to the startup because there’s endless opportunity, but then it influences you, in the sense that your career trajectory can be accelerated in some phenomenal ways.”
Storytelling as an Engine of Entrepreneurship
Having worked on both sides of the equation as a startup employee and an entrepreneur, Bort’s scholarly attention has recently been drawn to the role of narrative: to the power of the stories we tell to shape our perception of the world around us. For aspiring entrepreneurs, these stories can have an outsized impact on their career trajectories — or, as in his own case, on one’s research interests.
Bort’s background as a business owner indelibly informs his research in the field of entrepreneurship. Not only talking the talk, but also walking the walk is crucial, in his view.
“To have had that experience of like: it’s Wednesday, payroll hits tomorrow, and I’m still two grand shy. I have a day to figure this out — that hustle changes you as a human, and it certainly informs your approach to research.”
Our life experiences provide the raw material for the stories we tell ourselves. These, in turn, shape our perceptions of our own possibilities. For example, in a recent article published in The Journal of Business Research, Bort and his co-author, Henrick Totterman, found that “underdog” entrepreneurs — entrepreneurs starting from disadvantaged personal or economic circumstances — often have higher growth aspirations, precisely because of the adversities they have had to overcome.
But this work is not only relevant for specialists in the field. Bort’s students find it fascinating.
“The students love it,” he said. “I have units on neurodiversity and entrepreneurship and how we can flip these things into a strength. And [the students] really react strongly to it, because it’s becoming less stigmatized. It’s OK if you are depressed and going through it, because this is what the human experience is!
“The classic idea of the lone wolf entrepreneur, where everything’s perfect and you just see the success story — that’s not how it is. Really successful people struggle too.” It’s an empowering message for students crafting their own narratives as they set out on their post-college careers.
Bort is still getting to know the students and culture of the university. But he’s quickly getting a sense for what makes DePaul special. Teaching in the part-time MBA program has been particularly rewarding.
“They’re really, naturally curious and motivated. It’s one of the best groups I’ve had. When I did my MBA, it was part time as well, and it was really hard. So I try to construct the course to be like the course I would have wanted to take when I was in my MBA program!”
