Henry Hudson had an interesting career. Did you know his career was defined by 4 epic journeys? As an Englishman and legendary explorer, he was hired by England to discover a faster passage to the Orient. He developed a plan and was given the resources needed to complete his journey. After 2 attempts to find the passage by traveling north, he was promptly fired. Although he accomplished some useful things on his first 2 journeys like discovering new whaling areas and mapping an unknown area, he did not do what his funding source told him to do. He was fired because he did not accomplish the objectives of his plan.

As I read my daughters 4th grade text, I was struck by the similarities between Hudson and modern entrepreneurs. When you are planning for a journey into the unknown while sipping tea in your home port, all you can do is use your best judgment based on limited data. This is the nature of exploration. You should expect things to deviate from the plan. This is why I'm always baffled by traditional business plans that describe a journey into the unknown but often do not allow for deviations from the plan....but I digress.

Voyage #3: He had the same goal in mind only this time he was sailing for the Dutch West India Company and he plotted a course west. After much effort, he sailed along the east coast of the US and found a great harbor, later to become New York City, and a river, aptly named the Hudson River. An interesting side bar is that my office overlooks the Huson River in Troy, New York which roughly marks the northernmost point of Hudson's voyage up the river. Anyway, Hudson claimed the land for the Dutch and was the pride of the Dutch West India Company even though he failed in his attempt to find a passage to the Orient. When he went back to England, he was thrown in jail for sailing under the Dutch flag.

Hudson's life as an explorer really speaks to me. I'm not a famed explorer, I don't have his accomplishments, hell, I don't even have a beard and I get sea sick easily. However, I think that all entrepreneurs share a passion for exploration and are not afraid to make a course correction when needed, even if it means being fired or thrown in jail.