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THE ENTREPRENEURIAL MIND – GO FOR THE BOLDBy the time we become adults, most of us have learned to look at our world only as others see it. As I have shared with you previously in this column, entrepreneurs ( and artists) are different in that they look out the same window we do, and see something different. A different picture, a different dream, a potential opportunity. Some spark inside them sees a new solution to often an old problem. They strive to give to their world something it has never seen nor experienced.
I mentioned artists above because there seems to me to be a “ kinship “ of sorts at play. Like artists, entrepreneurs are reporters of the human condition. They look for and use the ironies of life – those instances where what should be and what is – do not quite mesh. The artist expresses such ironies of life in paint, words and music. The creative entrepreneur uses the power of the mind with a yellow legal pad and computer printouts to turn these “ ironies “ into realistic “ opportunities. “ through devising workable solutions.
What makes entrepreneurs able to tackle that most difficult thing? They appear to us to have the courage, the heart and the drive to make their visions become reality. Nearly everyone, I suggest, has the potential to become an entrepreneurial thinker and discipline their mind in ways they previously never thought imaginable. In fact, studies show the only real difference between so-called creative and non-creative people is that creative people know they are creative, while others have not yet learned to trust and develop their intuitive instincts. One of the first steps to unleashing those creative juices is simply to recognize that there may be no real advantage to continuing to do things they way they always have done. This simple “ attitudinal “ adjustment plays a major role in separating successful entrepreneurs from also-rans.
True entrepreneurs look at the world and display a level of “ creative dissatisfaction “ that is, they are convinced that there is not a thing on the planet earth that cannot be done better. This creative outlook is the intellectual basis of innovation. And, innovation is the foundation of any entrepreneurial venture advantage. ( Just ask many of our OSTEC companies this question, innovation is the cornerstone of who they are ) Many of our entrepreneurial companies in British Columbia and Canada had their first major success with a unique product or distinctive way of doing business. They created their own futures, in effect, by innovating and changing the rules of competition in the marketplace. And, of course, innovation is not limited to an invention or breakthrough technology. It can be a new process or simply different way of doing business – even something as simple as creating new markets for old products. Innovation doesn’t have to be complicated either to succeed as most innovations are relatively simple, once they are understood…
What I find continuously exciting, even after all the years I have traveled the entrepreneurial highways and byways, is that we are surrounded, all of us, by entrepreneurial opportunities that we can see, provided that we choose to see them. A significant trick , of sorts, is to first pay attention to your small ideas, then see if there is ample room to turn them into bigger ones.
Let me for a moment, expand on a view I have held tightly for sometime now about the entrepreneurial revolution. As far back as the early 1990’s, our society has been in the midst of a silent revolution of the entrepreneurial spirit – a revolution of the spirit, the mind and the heart. Over the past 10-12 years, the revolution has gotten considerably noisier.
Let’s remember that entrepreneurship is a human, creative act that builds something of value out of practically nothing. It is the pursuit of opportunity regardless of the resources, or lack of resources, at hand. It requires a vision and the passion and commitment to lead others in the pursuit of that vision. – plus, the everpopular willingness to take calculated risks. Many of the Okanagan entrepreneurs who have told me that they read this column will quickly identify with these cornerstones of new venture creation.
Entrepreneurs tend to go for the bold. Go where, as the cliché suggests – where others fear to tread. I think that entrepreneurs are both born and made. There is evidence that people who are exposed to entrepreneurship at an early age often are most likely to follow that road. Most entrepreneurship, however, follow a pattern of apprenticeship, where they tend to extract business experience and knowledge from their jobs, education or from parents who are self-employed. There is no more powerful teacher than sound examples.
I am often asked how do we teach our students to be entrepreneurs or at least think entrepreneurial? The bedrock is instruction: technical skills, finance skills. Then, expose them to real entrepreneurs from the world outside of the classroom to educate by inspiration, by example and by demonstration of what’s truly possible. We bring in entrepreneurs to talk about their experiences and what worked and what didn’t and then the students ask questions. We then throw a thousand entrepreneurial cases at them about companies getting off the ground, hitting the wall, and so-on. Patterns of behaviour and attitude really start to emerge and budding entrepreneurs are just around the corner with the genesis of new “ entrepreneurial minds.” Our students, our existing companies, our citizenry who demonstrate a desire and willingness to delve into the entrepreneurial world – all may learn a lot of respect for the entrepreneurial process, the entrepreneurial way of thinking.
What we invariably may end up with is a diverse tapestry of experiences and new behaviourial patterns. Then, readers, the sky is the limit. |
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