Entrepreneurial Mindset – Option or Must for a Start-up? by Daniel Stoica Accounting Professional
Entrepreneurial spirit is being fueled by the very circumstance of executives falling off or sliding off the corporate ladder on one end of the spectrum and skilled-professional workers being laid off from the corporate world on the other.
Record numbers of new companies are being started and that is proof that the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well.
What makes up the Entrepreneurial mindset?
The following four poles that were developed mainly through the phenomenological action research by Senges (2007), are reported to influence the individual as well as collective/institutional entrepreneurial identity, persona or mindset. They are presented in sequential order; however, they are simultaneously active and intermeshed in their influence. Each pole is formulated with a central question alluring to and provoking a Platonian midwife technique.
The circle begins with exploration and realizing existence, which is argued to lead to an internal locus of control.
Next, the meaning of life question is formulated as “what do I want”, which is argued to be most adequately contested with axiology and teleology. This permits the setting of priorities and subsequently leads to the possibility of engaging in entrepreneuring.
With the entrepreneurial ambition clarified, the implementation and practice comes to the forefront, combining with pragmatist philosophy and with cybernetics. These trends are believed to instill the creative bootstrapping practices of ‘trial and error’ based optimization favored by entrepreneurs.
Lastly, the life-plan is set in relation against the rest of world. Ethics as well as sustainability are questioned, because only just causes that consider their environment are successful in the long term. This last pole introduces the ‘other’ not only as part of a shared world, but also as differentiating factor. Thereby, it gives raise to yet another level of reflection. The differentiation, and thereby definition, of the ‘self’ contrasts and complements other beings, values and practices.
Another way to describe the Entrepreneurial Spirit is someone MAD.
Somebody with an entrepreneurial mindset has the means, ability and the desire (MAD) to materialize his vision. If any of those three pillars do not exist, and the entrepreneur cannot bring his or other’s resources to create all three, then the entrepreneurial mindset does not exist. You can go further into exploring the allocation and utilization of resources in novel ways or realizing opportunities where others do not and those are all important but are subservient to and come out as a consequence of the above three entrepreneurial pillars.
The Means: Capital. Access to resources. Be it angel funding, self funding, access to political capital, the ability to harness labor, high tech assembly, etc or some combination of the above. It generally takes something (usually but not always money) to make something else.
The Ability: Having the physical and mental capacity to understand their vision in ways required to succeed in their planned goals. Ability generally refers to being sufficiently adept in organizing the resources available to you in novel ways. It does not necessarily dictate a need to have all of the answers from the beginning. Entrepreneurs tend to constantly adjust their course as they proceed, in contrast to large organizations which must chart their course years before taking their first step.
The Desire: Lots of great ideas are out there. But it takes the alignment of ability, means AND the desire to invest in those ideas to make them happen. Very few entrepreneurial projects are small endeavors with spectacular results. Most take a personal investment of the entrepreneurs’ time and thus must yield sufficient payoff in exchange for that time investment, even if the work is self rewarding. Profits enable the entrepreneur to continue investing themselves in newer, bigger projects.
Are you an entrepreneur? Do you have an Entrepreneurial Mindset? Are you considering starting up a company?
I look forward to your comments and interaction
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