Developing An Entrepreneurial Mindset: First Step Towards Success

This course is the first in a series on starting a business. Though new venture creation is the focus of the specialization, this course is important for everyone. It provides learners with insights to reframe their thinking in order to maximize their chances for success. Whether success is defined by the performance of their own venture, or by their performance within someone else’s venture. The course is as much, if not more about fulfilling one’s potential as it is about one starting a business. So what can a learner expect to gain from this course? At the end of this course a learner: – will be able to argue effectively against all of the reasons for not starting their business (or reaching some goal); – will be able to operate effectively within the new framework or model for starting a business (or any new endeavor), thus increasing their chances for success; and – will be able to make the initial business startup decisions of what type of business to start, and what type of business owner to be. In her classic text, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Stanford Professor Carol S. Dweck presents her research showing that hard work and mindset impact success more than natural talent, and that people have the ability to choose which mindset they wish to operate from. Dr. Alain Fayolle in the Financial Times defines an Entrepreneurial mindset as a specific state of mind which orientates human conduct towards entrepreneurial activities and outcomes. Individuals with entrepreneurial mindsets are often drawn to opportunities, innovation and new value creation. In terms outlined by Dr. Dweck this would be a specialized growth mindset as opposed to fixed mindset. Having an entrepreneurial mindset is critical to being successful as an entrepreneur. An entrepreneurial mindset stands alone in terms of its importance. No other attribute, personality, inherent entrepreneurial proclivities, training, or demographic profile is common to all successful entrepreneurs whether Warren Buffet, Steve Jobs, or the neighborhood florist or grocer. The course provides learners with an understanding of the attributes and perspectives of an entrepreneurial mindset, and the process to acquire one. The course introduces concepts that enables a person to start a transformative process in the way they think generally, and in the way they think about business specifically. This new way of thinking has the potential to positively impact not only them, but their family, and community.