from life leadership, christopher gergen and gregg vanourek, 2008
Leading life
Some people don’t just live, they lead a life.
Entrepreneurship is often broken into four defining components : creation, commitment, risk and ownership. A life entrepreneur is one who creates a life of significance. A captain of his/her life, with both drive and direction.
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all” Helen Keller.
There are 7 steps to entrepreneurship : discover core identity, awaken to opportunity, envision the future, develop goals and strategies, build a healthy support system, take action and make a difference, embrace renewal and reinvention.
Discover your Core Identity
Core identity is our compass, at its heart are values and purpose, it is the first step to entrepreneuship. Our core identity is built on internal elements (needs, strengths and passions) and external elements (personal history, current circumstances and relationships).
Convictions (values) and commitments (behaviors) need to be aligned. The most common reasons for a gap between the two are staying entangled in past commitments, taking on too many things, being a prisoner to other people’s expectations and being a prisoner of success (Harvard Business Review).
Purpose is at the center of core identity, it is our reason for being, our calling, our mission. Enduring successful leaders create a life that matters. Purpose connects us with our true nature. Our values and purpose form our core identity. The first step to discovering it is through authentic integrity (integer = whole, complete). Integrity means total congruence between who we are and what we do.
Awaken to Opportunity
Once we have a clear sense of our core identity, we become more awake to opportunities that resonate with it. We switch to a mindful mindset, and realize that many limits we accept are illusory, we build awareness. Entrepreneurs are optimists.
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands, but in seeing with new eyes” Marcel Proust
Innovation is the process of generating and applying creativity in a specific process. Entrepreneurs search for ways to change reality in powerful ways with insight. We call disruptive innovation the capacity to overturn the dominant technology.
Envision the Future
The soul never thinks without a picture” Aristotle.
A vision is a bold and vivid picture of a better future. Our vision needs to inform as well as inspire. It clearly describes where want to go and guides our decisions. It needs to be clear enough that we can measure our progress towards it.
A written statement, our vision describes our accomplished future. “We are what we imagine ourselves to be” Kurt Vonnegut. Entrepreneurs refuse to be constrained by presentism. While imagining the future, we develop foresight, prescience.
A vision is grounded in who we are. We are true to it. While circumstances may be difficult, we remain humble.
A vision needs to be shared with relations, professionals and those close to us. “People generally want to be part of something larger than themselves, but only if what they are looking at has a set of values and guiding principles that is compatible with their own” from True North, Bill George and Peter Sims
Develop Goals and Strategies
Effective goals are purposeful, they embody our values. Prioritizing a goal means considering the opportunity cost (what would be more worth my energy). Goals will increase in accountability when they specific, time-bound and achievable. Challenging, yet achievable.
A strategic plan allows entrepreneurs to reach their vision and goals. It is a concrete way to organize priorities and direct anticipated actions. An important first step consists in comparing our current reality to our goals, being clear about the distance between them and about what is required to bridge it. Many strategic plans include a SWOT analysis. Successful strategic plans are achieved by running a careful due diligence (testing our underlying assumptions), remaining focused and flexible (listening to what the market tells us), taking smart risks (while crafting a backup plan), attracting, mobilizing and empowering the right resources.
Building healthy support systems
Effective entrepreneurs have vibrant networks : deep roots, strong support systems and nourishing ressources to grow and flourish. Networks are made of life partners, family and friends, mentors, professional partnerships as well as extended networks of support.
A support network is built by encouraging people to join in our mission, by igniting their interest. Persuasion begins with authenticity, a clear sense of what we know and what we don’t know. Trust is also key to success, and trust begins with integrity. Reciprocity is the third fundamental ingredient, receive and give.
A positive network effect arrises when an idea flows through a broad web of relationships, gaining momentum, sometimes becoming unstoppable. Our root systems become interconnected, creating a unified effort to shape our vision.
Taking action and making a difference
“Courage is not the absence of fear, but the capacity for action despite our fears” John McCain
Timing is everything. A window of opportunity can close as quickly as it opens. Purposeful spontaneity is taking action that is unplanned but deeply in synch with our core identity. Entrepreneurs are prepared when windows of opportunity are thrown open. “At that moment where we decide this is what what we are going to do, we do it with everything we have. The moment we definitely commit ourselves, then Providence moves, too. ” Randy Komisar.
Pervasive service is the concept of integrating the broader concept into everything we do through our relationships and actions. Service is the very purpose of life.
Adaptative persistence allows entrepreneurs to cleverly navigate the paradox between anticipation, changing course and sticking with it. Adaptation is about shortening the time to success through ingenuity and flexibility. Persistance is about moving ahead even in the face of adversity.
As entrepreneurs we are able to erase imaginary lines and expand our realm of possibilities.
Embracing renewal and reinvention
Adjustments are necessary to stay on track, often this requires renewal, sometimes it requires reinvention.
Renewal. Renewal allows us to reset our compass, keep us focused on the right priorities and accountable to our vision and goals. The enemy is not stress, it is linearity (the failure to oscillate between energy expenditure and recovery.) It is necessary to move from peaks of concentration into valleys of relaxation and back again as necessary. A sanctuary (a place of refuge and joyful activity where we find peace and quiet for deep reflection) brings us that reprieve. Daily renewal is a cherished habit.
Transformative experiences test our mettle, if we survive them, we may emerge stronger. Everything can be taken away from a man, but spiritual freedom, the freedom to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s way. We grow the fortitude to survive and cope, but also to grow and serve.
Reinvention is when renewal is not enough, it often occurs after a time of great adversity or crisis. Reinvention is about figuring out our next move(s), by paying a lot of attention to what is really essential, by trusting our internal impulse.