The Entrepreneurial Mindse

The virtues of the entrepreneur seem to be touted everywhere you look these days. A recent New York Times article described the cultural hero of our time as not being the artist or scientist, but instead the entrepreneur. A quick scan of job listings shows that a prerequisite for a growing number of careers in the private and public sectors is an entrepreneurial spirit.Having an entrepreneurial spirit is a valuable asset whether you’re looking to pitch your skill sets to potential employers or you’re venturing off on your own. At its base, it signifies a strong inclination towards being proactive, having a vision that you’re willing to work hard for and at the same time being adaptable to circumstance.
A great example of this entrepreneurial ethos at play is the founding story of Airbnb. The founders were looking for a way to make rent precisely when a popular design conference was coming to town. With hotels in the area booked, and having some extra space in their apartment, they decided to rent out the unused space for the weekend. Slowly they took their idea to SXSW and other conferences; it was only a matter of time before they opened the platform to everyone with space to rent out. What’s interesting about the Airbnb story is that the founders turned a problem they had into one of the most disruptive businesses in recent history.
The role of the entrepreneur, at any level in a company, is to notice opportunities where change can occur and act to implement a solution. Increasing your own entrepreneurial aptitude is matter of seeing the world around you differently from how most people perceive it. The mind-set is defined as being asset-based, as opposed to deficit-based; instead of seeing problems around them, entrepreneurs see potential solutions. Cultivating this mind-set can be a matter of paying more attention to your surroundings and examining old assumptions. Once you have noticed the potential to innovate it’s then about bringing the right tools that are at your disposal into play (your network, technical know-how, communication skills, etc…).
The entrepreneurs strongest asset, however, is his or her fearlessness when it comes to failure. This ability to try many different ideas and be relentlessly persistent is the single biggest factor in their success. In this way, the entrepreneurial mind-set is very much about acting over thinking; by being immune to failure, you can manage to create your own luck.
You can begin to cultivate this entrepreneurial spirit at your current job by taking up projects that you’re passionate about. Whether it’s bringing new ideas to the table at work or engaging in projects outside the office, gravitate towards something that you can really invest yourself in. That may sound like a cliche, but you need to be committed to an idea to see it through to the end. Talk to your Project Manager or Office Administrator about projects that would drive business forward in innovative ways, and don’t be hesitant to throw many different suggestions out until one sticks.