In our program we’ll be talking a LOT about many habits of mind around entrepreneurship. These habits, in general, have been heavily documented in the excellent text, “Students At The Center“, and in a separate post, Cameron Herold in a TED Talk also discusses his perspective on these habits as they apply to entrepreneurship. We’ve attempted to align them in the table below. We hope you find enlightenment in them.
| Habits of Mind | Entrepreneurial Mindset |
| Persisting | Entrepreneurs are nothing if not persistent. Often taking persistence past the point of rationality, but few successful entrepreneurs have reached success without persisting past significant negative reaction. Negative responses almost become a badge of honor like a rite of passage. |
| Thinking and communicating with clarity and precision | For reasons of efficiency and risk management, entrepreneurs must make clear-headed plans that are communicated to others effectively, yet simply |
| Managing impulsivity | This goes with responsible risk-taking |
| Gathering data through all senses | Yes, and through their network of communications |
| Listening with understanding and empathy | Yes, as part of getting to know their customers needs better than their customer does |
| Creating, imagining, innovating | Yes, but not randomly |
| Thinking flexibly | Yes, and looking for similarities and connections with other ideas |
| Responding with wonderment and awe | Entrepreneurs go beyond awe and ask why and how to make something better |
| Thinking about thinking (metacognition) | Entrepreneurs have to know their customers better than they know themselves. |
| Taking responsible risks | No good entrepreneur is reckless |
| Striving for accuracy | Yes, but not at the risk of missing an opportunity by demanding perfection at every step. Entrepreneurs understand the benefit of being a first-mover. |
| Finding humor | Required to persist past the negativity and challenges |
| Questioning and posing problems | Yes, part of the systematic creativity process |
| Thinking interdependently | Yes, they don’t need to DO everything |
| Applying past knowledge to new situations | Goes with thinking flexibly |
| Remaining open to continuous learning | Making mistakes is the key to learning and a willingness to take responsible risks imposes a natural learning process. |
| And Entrepreneurs are much more | |
| Planners | Good entrepreneurs understand sequences of effort and are able to communicate these plans |
| Organizers | Entrepreneurs know how to find and bring talent to them |
| Strategists | Entrepreneurs study their environments and make choices that take advantage of weaknesses while protecting their strengths |
Jim McLaughlin's Blog 