3 Secrets To An Entrepreneurial Mindset

What defines the leader’s mindset? Do you want a master key to winning in the age of disruption?

Terence Mauri is an Entrepreneur Mentor in Residence (EMiR) at top-ranked London Business School. In his new book, “The Leader’s Mindset: How To Win In The Age of Disruption”, Mauri takes his readers on a deep dive into the hearts and minds of leaders who pursue moonshots, the revolutionary ideas that rewrite how business is done. The advantages are huge for anyone who can tap the genius of the leader’s mindset: purpose, energy, and the courage to challenge the status quo before you become it.

Mauri covers a lot of ground from the importance of thinking big (imagination) but acting small (discipline), to how to think and act like a leader whatever your job title. His advice that everyone should be his or her own “Chief Entrepreneur Officer” especially rang true. My favourite chapter is called, “Unlocking The Inner Entrepreneur” which offers several action-oriented tips that are immediately useful.

Tip 1: Be A Failure Pioneer

Where do courage and determination come from, and can they be learned? Make a list of entrepreneurs you admire and who have made a difference to the world. They could be living or dead. The chances are they all have one outstanding quality in common: they are failure pioneers.

Mauri writes, “Success is never linear. Take FailCon founder Cass Phillipps. She helps entrepreneurs learn from their own and others’ failures. The company’s motto is “Embrace your mistakes. Build your success.” Picking yourself up off the ground after yet another setback gets tiring after a while. FailCon aims to turn failure into a process for instant learning and review.

As Mauri says, ‘The take home message here: learn fast, fail cheap and remember that failure isn’t the opposite of success; it’s a stepping stone to success.”

Tip 2: Find Multiple Mentors To Raise Your Game

Mauri advises to grow fast you must find multiple mentors. Why learn from your own mistakes in business when you can learn from someone else’s? Mentors are indispensable: they provide the insights we are missing and open doors to new connections that might otherwise take years to build. With the meteoric pace of change, it’s essential to have a private space to think and talk through challenges we face.

Mauri says that 9others.com is one such community that knows opportunities occur when humans connect and different ideas collide. It was founded on the belief that “your success requires the aid of others.” A host and nine others will meet for an informal dinner to mingle, discuss challenges, and share learning. It already has a network of more than 3,500 entrepreneurs and investors in 33 cities and is leading the way with a more intelligent approach to mentoring.

Tip 3: Make Your Own Luck

We tend to associate luck with superstition or strange forces outside our control. Mauri argues it’s probably time to challenge this outdated way of thinking, especially if you want to find your inner entrepreneur. He quotes Tina Seeling, executive director of the Stanford Technology Ventures programme and author of “What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20,” who writes:

“Lucky people don’t just pay attention to the world around them and meet interesting individuals — they also find unusual ways to use and recombine their knowledge and experiences. Most people have remarkable resources at their fingertips but never figure out how to leverage them. However, lucky people appreciate the value of their knowledge and their network, and tap into their goldmines as needed.”

The question Mauri asks is how can we all increase our luck quotient in business and life? His answer is you can grow your luck quotient faster by being forward-looking, buoyant, and more proactive on a daily basis, which he aptly describes as “twenty seconds of daily courage.”

We live in the age of disruption. The speed of change presents a tremendous risk but also a tremendous opportunity. Mauri asserts, “The future belongs to a mindset that is wired differently than normal business people.” In “The Leader’s Mindset,” Terence Mauri provides a powerful survival guide for the future and the missing link for thinking and acting like a leader today.

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About the Author

Kevin Kruse is the author of Employee Engagement 2.0 and a top leadership speaker. Join his newsletter at kevinkruse.com.