ENTREPRENEUR ON THE FENCE

Like stunned fish floating aimlessly to the surface after an underwater explosion, corporations and colleges lacking entre-preneurial mindsets have been equally lifeless for decades . . . standing on the fence, trying to decide the next move. But, Aha! That is now changing.

UNLIKE entrepreneurial thinkers and doers (who have long known that an “ostrich attitude” only produces a head-full of sand), corporate and campus leaders –for very different reasons– have failed for decades to embrace entrepreneurship as a viable management methodology.

Shell-shocked by a quicksand economy, slippery-sloped job ops, and blink-of-an-eye marketplace changes, big business and academia are now beginning to regain consciousness as corporate and campus entrepreneurship training centers, programs, teams, and projects are rapidly moving front and center.

Reality is that America’s businesses and institutions of higher learning can no longer afford to manage from the “analysis paralysis” platform that requires months of committee meetings to recommend action instead of simply acting and adjusting immediately, then acting and adjusting again.

It takes an entrepreneurial mindset to dig out of the holes corporate managers and academic administrators have found themselves embedded in . . . to be airlifted out by technology-piloted choppers if need be . . . and accept the fact that entrepreneurial ideas, actions, instincts, and traits are yet again tantamount to paving the way for economic rebirth.

As quickly as we once reined in or abandoned Theory X, Theory Y, Theory Z, One-Minute Manager, Quality Circles, MBWA, Just In Time, Empowerment, Assertiveness Training, Anger Management, Lean Management, MBO, BOSCARD Management, and a hundred other such success fad formulas and piecemeal methodologies . . . we have come full circle from the 1980’s to realize we must think like entrepreneurs and act like entrepreneurs to truly make a difference!

CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP

The perpetual champion of management success, CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP, was billed in 1981 training program promotions by this blog post author, as:

“the new tack in the race for innovative business solutions that work”

— and reinforced by INC. Magazine‘s Executive Editor Stewart Alsop II (in April 1981):

“Entrepreneurship is in, it’s hot . . . a renaissance in American society, especially for entrepreneurs now buried in large corporations.”

Regardless of size, sales, or clout, if your business or academic organization is not already riding the new, revitalized 2015-2020 entrepreneurial wave of “Reality Success” that builds cruise-control managers into enlightened decision makers, you can be sure your competition is!

When it’s time to put more heart, more walk-the-talk attitude, and fewer politics into your business –to  ignite dormant organization spirit and foster more innovative business and market leadership thinking– CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP coaching and hands-on training can be your answer.

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Hal@Businessworks.US    931.854.0474

America Needs

Entrepreneurial Leadership

It’s time for another Teddy Roosevelt/Harry Truman/Ronald Reagan to step up to America’s leadership challenge. History has shown us that “more of the same” leadership style following in the “too big for your boots” footprints left behind by prior leadership has produced either a false sense of progress and security, a lethargic aura, and/or a cavernous hole “too big for the planet’s britches.”

The days of corporate, governmental and politician “muckity-mucks” and their analysis paralysis approach to problem solving have long passed. This is 2015 and “We the people” can no longer endure those we elect to represent our interests wrongfully.

As a country and as American citizens, we simply cannot any longer tolerate elected representatives of the thinking that literally stomps on and casually pushes aside adhering to the very tenets of the Constitution that has made America great . . . the same feeble-minded political-payoff-and-payback representatives who then proceed to excuse their behaviors with shoulder shrugs and palms-raised declarations that “I tried! And, besides, it’s someone else’s fault!”

We are far beyond the point of receptivity we’ve naively granted to those who challenge and undermine our Constitution.

We are long past acceptance of those who see fit to substitute their own delusional self-indulgent needs in exchange for that which binds and ensures us of the rights to freedom of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We are weary of the lies, deceit, blame, second-guessing, unresponsiveness, societal repression, citizenship indignity, false-alarms, and global disrespect that now shrouds our nation.

So where can we turn for restoration, reconciliation, and re-kindling of spirit?

Let’s consider the perceptive, “say-it-like-it-is” and “Git R Done!” attitude of an entrepreneur. Let’s face it: we have no other worthwhile choice at this point in history — not if we are serious about the survival of our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

Small business owners and managers understand this need to untangle ourselves perhaps best of all. It’s called adaptability, tackling priorities, turning problems into opportunities, moving forward– entrepreneurial leadership! Business owners and operators who fail to do this, fail.

The truth behind the old expression: “Words do not cook rice” is something every entrepreneurial thinker/doer knows from experience. Certainly our Congress (and, in varying degrees, every government agency) fails to understand that revitalization time is here. Now. There can be no better nor more effective force to drive the realization of filling this need than a proven entrepreneur, one with the fortitude and courage to walk the talk.

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Hal@Businessworks.US    931.854.0474

Every career success requires

this entrepreneur discipline:

No matter your career, you need this. Whether you’re a corporate muckity-muck, teacher, politician, healthcare specialist, secretary, retail clerk, telemarketer, athlete, stylist, cowboy, sales rep, business owner, logistics manager, IT guru, pilot, media mogul, entertainer, writer, lawyer, pastor, government administrator, student, or a stay-at-home Mom (or Mr. Mom) . . . or add your own description: ________________.

No matter your career, you need this entrepreneur discipline.

Well, sure. You’re reading this, so you already have a commitment to learn and grow. You’re already motivated to achieve. Odds are you have some degree of integrity—doing the right thing even when no one else is watching! And you likely have some entrepreneurially-embedded sense of urgency.

Entrepreneurs are also willing to take reasonable risks and adapt readily to change. But risk-taking and adaptability are not always reliable measures of career success. You work hard at making the most of your communication skills by listening and observing carefully and tenaciously. Well, that’s a good thing, and may even be worth a few points toward achieving the magical level of success you crave.

But all of these assets—and many more you undoubtedly possess aren’t worth a hill of beans without a highly developed sense of vigilance. Huh? You thought that was a discipline relegated to the military or research scientists.

Well, here are a couple of not-too-shabby practitioner/advocates:

• Henry David Thoreau, the noted American author, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and environmentalist who urged followers to “be forever on the alert.”
• And how about Thomas Jefferson: “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!”

So how does vigilance fit here? What makes it so special? Why should those who aspire to some measure of success really care? What’s the deal? What’s in it for me?

The answer: Vigilance is as Thoreau described, being forever on the alert. Alert to what? Alert to opportunities, market changes, society changes, world changes, job changes, personal and family changes . . . and assessing the impact of each, based on HOW (not why) you do what you do, HOW (not why) you use what you have, HOW (not why) you make the most of the skills you’ve developed.

It is all about being continually focused as much of the time as possible on the realistic present “here and now,” instead of the fantasy-filled past and future. Vigilance occurs in the present. How much of your life and success pursuits are in the present? The more they are, the closer you get to where you’re going.

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Hal@Businessworks.US    931.854.0474