The Power of Perceiving - The Secret of Entrepreneurship

Perception is a powerful way to create opportunities. It is so powerful that it can change lives and spark opportunities in abundance. Entrepreneurship is about perceiving differences and then capitalizing on those differences through applicable market solutions. Perception is created by years of hard work that culminates into a moment of clarity and innovative inspiration.

Entrepreneurial insight is derived from connecting lots of information together in a way that creates new products or services. This development relies on experience with the product, exploring uses of the product, and finding ways to improve the product. When education, experience, motivation come together, a new perception is created that leads to innovation.

Perception is not a passive process and requires the full engagement of the individual. Finding innovative market solutions relies on gathering and interpreting information. Information can come from formal research or experimentation with different solutions. The more someone is familiar with a product or issue, the more they can perceive areas of improvement.

Entrepreneurship actively interprets information. People assume that the body takes in information from its senses and passively records that information without interpretation. Perception is strongly influenced by experience, education, cultural values that interpret information from the body’s sensory receptors (Curry, Meyer, & McKnney, (2006). Our past experiences help us create meaningful use of information.

Two people can look at the same problem and see different solutions precisely because they are interpreting information differently. Entrepreneurs have developed cognitive models that allow them to find potential solutions through a process of connecting and deconstructing information to find similarities among elements. Reconstructing elements creates new products and services.

The problem-solving model they use is learned over years to create an effective approach. This is one reason success results from years of failure. Failure is only part of the learning process of establishing a successful model. Once the model has been developed it can be applied to many other locations with higher rates of success. Thomas Edison was invented thousands of products based upon the effectiveness of his model.

The secret of entrepreneurship rests in perceiving things in new ways and finding that which no one else has yet seen. It is a process of turning the unseen into the seen. Capitalizing on the perception requires the ability to find value in the solutions and market those solutions to others. Once an effective mental model has been built it will continue to use successful processes to detect new problems and find solutions that lead to innovation.

Curry, D., Meyer, J. & McKnney, J. (2006). Seeing versus perceiving: what you see isn’t always what you get. Professional Safety, 51 (6)

The Heart of an Entrepreneur

 By Dr. Susan Sasiadek (March 13, 2015)

While working on my MBA it was clear to me that the number one goal for all companies was to turn a profit.  I remember learning early on that owning a business is much like the game of Monopoly; as long as you have money, you re in the game. Once you are out of money, the game is over. So why then wouldn’t the focus of owning a business be centered on profits?  For many companies this is exactly where the focus is. However, there has been a dynamic shift in the thinking as to why entrepreneurs set out to create a business and how to maintain a successful organization.

One of the beliefs that lies within the hearts of many entrepreneurs is to do what you have a passion for and the profits will follow. A similar concept I have often shared with young college students; do what you love and the money will come.  Although this sounds easy enough, many times people and organizations lose their focus of what it is they set out to achieve.  As the world is constantly changing so do companies and the people that work for them. How can one start a business they are passionate about, ensure it will be successful and keep the heart of an entrepreneur?

I believe there are four key ingredients that are needed in order to maintain one’s passion and create a recipe for success. 

• Create a mission that drives not only your company, but the employees that are invested in working for you.  
•   When you start a business always have a purpose. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to have the business product/service with the end result to the client as the goal, not the profit (Cited by Paul Mitchell, Case, n.d.)
• Incorporate a value system that is focuses on employees, giving back to the community and on your customers (Cited by Danny Meyer, Case, n.d.). Philanthropy needs to be part of your organizational culture.
•  Embrace rejections and failures as they leave an imprint on you of valuable lessons from which your business will grow (Cited by Paul Mitchell, Case, n.d.).

The greatest asset for any organization are the employees that work diligently to drive the mission, embrace the values and focus on each customer. In order to create an organizational culture in which the employees are driven to perform at this level, it is imperative to have leaders within the organization that create the dynamics of the culture in which, employees not only want to come to work each day, but look forward to coming to work. An environment in which the passion of the founder is passed on to all levels within the organization. Danny Meyer, the CEO and founder of Shake Shack once shared that the “best way to be greedy is to focus on your employee’s first, then your community and third, on your customers (Case, n.d.).

Taking the time to identify your organization’s focus, purpose and mission, will not only help to create the organizational  culture in which the values and passion come alive; it will also help to ensure a servant style of leadership that focuses on the people first and profits second.

Case, Jean . (n.d.) . Two years to build a billion-dollar brand – with meaning. Forbes under 30 Summit .  Retrieved on March 13, 2015, from http://www.forbes.com/under30video/#/sessions-and-speakers/3855955367001

Entrepreneurship Requires the Eyes and Ears of a Wolf

Entrepreneurship is a popular occupational choice for Generation X and Y who desire more freedom to determine their own fate. When conversing with young people you will hear their stories of how they would like to someday be a business owner, work in an industry they have a passion for and keep their freedom. If you want to be an entrepreneur than having the eyes and ears of a wolf will help you discover opportunities.

Opportunities abound but seeing potential opportunities can be a more difficult process. It takes considerable experience to see and understand where price differences occur and how to capitalize on these differences. Sometimes these opportunities are easy to discern while at other times considerable research must be conducted before it can be realized

Consider the years and efforts it takes to successfully run a small business. Most businesses fail within the first five years as wishful thinking meets market realities. As entrepreneurs stick with their efforts they begin to learn the differences between success and failure. Learning can lead to big successes in the future if practically applied.

If you read books on entrepreneurship you will find that the process is failure is very similar for each person. They tried and failed a number of times before becoming successful. At the end of this long battle with themselves and the market they eventually figured out what works. It takes time to forge an approach through trial and error.

Being an entrepreneurial wolf requires the ability to see opportunities and find ways to turn those opportunities into realized profit. Keeping your eyes and ears open throughout your daily activities will help you realize how things work. Sometimes the best businesses are built off of simple ideas and concepts. Perceiving a single profitable action can lead to the repeating of that action.

Encouraging San Diego Creativity to Solve Business and Scientific Problems

Creativity isn’t just the domain of the artistic types and has practical applications for businesses. Without new ideas, ways of accomplishing goals, and unique solutions businesses fail to develop and grow. A paper by Deepa and Gopal (2011) delves into a model of creativity and how it can be used to foster business growth. The model focuses on four main stages of creative development that pushes a unique idea to a practical solution. San Diego has an abundance of creative people and artists from all walks of life that can contribute to economic growth.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “Art is a jealous mistress, and, if a man have a genius for painting, poetry, music, architecture, or philosophy, he makes a bad husband, and an ill provider, and should be wise in season, and not fetter himself with duties which will embitter his day.”  The problem with artists is not the art itself but the practical use of the creative mind to solve real problems. With a little training and trust an artist can turn into an idea generator.

Creative people have the natural ability to see problems from a more holistic vantage point and make new and unique conclusions to solve problems. The very nature of science and advancement springs forth from developing a unique perspective and conclusion of a problem. The possibilities of the solution are analyzed through critical thinking and the scientific method. 

The four stages of creative development are:

Preparation: The period of a person’s life where they gain knowledge, skills and abilities. It is a long process of practice, experimentation, and trial & error. 

Imagination: The stage where new ideas are created through analogies, brainstorming, memory associations. It may also include other types of analysis such as cost & benefit as well as SWOT.

Development: From the imagination stage a few ideas will show promise and are moved into the development stage where they are evaluated for feasibility, marketability, and sustainability. 

Action: Once the most feasible ideas have been evaluated it is possible to develop a strategy for action.

Creative thinking for artists parallels creative thinking in science and business. Newton wouldn’t have discovered the laws of gravity without first being hit in the head by an apple. The Internet would not have been developed without insight into the nature of communication. Society itself cannot move forward without a creative and entrepreneurial class that pushes new concepts forward.

Business executives should learn the important applications of creativity in the workplace and no longer shun such activities but instead learn to capitalize on them. Including creative people on a team help to encourage that team to think beyond conventional limitations. Creativity matched with the experience of more seasoned members and with those who have analytical evaluative abilities moves the unique into something feasible for business purposes. The next time you see an artist walking down the street scratching out a living think about the other benefits such people provide if put to practical use. Places like San Diego have an abundance of creative people seeking opportunities to put their natural abilities to good use to the advantage of themselves and their employers.

Deepa, N. & Gopal, R. (2011). Advocating different paradigms: relevance of workplace creativity. SIES Journal of Management, 7 (2).

Call for Papers: 3rd International Seminar on Entrepreneurship and Business

December 14^th, 2014
Location: Kota Bharu, Malaysia

ISEB 2014 is organized to catalyze the knowledge sharing and the exchanging of innovative ideas on entrepreneurship and business internationally. The seminar will especially encourage and facilitate experts and scholars to present their empirical findings and best practice outcomes related to entrepreneurship, and at the end, gain important inputs for the improvement and development of current and new strategies. This seminar will be also the main platform for any participants to build constructive network and collaborative research and development worldwide.

Web address: http://fkp.umk.edu.my/ISEB2014/