If entrepreneurship is the process by which value is created where less (or none) existed before, then the entrepreneur is the person who initiates and leads this value-creation process.
Here's how it works:
When new value is created, the customer receives some portion of this value. It could be faster speeds. More storage. An improved or refined UI/UX. You get the point.
At the same time, the entrepreneur typically captures a small piece of this newly created value. This is called profit.
This profit allows the operation to support itself while it continues to grow (so it can continue to provide more value to more people).
What this boils down to is this:
Entrepreneurship is an extraction process.
For instance, the extraction of physical commodities like oil and natural gas, or the cultivation and extraction of food, water, and shelter. These things, once extracted, can then be distributed to people who need or want them.
Most people think of these sorts of activities when they contemplate entrepreneurship because these are obvious areas where entrepreneurs can make a positive impact.
However, if you stop here, you miss the full scope and power of the "entrepreneurial approach."
The extraction process also applies to non-tangibles, such as information. Because systems and processes are critical for growth, the success of any venture depends on the person who can extract and implement the best ideas.
Here's why this is important:
It means you don't have to be a founder or CEO to be an entrepreneur. Thinking otherwise is a short-sighted, and self-defeating worldview (which is as true for the employee as it is for the employer).
Everyone, from the newest higher to the 20 year veteran, can think and act like an entrepreneur for his company, team, or project. These are the type of people you might call linchpins.
Cultivating the entrepreneurial mindset, then, is a critical task for all organizations, big and small.
And that's exactly why GE invited me to their premiere leadership event of the year to help teach their most promising executives and managers how to cultivate entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial mindset in their employees.
We did this by assembling a panel of proven entrepreneurs who have succeeded across a wide range of domains and industries. I then extracted their best insights on business, marketing, creativity, and leadership during a live panel interview.
The full training is below.
Megan Reamer is the co-founder and CEO of Jackson's Honest, a healthy foods company. Jackson's Honest makes potato chips, tortilla chips and grain free puffs all cooked in organic coconut oil.
Megan and her husband Scott started Jackson's Honest as a way to share their son Jackson's story and the delicious snack foods they made for him.
They've since had their products featured on the the shelves of Whole Foods all around the country and have impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of people around the globe.
Patrick Vlaskovits is an entrepreneur and 2 time New York Times bestselling author. His writing has been featured in the Harvard Business Review and the Wall Street Journal, and he speaks at technology conferences worldwide.
Patrick is founder and CEO of Superpowered Inc, a TechStars funded startup that is the leading interactive audio development platform for desktop, mobile, IoT and embedded devices.
Bret Boyd is the CEO of Knoema, a software platform for data access and discovery. At Knoema, Bret and his team build tools to help public and private-sector organizations make better decisions with data.
Bret began his career as an infantry officer in the US Army. Bret has published numerous articles on technology, strategy, and change management and is the coauthor of "Catalyst: Leadership and Strategy in a Changing World."
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On 16 October, 1890, in a small farm off the windswept southern coast of Clonakilty, County Cork, Ireland, the leader of the Irish Revolution was born: Michael Collins.
Of course, no one could predict this at the time, but like all history, it now seems inexorable.
The youngest of 8 kids, Collins didn’t grow up with a lot of money, but what his family lacked financially his parents made up for with an intense focus on education (it would come to serve him well in the future).
At the turn of the 20th century, when Collins was in his teens studying hard and working a full-time job, hoping for a better life, Irish-British relations were hitting a tipping point.
For hundreds of years prior, the Irish faced subjugation and enslavement at the hands of the British (in fact, the first slaves sent to America were Irish).
At the same time, Irish nationalism was on the rise with underground national pride movements happening around the country.
Collins found himself swept up in the movement at a very young age.
Eventually, he became its leader.
From 1917 to 1921, Collins organized, managed, and led an outnumbered, out-financed, and outgunned revolutionary force against the strongest empire in the world.
And, against all odds...
He won.