Instructor Resource
Neck, Entrepreneurship
SAGE Publishing, 2018
Lecture Notes
Chapter 3: Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
Learning Objectives
• 1. Appraise the effectiveness of mindset in entrepreneurship.
• 2. Define “mindset” and explain its importance to entrepreneurs.
• Explain how to develop the habit of self-leadership.
Notable Quote
• “I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things in a
different way.”
• -John Keating, lead character in the 1989 film Dead Poets Society (played by actor Robin
Williams).
Fixed Mindset
• Talents and abilities are perceived as traits
• Brains+ talent= success
Growth Mindset
• Believe abilities can be developed through hard work
• Brains and talent are only the beginning of success
• Lifelong learners
Instructor Resource
Neck, Entrepreneurship
SAGE Publishing, 2018
• View failure as an opportunity to improve
Fixed vs Growth Mindset
• FIXED MINDSET: “Why do you want to start up a business? You need accounting skills.
You were always terrible at math at school. Are you sure you can do it?”
Entrepreneurial Mindset
• The ability to quickly sense, take action, and get organized under uncertain conditions.
Includes the ability to persevere, accept and learn from failure, and get comfortable
with a certain level of discomfort!
Notes:
Critical Thinking Question
• Do you agree that a budding entrepreneur should wait and accumulate experience
Passion
• Intense positive emotion
• Motivates to overcome obstacles
Instructor Resource
Neck, Entrepreneurship
SAGE Publishing, 2018
Entrepreneurship as a Habit
• When entrepreneurs are rewarded for a venture either intrinsically or extrinsically they
are more likely to continue.
Notes:
condition; any one of us can develop a positive mindset, but how do we do it?
The best way to get into a positive mindset is to learn through different habits. A habit is a
sometimes unconscious pattern of behavior that is carried out often and regularly. Good habits
can be learned through a “habit loop” – a process by which our brain decides whether or not a
Self-Leadership
• Individuals must influence and control their own behavior, actions, and thinking to
achieve the self-direction and self-motivation necessary to build their entrepreneurial
business ventures.
Notes:
Entrepreneurship requires a deep understanding of self and an ability to motivate oneself to
Three Strategies for Self-leadership
• Behavior-focused strategies
• Natural reward strategies
• Constructive thought pattern strategies
Instructor Resource
Neck, Entrepreneurship
SAGE Publishing, 2018
Elements of Self-Leadership
• See Figure 3.4 Elements of self-leadership
Behavior-focused strategies
• Self-awareness
• Self-observation
• Self-cueing
Notes:
Behavior-focused strategies help to increase self-awareness to manage behaviors particularly
when dealing with necessary but unpleasant tasks. These strategies include self-observation,
self-goal setting, self-reward, self-punishment, and self-cueing (see Figure 3.4).
Self-observation raises our awareness of how, when, and why we behave the way we do in
certain circumstances. For example, twice a day, you could stop and deliberately ask yourself
questions about what you are accomplishing; what you are not accomplishing; what is standing
Tangible vs. Intangible Rewards
• See Figure 3.5: Intangible and Tangible Rewards
Notes:
There has been much study regarding the importance of setting goals a means of enhancing
performance. Self-goal setting is the process of setting individual goals for ourselves. This is
especially effective when it is accompanied by self-reward—ways in which we compensate
Instructor Resource
Neck, Entrepreneurship
SAGE Publishing, 2018
Natural reward strategies
• Makes aspects of a task more enjoyable by building in features to focus on the most
positive aspects of the tasks.
• Examples: Walking, music, coffee, or stretching breaks
Constructive thought pattern strategies
• Helps us to form positive and productive ways of thinking that can benefit our
performance.
• Examples: Identifying destructive beliefs, self-talk, and mental imagery
Notes:
Much of our behavior is influenced by the way we think, and the habit of thinking in a certain
way is derived from our assumptions and beliefs. Constructive thought patterns help us to
form positive and productive ways of thinking that can benefit our performance. Constructive
thought patterns strategies include identifying destructive beliefs and assumptions and
Instructor Resource
Neck, Entrepreneurship
SAGE Publishing, 2018
Developing Creativity
• Creativity: The capacity to produce new ideas, insights, inventions, products or artistic
objects, which are considered to be unique, useful, and of value to others.
Notes:
Creativity is a difficult concept to define mainly because it covers such a wide breadth of
processes and people—from artists, to writers, to inventors, to entrepreneurs—all of whom
Critical Thinking Question
• Choose someone you consider highly successful and assess the story of his or her
success. In what ways does the success story show good luck and/or bad luck?
Characteristics of creative people
• Open to experience
• Persistent
• Adaptable
Instructor Resource
Neck, Entrepreneurship
SAGE Publishing, 2018
Emotional roadblocks to creativity
• Fear
• No appetite for chaos
• Preference for judging over generating ideas
• Dislike for incubating ideas
Creative Brain
Notes:
Neck, H. M. 2010. Idea generation, In B. Bygrave & A. Zacharakis (eds.), Portable MBA in
entrepreneurship. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, pp. 27-52. Figure on p. 38.
Csikszentmihalyi’s Polarity of Creative Individuals
Notes:
If you compare the “polarized” traits in Table 3.2 with the left- and right-brain characteristics in
Table 3.1, you will see striking similarities, suggesting that creativity involves using both sides of
the brain. In this sense, Csikszentmihalyi’s study is consistent with Pink’s argument that we are
living in a conceptual age which requires us to tap into our creative potential and think with
both sides of our brain.
Instructor Resource
Neck, Entrepreneurship
SAGE Publishing, 2018
The Improvisation Habit
• Improvisation: The art of spontaneously creating something without preparation.
• See Photo 3.9: Tina Fey, Steven Colbert, Steve Carrell
Notes:
The ability to function in an uncertain world requires a degree of improvisation. Entrepreneurs
may begin with a certain idea or direction, but obstacles such as limited resources,
environmental conditions, or a changing mindset can prevent them from executing their initial
Improvisation Guidelines
• Not just for actors or musicians
• No such thing as being wrong
• No suggestions are questioned or rejected
• Ideas are taken on board, expanded, and passed on for further input
Instructor Resource
Neck, Entrepreneurship
SAGE Publishing, 2018
Pathway to Action
The General Self-Efficacy Scale(GSES)
Notes:
The GSES has been used all over the world since the 1990s to measure the self-efficacy levels of
a whole range of ages, nationalities, and ethnicities, and is thought to be an accurate way of
GSES Results
• Response Format
• 1 = Not at all true
Critical Thinking Questions
• Critique the argument that entrepreneurs should establish trust with their stakeholders
by modeling ethical behavior. Give some examples supporting your position.
• 2. As a CEO, would you support requiring your employees to sign a company code of
ethics? If so, what would be the most important provisions of your code?
Notes:
Although they value autonomy, entrepreneurs recognize that they also rely on many
stakeholders—community networks, investors, employees, customers, and more—as keys to
Instructor Resource
Neck, Entrepreneurship
SAGE Publishing, 2018
their success. To cultivate these relationships, successful entrepreneurs build a culture of trust
by modeling ethical behavior and establishing a code of ethics.
The Role of Mindset in Opportunity Recognition