7. Idea to Epiphany
Contrary to the popular myth of ideas coming in the Eureka mould, for most entrepreneurs, it is actually a long process of incremental thinking followed by the occasional epiphany which takes thinking to the next level. It is the small steps which set up the platform the big leap; without these baby steps, there would be no lightbulbs going off.
It is this process which entrepreneurs thrive in. They have a unique knack of being able to take ideas and concepts from very different and unrelated processes or arenas, and apply them to the context of what they are doing. This ability to make connections and associations is a unique talent which stands them in good stead. Entrepreneurs live for these Aha moments. But behind that one big moment is a lot of Hmmm type of thinking.
8. Envisioning the Future
Entrepreneurs, by default, live in the future. The present and its problems are almost irrelevant to them. They work to craft a Future Fantastic, and then work towards building it out. Entrepreneurs want to compete in this future not with resources but with a blend of passion, vision and strategy. For them, business is an intellectual game of Chess, one where others need to be out-thought, because they cannot be out-spent.
It is also not that entrepreneurs become fixated on a single vision of tomorrow. In their minds eye, the future is not a static picture, but an evolving one. They use lifes experiences and their RTW (reading-thinking-writing) to continuously enhance and enrich their view of the world, using their intuitive gyroscopes for regular course correction.
9. Travellers Tales
Entrepreneurs are natural explorers. They like to travel, see different places, put themselves in different situations. What this does is that it takes them away from the daily buzz of work and makes them see a more wholistic view of what they are doing. They come back from trips with a renewed sense of energy which very quickly percolates through their enterprise. Of course, they return with more ideas than are implementable but thats part of the occupational hazard.
Travelling does a lot more. It forces entrepreneurs to start delegating by default! In general, even though entrepreneurs recognize that they need others to get things done, they have a tendency to believe that they are indispensable. As a result, they become the decision-making hub for everything, and thus a potential bottleneck. By getting out of the office every once in a while, entrepreneurs foster the next level of organisational command (which in most cases happens without the entrepreneurs realising it). When they back, they figure that things actually worked quite well in their absence!
Tomorrow: The Entrepreneurs Delights (continued)
