"The Entrepreneurial Mindset" (cover article for Strive Magazine)

How do entrepreneurs think? What distinguishes the best entrepreneurs and innovators from the rest?

Originally published as the cover article for Strive Magazine, January 2019

For the past 30 years, I’ve pursued the answer to this question: “What distinguishes the best entrepreneurs and innovators from the rest of us?”I’ve done this as a startup entrepreneur in Silicon Valley and as a corporate entrepreneur launching and building new businesses throughout the world. For the past 15 years, I’ve both studied and taught entrepreneurship and innovation at UC Berkeley, and have also taught entrepreneurs, executives and policy-makers around the world.Throughout the past several decades, our understanding of the practice of entrepreneurship has evolved substantially. We have identified habits, techniques and tools successful entrepreneurs employ that aspiring entrepreneurs and innovators can emulate to improve their own odds.These proven approaches provide a definitive answer to the oft-asked question whether or not entrepreneurship can be taught. While a semester studying entrepreneurship with me may not turn you into the next Jeff Bezos, Jack Ma or Richard Branson, your chances of success will definitely be better than when you started...

Visit the Full Article on Strive Magazine for insights into:

-Innovation versus Entrepreneurship

We often conflate innovation and entrepreneurship, but while they are related, they differ in several key elements. My definitions are straightforward.

-The Innovation Conundrum

As business leaders, we seek growth and competitive advantage. Innovation is a key lever to help us get there. Unfortunately, I often hear executives frame it this way: “We need more innovation across the organization. And, of course, failure is not an option.” Learn how to overcome this mindset and think like a VC in the full text of the article.

-The Other ‘F’ Word

I didn’t start out to write a book about failure. But understanding the role that failure plays in the innovation and value creation process became an important motivation for the Amazon bestselling book I wrote with my UC Berkeley colleague, John Danner: The Other ‘F’ Word: How Smart Leaders, Teams, and Entrepreneurs Put Failure to Work (Wiley, 2015).

-The “3 Sets” of Successful Entrepreneurs

The Toolset represents the “what,” frameworks and models that entrepreneurs and teams utilize to frame and execute their activities and steps. The Skillset represents the “how,” putting the tools to work through processes, methodologies and techniques. And then there is the Mindset of the entrepreneur…

-The Top 10 Traits of Successful Entrepreneurs

For more than a decade, I have maintained a list of the top 10 traits that define the mindset of successful entrepreneurs: How they think, how they are wired, where they set priorities. I hope you see yourself in some of these. ..Full text: The Strive Project - The Entrepreneurial Mindset by Mark CoopersmithNow, go out and break some rules!