Of Creativity and Priorities

Harvard Business School professor, Teresa Amabile, has an interesting take on creativity. In her research, discussed in her HBR article Recognizing and Shaping Opportunities, she has come to the conclusion that creativity is made up of three intersecting components: Expertise, Motivation, and Creative-Thinking Skills.

Expertise includes experiences, education, and knowledge.

Motivation refers to both internal passion and interests, and to external rewards.

Creative-thinking skills include the way people approach and solve problems and put existing ideas together in new combinations.

Amabile says that these three components help frame how entrepreneurs recognize opportunities.

This was exciting to me because the main reason I have felt I’m NOT an entrepreneur is that I don’t have ideas. The concept that I can use my expertise, internal passions, and problem solving abilities to recognize opportunities, is exciting. There is hope for me yet!

Something that really stood out to me this week was the case study we read of Randy Haykin, in which he discusses the difficulty of being an entrepreneur and having quality time for your family. Haykin said that mentors (plural, so more than one person) told him that “it is impossible to start a company and have a family that still loves you in the process.” That is kind of a bleak outlook. 

“I always felt that if all success means is an unhappy family or a divorce situation or kids that can’t relate to you, then what is the purpose of having gone through this? Balancing work and family has been a real challenge, but I think the most rewarding part.”

-         Randy Haykin

So it is possible, and rewarding, and extremely difficult. Knowing that at the beginning and having ethical guardrails in place can help.

I am excited to experience some of the entrepreneurial creativity spoken of and grateful to have my ethical guardrails already in place when it happens.

Resources
Recognizing and Shaping Opportunities, Teresa Amabile, Harvard Business Review

Of Stones and Wings

On our journey to become entrepreneurial heroes, or in any pursuit in this life, we will invariably encounter stones in our path. Things that impede our progress, make the journey more difficult, or make us feel like we are failing.

“These obstacles are the necessary means for developing the faith and persistence to overcome the real challenges that inevitably confront any person who has set out to do something heroic.”

-          Jeff Sandefer

Those obstacles may be the very things which, by overcoming, will make us what we are striving to become. We just need to keep going, move that stone from our path, and continue forward. We cannot allow despair in these moments to take over what we have already come so far to do.

Be Like The Bird

Be like the bird that, pausing

in her flight awhile on boughs too slight,

feels them give way beneath her —

yet sings—

knowing she hath wings.

—Victor Hugo

I want to be like the bird. Even when the ground seems to be falling out from underneath me, realize that my wings are my Savior and that I can sing.

Of Company Culture and Loyalty to God

Jan Newman gave a speech on Loyalty to God and Family. He discussed how you can never compromise (crunch time) your loyalty to the Lord or your family; the Lord requires a willing heart and mind and our greatest legacy will be our family and the Lord.

“Never be too busy with work to accept a calling.”

He mentioned that when he was working on his company he served as a bishop and then a stake president. He gave the advice that having integrity and honesty will make you stick out like a sore thumb. People will want you!!

In the paper So You Want to be an Entrepreneur, The Acton Foundation lists three areas of knowledge which are critical for starting a successful business:

1.      In-depth knowledge of the competitive structure of an industry and a network of contacts within that industry;

2.      The skills to run the daily operations of a small, rapidly growing company; and

3.      The ability to raise money. 

Understanding daily operations is critical for entrepreneurs because they include many different issues: ". . . from accounting, production, organizational and administrative dilemmas to general business philosophy. All of these must be woven into a consistent set of principles and procedures. A disorganized accounting system or poor physical surroundings can likewise take a heavy toll on profits"

This stuck out to me:

"If the company culture is flawed, almost any strategy is in jeopardy."

Why did it stick out? Because I work in an office where some of these things are really broken. I have been working on trying to change many of the problems that we have on a recurring basis; however, I have come to the realization that the problem is the boss and he is not going to change.

I have experienced what flawed culture can do. It decreases morale, increases turnover, decreases customer satisfaction, and ultimately does take a heavy toll on profits. Turnover is expensive. Unhappy customers don’t give referrals. But what do you do when the cause of the problem is the owner who won’t change? You either leave or deal with it the best you can.

That is something I would like to learn; how to manage up and change a boss who is stuck in behaviors that, I worry, may run him out of business.

Of Perseverance and Heroes

This week we read a talk given by President James E. Faust called Perseverance. When he was younger he wondered “What will be my place in this world, and how will I find it?” His only real goal at that time was to serve a mission. That mission eventually became "like a North Star." An important lesson he learned was: 

"If I faithfully persevered in my Church callings, the Lord would open up the way and guide me to other opportunities and blessings, even beyond my dreams."

He talked of President Hinckley who had as his theme "Carry On." Referring to carry on and endure. President Hinckley left an amazing legacy of temple building. He then quoted President George Q. Cannon who said of temples:

“Every foundation stone that is laid for a Temple, and every Temple completed according to the order the Lord has revealed for his holy Priesthood, lessens the power of Satan on the earth, and increases the power of God and Godliness, moves the heavens in mighty power in our behalf, invokes and calls down upon us the blessings of the Eternal Gods, and those who reside in their presence.”

At the time, it seemed like such an undoable task, to get to 100 temples. Now we are over 140. He carried on and did amazing things with the help of God.

Jeff Sandefer of the Acton Foundation gave a speech about a Hero’s Journey. We can all be heroes if we find our true calling in life. He said:

“You have a mission on this earth that will succeed beyond your wildest dreams; IF you have the faith and courage to find your entrepreneurial calling.”

“Choosing a Hero’s Journey is to live every moment of your life like it mattered; because it does; to live as if you have an important mission; because you do; seeing struggles as adventures and setbacks as lessons. And like Sir Lancelot and the Holy Grail or Harry Potter and Voldemort, what matters most isn’t the prize at the end but how the Hero is changed in the process.”

In surveys of people over 60, it was found that they generally only had three questions that mattered at the end of life:

1.      Have I contributed something meaningful?

2.      Am I a good person?

3.      Who did I love and who loved me?

Contribute something meaningful by finding your calling – something that you are naturally gifted at, that brings you joy, and satisfies a deep burning need in the world.

Be a good person by creating ethical guardrails.

Remain loveable and loving by choosing your fellow travelers well. You will come to be like those who surround you.

I wonder what my place in this world is. What is my true calling in life? I look forward to finding that out.

Reference:
Perseverance, James E. Faust, April 2005
A Hero's Journey, Jeff Sandefer, BYU-Idaho 

Of Fellow Travelers and Chameleons

What is an entrepreneurial hero? It is someone who lives life as an adventure, as did Sir Lancelot or Harry Potter—or any other mythical childhood hero. It is one who digs deeply to find special talents and gifts, then uses them to bring joy, enrich life, and serve others. This isn’t an easy journey, which is why it is called heroic.

Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths.  It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it.

—M. Scott Peck

In learning about living life as an entrepreneurial hero, one of the ideas that stood out was the concept of choosing your fellow travelers well. 

I read somewhere that you are the aggregate of the five people you spend the most time with. I had to stop and think - am I spending time with people who lift me, make me better, share my goals and morals?

We are like chameleons; we take our hue and the color of our moral character, from those who are around us.

                                                                                                    --John Locke

According to Jeff Sandefer of the Action Foundation for Entrepreneurial Excellence, "Choosing your fellow travelers may not seem as exciting as slaying the dragons of competition, but it may well be the most important decision an entrepreneurial hero will make."

And – “No matter how talented the person is, life is too short to put up with jerks. And life is too long to associate with liars or cheats or gossips.”

Lesson Learned: Surround yourself with people you want to be like. Not jerks.

Reference:

Sandefer, Jeff. "Living Life as an Entrepreneurial Hero." n.d.

Learning to be an Entrepreneur

I have never thought of myself as an entrepreneur. I have often wished I was. Wouldn't it be amazing to come up with the next "it" item, the software that makes everyone's life easier, or a time-saving gadget that everyone is clamoring to buy?

In studying business, it seems that even if you aren't an entrepreneur, you need to learn to think like one, because business today can turn on a dime. When someone else comes up with that next "it" item, your world could change in an instant.

So, here I am, studying entrepreneurship.

I will be discovering my entrepreneurial "calling." Learning and developing constructive habits. Selecting my next "stepping stone job." Embracing Disciple Leadership. And, journalling my discoveries along the way.

Here we go!