Development of Entrepreneurial Mindset and Opportunities

Definition of entrepreneurship:

William Bygrave believed that an entrepreneur not only perceives opportunities but also put efforts in creating a company or organization to pursue them. Having an idea is a great thing but building a business organization out of them required a lot of hard work, these are were entrepreneurial skills come handy. (Anon,2019)

Entrepreneurial strengths:

• Influencer: In December 2018, I got associated with an NGO named NIRMAN. As we all know that people generally show less interest in social causes because of their mentality of getting nothing in return. That’s when I realized my quality of being an Influencer should come into action. Eventually, I started sharing my experiences on social media as well as with my friends about how I relive my childhood memories with them. As a result of it, most of them showed keen interest in participating in most of the activities and becoming an active member of the organization.

According to the reports of The Economic Time, Mukesh Ambani the business tycoon increased his subscribers for JIO from Zero to Two Hundred million subscribers by giving free data services and free calling to them which had influenced telecom market to re consolidate. (Shrivastava, 2019)

• Adaptable: It is a well -known fact, that Adaptability is the need of the hour for being a successful entrepreneur. Being an international student, I can feel that it is difficult to adjust with people who have different tastes and preferences. But I have overcome this pressure because in high school we had an exchange program in Denmark because of which I learned how to interact with them and understand their tastes and preferences.

According to the Patrick Bateson development of an individual is readily perceived as an interplay between them and their environment. (Bateson, 2017) They adapt those things which they generally practice in their daily routine. For example, a person from France can easily not survive in the environment of Spain because of their different environmental conditions.

• Leadership: It is always been my cup of tea. From my school life itself, I have always been an active leader in all the work fields (sports events, cultural events, working for NGOs). My school participated in an event in 2014, where I was the caption of the football team, at certain period in the competition there was a downfall of my team we lost 2-3 matches in a row and all the supporters thought that we were weak but I guided that into the right direction and they all felt motivated, despite the fact that supporters were not on our side but still we me and my team didn’t lose the hope and we won that event.

According to the reports of CNBC, Warren Buffett is an influential leader, he has motivated around 160 billionaires to donate half of the wealth in philanthropic causes. (Mejia, 2018) Michael Toth also felt the same way that Warren Buffet is an influential leader, he said that when the market conditions were not so stable, he didn’t lie about it to his shareholders, moreover he made a balance between optimism and realism.

AREAS OF DEVELOPMENT

• Optimism: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So, you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”

             By Steve Jobs.

It states that when you are in the middle of something difficult, or you don’t know about your path it is important to be optimistic that every dot will connect. When Steve Jobs asked Wendell Weeks to deliver a major shipment of Gorilla glass and Wendell replied that they have stopped making those kinds of glasses anymore and moreover they didn’t have the capacity (Isaacson, 2012) Steve encouraged Weeks by making him realize about the talent of his engineers that they can face strong challenges, he kept on motivating him as a result Weeks delivered those glasses within six months.

I want to overcome my problem of optimism through Steve Jobs thinking that how he was so confident and motivated about the future.

         Communication: “Great communicators understand one fundamental rule of persuasion – complex ideas must be communicated simply.” (Gallo, 2014) Initially, Bill Gates was not so confident about his communication skill, he was facing the problem that how can he communicate the complex problems the foundation was trying to solve (extreme poverty, childhood deaths, global healthcare) in simple ways that people could understand easily. In 2014 he wrote a letter whose title was “3 Myths That Block Progress For The Poor”

Myth#1 Poor countries are doomed to be poor.

Myth#2 Foreign aid is a big waste.

Myth#3 Saving lives leads to overpopulation.

This approached work and it garnered millions of views on social media. Every interviewer discussed this topic in detail.

I have learned through Bill Gates that how can I easily communicate my thoughts simply and creatively.

• Lack of self-confidence: “Everybody has equal opportunity, and I think that is true for everything”.

It states that everyone is provided with equal opportunities and you can’t deny the fact that how Mukesh Ambani used this opportunity to be the leading business tycoon of India. (Giridharadas, 2008) We can quote this through an example that both Anil and Mukesh were given equal parts of their father’s business, both of them had a great start but later on, it seemed like only Mukesh Ambani had use that opportunity in a brilliant manner by diversifying his business into many other sectors. It was his self- confidence and presence of mind which had led him to on top of the business world.

LEARNING CONTRACT

Area for development	Steps to develop	Time Frame	How will I know I am improving?
1.Lack of self -confidence.	1.Be proud of yourself. 2. See rejection as an opportunity. 3.often do those things which are out of your comfort zone.	1 month	By feeling the changes inside me and having the attitude that I can easily do this thing.
2.Communication	1.Improve your body language. 2.Think before you speak. 3.Maintain positive attitude.	1.5 months	Getting feedback from friends and teachers.
3.Optimism	1.Surround yourself with positive people. 2.Always be prepared for the challenges. 3.Work on those things which you can control	2 months	When I’ll be ready to face every challenge with a positive attitude.

BRIEF SUMMARY:

Through this assignment I understood the qualities an entrepreneur must possess and how can I improve in my entrepreneurial journey. Setting a time limit for the areas of development placed me in a zone where there will be self-improvement and I will blossom as a groomed entrepreneur.

References:

• https://www.vitalsource.com/products/the-harvard-business-review-entrepreneur-39-s-harvard-business-review-v9781633693715.
• Bateson, P. (2017). Behaviour, Development and Evolution. [online] JSTOR. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1sq5tz0.13?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=adaptability&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dadaptability%2B&ab_segm [Accessed 13 Oct. 2019].
• Gallo, C. (2014). How Bill Gates Radically Transformed His Public Speaking And Communication Skills. [online] Forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2014/02/07/how-bill-gates-radically-transformed-his-public-speaking-and-communication-skills/#1263b15f4330 [Accessed 14 Oct. 2019].
• Giridharadas, A. (2008). Meet Mukesh Ambani: India’s Richest Man. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/business/worldbusiness/15ambani.html [Accessed 14 Oct. 2019].
• Isaacson, W. (2012). The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs. [online] Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2012/04/the-real-leadership-lessons-of-steve-jobs [Accessed 14 Oct. 2019].
• Mejia, Z. (2018). Why Warren Buffett is such an influential leader, according to 40 years of data. [online] CNBC. Available at: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/23/why-warren-buffett-is-such-an-influential-leader-according-to-data.html [Accessed 14 Oct. 2019].
• Shrivastava, B. (2019). How Mukesh Ambani shook up the phone industry, in charts. [online] The Economic Times. Available at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/telecom/telecom-news/how-mukesh-ambani-shook-up-the-phone-industry-in-charts/articleshow/66254901.cms?from=mdr [Accessed 13 Oct. 2019].