Recap briefly

Many of the successful entrepreneurs behind major corporations today

established their companies by acting, learning, and building what they learner
into their next actions.

Entrepreneurship maybe different than you think: features of modern

entrepreneurship.

The entrepreneurship method

Managerial vs. entrepreneurial thinking

• Iterative • Embrace and leverage

failure
• Competitive
• Uncertain
• Start with what you
have • Linear
• Avoid failure at all costs • Experimentation
• Collaborative • Big planning
• Small actions • Act to learn
• Wait until you get what
• Optimization you need
• Plan to act • Certain
Chapter 2: Developing an
entrepreneurial mindset
Learning Objectives
1. Define “entrepreneurial mindset” and explain its importance to
entrepreneurs.
2. Explain how to develop the habit of
Creativity
Improvisation
Fear management
Self-leadership
Reflection
 Topic 1: The Power of Mindset

Mindset
• “The established attitudes
held by someone” (McKean,
2005).
The Power of Mindset (Carol Dweck)

Growth Mindset:
• Brains and talent are starting point
• Lifelong learning, training, practice
• Failure as an opportunity to improve

Fixed Mindset:
• Intelligence and skill are innate
• There is no room for change
• Take constructive criticism personally
• Attribute other’s success to luck
What Kind of Mindset Do You Have?
Impact of mindset
7th Grade math performance Fixed mindset praise vs. Growth mindset praise
Topic 1: The Power of Mindset

Build a growth mindset

• Become aware of questioning voice.

• Respond and take action.
• Science of mindset continues to evolve.
Topic 2: the Entrepreneurial Mindset
 What is the
Entrepreneurial
Mindset?

The mindset for Entrepreneurship:

• 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.
• Five themes
The Entrepreneurial Mindset (1 of 5)
Mental Process
• Relate to cognitive strategies.
• Understanding metacognition.
• Entrepreneurial self-efficacy: Effort, persistence, perseverance.

Neck et al., Entrepreneurship, 3e. © 2025 Sage Publishing. 12

1957
• The fathers of Silicon Valley: the Traitorous Eight
The Entrepreneurial
Mindset
(2 of 5)

Value Creation
• Entrepreneurship is to create
value.
• Creating something new.

Neck et al., Entrepreneurship, 3e. © 2025 Sage Publishing. 14

The Entrepreneurial
Mindset
(3 of 5)

Recognizing and Acting on

Opportunities
• Opportunity through new
products, services.
• Mindset affects opportunity
recognition.

• Google and Andy Bechtolsheim

(68th wealthiest)
15
 Adaptability and Resilience
• Capacity to recover from challenges.
The Entrepreneurial • Setbacks, failures, unexpected challenges.

Mindset • Resilience built over time.

(4 of 5)
• Ability to move forward.

16
When Mark Zuckerberg cried. Kevin Efrusy &
Accel (Facebook, Slack, and Dropbox)
• an appointment to talk by phone with Parker through a friend
• Another friend working for Parker
• Phoned Parker
• Peter Fenton (Accel partner)  Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn) 
Parker/Zuckerberg
• Invalidated the reason  Hoffman would arrange a meeting
• Show up at Facebook
• Next day
The Entrepreneurial Mindset
(5 of 5)

Decision-Making With Limited Information

• Uncertainty is always present.
• Belief in what you are doing.
• Opening yourself to losses.
• Taking small, quick actions.

Neck et al., Entrepreneurship, 3e. © 2025 Sage Publishing. 18

• six cards + eight small pieces of tape
• 1st card: something you are passionate about
• 2nd and 3rd cards: (on each card) one thing about why they are
passionate
• 4th, 5th, 6th cards: (on each card) one skill/strength
• All six cards: face down; mix up; arrange in a “T”; tape the
edges
• Fold into a box and tape the edges
• Examine a random intersection: an idea incorporating both
sides of the cube
Activity: The
Passion Cube
How Your “Why Statement”
Connects to Your Entrepreneurial
Mindset (1 of 3)

• A strong desire to achieve something

• A statement that connects to curiosity,
drive, motivation.
• Referred to as North Star.
• Better able to connect to new
opportunities.

Neck et al., Entrepreneurship, 3e. © 2025 Sage Publishing. 21

How Your “Why Statement” Connects to Your
Entrepreneurial Mindset (3 of 3)
• Sinek’s four characteristics.
• Simple and clear
• Focused on impact
• Truthful rather than inspirational
• Connected to all aspects of you

Neck et al., Entrepreneurship, 3e. © 2025 Sage Publishing. 22

 Ask yourself: What’s my why? What am I curious about? What motivates and
energizes me? Where do my passions lie? Your why statement is not an idea; it’s a
direction. For example, a why statement might be “I want to help women age more
gracefully.”
• Step 1 (10 minutes): Write down your why statement as outlined by the Method. Keep in mind that this is
something that drives your curiosity, motivation to engage, and enthusiasm. Your why statement is not an idea;
it’s a statement that expresses the type of impact you want to make as an entrepreneur. The following are
examples of why statements:

• I want to help people age more gracefully.

• I want to use video games to effect positive change.
• I want to build greater community among different populations on my college campus.
• I want to design clothes that help teenagers feel more confident.
• I want to reduce waste in the fashion industry.
• Take a full hour to write down your why statement. Give it deep thought and really ask yourself, “What excites
me? What drives me?” Write your answer as clearly, sincerely, and completely as you can.

• Step 2: Share your why statement with your classmates or others in your life, and try to find someone who shares
a similar vision. Your goal is to find just one other person with a similar vision, but if you find more, that’s great,
too!
How Your “Why Statement” Connects to Your
Entrepreneurial Mindset (2 of 3)
Passion can be defined as an intense positive emotion, which is
usually related to entrepreneurs who are engaged in meaningful
ventures, or tasks and activities, and which has the effect of motivating
and stimulating entrepreneurs to overcome obstacle and remain
focused on their goals.

The Role of Passion

• Passion motivates and stimulates entrepreneurs.
• Developing your passion through growth.
• Confirmation bias.

Neck et al., Entrepreneurship, 3e. © 2025 Sage Publishing. 24

Topic 3. how to develop the habit of
Creativity
Improvisation
Fear management
Self-leadership
Reflection
ABC Nightline - IDEO Shopping Cart
A Creative Brain

Are you
right or left
brain
dominance?

Personality
Test
A Creative Brain
• Little scientific support for “left-brained” and “right-brained”
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
 Improv Exercise: Yes And Story
• Players sit In a circle and build a story one sentence at a time. Each sentence must begin with "Yes, And..." Each
sentence must refer to one statement from the previous sentence. For example, if I say "Once upon a time there
was a blue rhinoceros", then the next person might say "Yes, and the blue rhinoceros liked to drink tea (or wore
reading glasses, or whatever)”. And the person after that could say something like "Yes, and that tea contained
persimmons" and so on. If someone forgets to start their sentence with "Yes, and..." then the group functions as
a friendly human buzzer, saying "Buzzzz". The person then just tries again this time beginning his/her sentence
with "Yes, and..." At any time, a participant has the choice to say “pass” if they get too stuck.
• Because this is an exercise on accepting offers and building on them, these behaviors are to be avoided. It is
best to alert the group to these No Nos up front:
• Do not argue with the what was just added to the story. Example: "Yes, and it wasn't really a blue rhinoceros, it
was a green fly." Arguers may actually say “Yes, And…” but they do not add, but instead block or deny the
previous story addition. The group should be encouraged to Buzz an arguer to encourage them to try again with
a true Yes, And…. Statement.
• Do not question what was just added to the story: "Yes, and what kind of blue rhinoceros was it?".
• Do not hesitate. The moderator should encourage people not to hesitate by trying to find the perfect thing to
say. Jump in by saying Yes and... then repeat an element and let the first thing that comes to mind come out to
add to the story.
The improvisation habit

Improvisation:
• The art of spontaneously creating something without preparation.

Why it matters:
• Uncertainty surrounding entrepreneurship requires the ability to quickly adapt to
unforeseen circumstances.
• Improvisation toolkits:
- Ability to be nimble and adaptive
- Resilient in the face of failure
- Work collaboratively
 The improvisation habit

• Play
• Let yourself fail
• Listen
• Yes and…
• Play the game
Yes and… Principle

• Peter: I have a great idea for a healthy dried fruit snack for kids
that contains less sugar than any other brand on the market

• Teresa: Hasn’t this been done already? The market is saturated

with these kinds of products (NO)

• Sami: I think its an interesting idea, but I’ve heard that these
products cost a fortune to manufacture and produce (Yes
but…)
Habit Description How to Develop It

Capacity to produce new ideas, insights,

Creativity ???
inventions, or products of value.

Ability to adapt spontaneously without

Improvisation ???
preparation.

Fear Management

Self-Leadership

Reflection
Habits to Practice for an Entrepreneurial
Mindset (6 of 10)
The Fear Management Habit
• Fear causes self-doubt, insecurity.
• Write down fears about entrepreneurship.
• Fears due to lack of information.

Neck et al., Entrepreneurship, 3e. © 2025 Sage Publishing. 36

Habits to Practice for an Entrepreneurial
Mindset (7 of 10)
The Fear Management Habit
• Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2022
• ~65% of U.S. adults believe they possess the
knowledge/skills for starting a business.
• Fear of failure among those seeking opportunities
reached 43%,
• Failure part of the learning process.

Neck et al., Entrepreneurship, 3e. © 2025 Sage Publishing. 37

Fear-to-Action Drill

• Students write down one entrepreneurial fear.

• Pass the paper to a neighbor who must write a first action step that
would shrink that fear.
The Self-leadership Habit

• Self-leadership: Process where people can

influence and control their own behavior.
• It consists of three main strategies:
oBehavior-focused strategies.
oNatural reward strategies.
oConstructive thought pattern strategies.
The Self-leadership Habit: Behavior-focused strategies
Habits to Practice for an Entrepreneurial
Mindset (8 of 10)
The Self-Leadership Habit
• Self-cueing.

Neck et al., Entrepreneurship, 3e. © 2025 Sage Publishing. 43

Habits to Practice for an Entrepreneurial
Mindset
• Natural reward strategies (music, break time) vs. self-reward
• Constructive thought patterns: identify beliefs/assumptions

Neck et al., Entrepreneurship, 3e. © 2025 Sage Publishing. 44

Habits to Practice for an Entrepreneurial
Mindset (10 of 10)
The Reflection Habit
• Reviewing and evaluating experiences.
• Reflection-on-practice.
• Reflection-in-practice.

Neck et al., Entrepreneurship, 3e. © 2025 Sage Publishing. 45

Habit How to Develop It
• Practice divergent thinking (e.g., brainstorming 10 ideas daily).
Creativity • Expose yourself to diverse fields and perspectives.
• Use tools like SCAMPER to remix old ideas.
• Play “Yes, and…” games to build flexibility.
Improvisation • Put yourself in uncertain or unscripted situations.
• Practice responding quickly with limited resources.
• Break tasks into small, manageable risks.
Fear
• Use “affordable loss” thinking (limit what you risk each time).
Management
• Reframe failure as data/learning.
Behavior-Focused Strategies: Set goals, self-observe, reward progress, limit distractions.
Natural Reward Strategies: Reframe dull tasks, align with values, make work enjoyable.
Self-Leadership Constructive Thought Patterns: Positive but realistic self-talk, visualize success, replace dysfunctional
beliefs.

• Keep a daily/weekly reflection journal.

Reflection • Ask: What worked? What didn’t? What will I do differently?
• Discuss experiences with peers/mentors for outside perspective.
only three things we can do that will create
lasting change environment

epiphany
• Behavior: Donating via text to the Red
Cross after the massive earthquake in
Haiti.
• Motivation (M): I wanted to help the
victims of a devastating disaster.
• Ability (A): It was easy to reply to a text
message.
• Prompt (P): I was prompted by a text
message from the Red Cross.
Our exercise: Implementation. Triggers. Stacking.

• The format is:

• I will___ (ACTION) at___ (TIME) in ___ (LOCATION).
• I will NOT___ (ACTION) at___ (TIME) in ___ (LOCATION).

• The format is:

• After ___ (CURRENT HABIT), I will ___ (NEW HABIT).
• Before ___ (CURRENT HABIT), I will ___ (NEW HABIT).
Redesign our exercise: Implementation. Triggers.
Stacking.

What may be missing in your initial design?

• The format is:

• I will___ (ACTION) at___ (TIME) in ___ (LOCATION).
• I will NOT___ (ACTION) at___ (TIME) in ___ (LOCATION).

• The format is:

• After ___ (CURRENT HABIT), I will ___ (NEW HABIT).
• Before ___ (CURRENT HABIT), I will ___ (NEW HABIT).
Reflection
Exercise
• Read “Study on Luck” pp.36
(15mins)

• Answer the questions in group

 Can you think of an opportunity
that came your way because you
were open to it?
 Do you know any examples about
missing opportunities when you
(family members, friends, etc.) are
not in the right mindset?
 Mindset Swap Debate
(“Launch a café for dogs”).

•Half the class argues from a fixed mindset

perspective, the other half from a growth mindset.