Shaun Stenning 5 Key Characteristics of the Entrepreneurial Mind

Shaun Stenning said, "Inventors, business owners, and corporate superstars who reshape and remake companies are some of our strongest cultural heroes. They reflect an essential part of the American story—the story of the average person who sees an opportunity, seizes it, and in the process creates something new."

But what do these entrepreneurs share? What qualities or ways of thinking characterize the entrepreneurial mind, and can this type of innovative thinking be cultivated in others? Let’s explore some of the hallmarks of entrepreneurial thinking to better understand how it works and how we can challenge and bend our own thinking to achieve better results.

1. Creativity

According to Shaun Stenning, The seed of all true entrepreneurship is the ability to see things differently. From new products to new processes, entrepreneurs are driven by the uncanny knack to see holes in the marketplace and devise innovations to fill them.

2. Suspicion of Predictors

Entrepreneurs tend not to labor under the assumption that data is the sole predictor of an outcome.

3. Comfort with Uncertainty

Similarly, a distrust of prediction and analysis creates an atmosphere where uncertainty rules.

4. Openness to Experimentation

A comfort with experimentation goes beyond educated trial and error. The ability to experiment with products, processes, and outcomes no matter where the results may lead is the key element of this quality.

5. Functional Humility

Egos can destroy the very best ideas. Entrepreneurs who are committed to solving a business problem or reinventing a product or service display functional humility.

So can everyone have an entrepreneurial mind? Probably not. But with time and practice, we can begin to think more like entrepreneurs.