The Changing Frontier of Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship has changed forever. The old way is imploding. And it is a good thing. Scary. But a good thing, nonetheless.
Just like a star in its final stage of life, OWE (Old Way Entrepreneurship) started a rapid, insatiable burn after 9/11 and in this past year started the collapse into a black hole. But along with the death of OWE, is the birth of a NEW (New Entrepreneurship Way). I know, I know. The acronyms aren’t the best, but those are not important. Here is what is:
Competition Has Moved To Collaboration
OWE used a Compete & Destroy approach toward growing. The key strategy to success was to identify your competitors, determine how to pull away their clients and destroy the competition. You grow by killing.
NEW is using a Collaborate & Elevate strategy for success. In this approach you identify your competitors, determine how you compliment each other, and then pull together to elevate both your business to the next level. The customers win, your competitor (now called your collaborator) wins, and YOU win.
Information Driven Leadership Has Moved To Intuition Driven Leadership
OWE had leaders who where persuasive, charismatic and intelligent, but relied almost entirely on the data. Trend analysis, customer surveys and probability charts made the decisions. Information overload causes paralysis since all decisions, good, bad & outright horrible, can find supporting data.
NEW leaders trust their heart and gut more than the numbers alone. Even if the trends and surveys don’t support a decision, but their intuition does, they go for it. Today’s leaders leverage the core facts and leave everything else up to intuition.
Adopting Has Moved To Adapting
OWE would adopt a new product/service into their business and keep it in place as long as it fit. Then they would throw away what wasn’t working and adopt a new replacement. Every service, every product and every employee was simply a building block.
NEW constantly adapts their offering to be absolutely consistent with the companies vision and the customers demands. Products, services and people are adapted to flow with ever changing customer demand. The growth of a company following this method is often slower and more painful then the OWE approach, but it is much more organic and keeps the products, services and people around for generations.
Learn From The Girls
Now you know what the undercurrent of entrepreneurial change is. Did you know there is something even bigger going on at the surface? There is a BIG change afoot. The NEW approach of Collaboration, Intuition and Adapting plays perfectly into the natural wiring of women.
Women (and guys who “get it”) entrepreneurs will lead the charge. Over the years to come you will see more and more women growing multi-million dollar businesses. Over the years you will see a whole new paradox of entrepreneurs who adhere to a constant purpose yet are constantly adapting. You know, maternal like.
By Mike Michalowicz, Author of The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tags: adapt, adopt, collaborate, compete, information, intuition, Leadership, mike michalowicz, The Changing Frontier of Entrepreneurship, toilet paper entrepreneur, women entrepreneur
May 18th, 2009
Another change that is going on is that the basis of competition is shifting from individual products and services to business models. We live in a copy-cat economy, where today’s “new” becomes tomorrow’s store brand me-too product. I am an economist by training. Economists love the commoditization that is running rampant–it lowers costs and encourages innovation. But if you are an entrepreneur, think business model before you think new product or service. I define a business model as the 5 core strategy decisions that every business must make: Who is your target market? What business are you in? What value promise will lead customers to chose you? Why won’t competitors be able to copy you? And how will you earn a profit? These questions are simple on the surface, but they are very challenging to answer well. Winning companies create a unique, hard to copy, relevant value promise.
May 18th, 2009
Mike,
You’re right on target to highlight the exploding emergence of women entrepreneurs to lead the charge into the coming years.
May 18th, 2009
Great ideas, however, the name of your blog discredits and defeats your purpose and good statements. Change it now!!!
May 19th, 2009
Mike, thanks so much for being one of the few to mention women entrepreneurs and our contribution. Just this year some of the networking groups that I belong to have grown substantially, some over 300% since January. So many business publications talk about the ’smartest’ or the ‘most technological’ and have lists with no women mentioned! The fact that you mentioned collaboration is right on, in my opinion, and is what these networking groups are all about. We work to refer each other, create partnerships and help each other be successful. Thanks again, Mike, for your recognition!