Lisa Earle McLeod* says the ‘new normal’ with its need for rapid innovation, is opening the way for employees to bring creative, buzzing energy to their day jobs.
The line between ‘corporate employee’ and ‘entrepreneur’ is blurring fast.
Organisations now recognise the need for rapid innovation, growth mindsets, and other self-starter habits typically reserved for entrepreneurs or scrappy start-ups.
Whether you’re preparing to make the leap into entrepreneurship or just need a little bit more of that creative, buzzing energy in your day, here are three tips to bring an entrepreneurial spirit to your day job.
Don’t self-edit too quickly
Your first idea is rarely great off the bat, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a great starting point.
Here’s the challenge — high performers have little patience for ideas that aren’t great and sometimes kill a decent idea too early, before it gets the chance to evolve into ‘great.’
Try the 10-minute hack to push your creative edge.
If there are some flaws with your plan, worry about it in 10 minutes; if that hasn’t been done before, worry about it in 10 minutes.
If it would never work because it’s too expensive, too time consuming, too logistically challenging, worry about it in 10 minutes.
Be loose with your mind, at least at first. Entrepreneurs make a practice of mentally removing the guardrails of the world.
Good ideas start out messy. Make peace with it and don’t kill the idea too early.
Widen your lens
Any good performer can get the to-do list from the boss and check the boxes.
The boss will be pleased, but breakthrough results are unlikely.
Yes, you need to accomplish the deliverables, and you also want to be the person thinking two moves ahead, analysing chain reactions, and looking for themes.
You can embody an entrepreneurial mindset by approaching situations with questions like: What’s the root cause? Has this happened before? Will it happen again?
If I don’t solve it, what will happen? Then what would happen? If I solve it once, what will happen? Then what would happen?
Viewing the day-to-day through this wider lens will prompt you to be more strategic with your insights and help you identify opportunities faster.
Avoid perfectionism
I’ve yet to meet an entrepreneur who has come up with a big idea, captured the market, made the headlines, etc. who also describes their execution as perfect.
There are points for good execution and there are also points for speed. In many cases speed counts more.
The ‘winner’ is usually the person who got it 90 per cent good enough and did it faster than everyone else.
Don’t let perfection be the enemy of the enemy of good. If the thought of that makes you squirm, I feel for you.
My first book was titled Forget Perfect. Did you know that authors often write the book they need to read? In my case, that’s 100 per cent true.
Here’s what I’ve learned about perfectionism and entrepreneurship.
Instead of trying to be perfect at everything, identify the few really high-value things that actually deserve detail-oriented attention.
Having a place to channel that meticulous refining keeps you from getting bogged down with endless details.
Whether you’re out on your own, working for a big organisation, or part of a small scrappy team, embodying an entrepreneurial ethos can help you up your game.
*Lisa Earle McLeod is the leadership expert best known for creating the popular business concept Noble Purpose. She is the author of Selling with Noble Purpose and Leading with Noble Purpose. She can be contacted at mcleodandmore.com.
This article first appeared at mcleodandmore.com.
