The last few years have seen TV programmes such as The Apprentice and Dragon’s Den encouraging people to flaunt their business flair and have become smash hits in the US and UK. And recent research among graduates showed that more than half were interested in starting their business.

Does this mean there’s a surge of interest in becoming a tycoon? And are more and more people actually managing to ‘be their own boss’?

Well the answer is probably yes and no.

Yes – we all have entrepreneurial abilities that we don’t use (or don’t know we use) and we can sharpen some of these through training.

And No – the dedication, focus and ruthlessness needed to be a real tycoon probably exists only in a few.

Let’s investigate the yes answer a little more. A previous article, Releasing the Entrepreneur suggested that if we could all act a little more like entrepreneurs it would help us in solving problems, overcoming barriers and encouraging innovation.

This concept of an ‘internal entrepreneur’ suggests that if we could be more business-minded inside a company we could benefit both as individuals and as part of a company.

Imagine that when you are faced with delivering a task or project, but instead of using the company’s budget it was your own money

Here’s a simple test: imagine that when you are faced with delivering a task or project, but instead of using the company’s budget it was your own money you were spending. Would you feel differently about handling the money and resources at your disposal? You would probably be more concerned about things like waste and cost and what’s needed to get the job done.

Entrepreneurs tend to use what is known as ‘effectual thinking’. This type of person would, for instance, look in the fridge and rather than endlessly planning menus and shopping for the perfect ingredients, they would use what is there to come up with a meal.

This could be described as ‘thinking on your feet’ and using the things you have at hand to come up with the results.

But thinking like an entrepreneur is more than just worrying about resources. It can assist our every day work and help with innovation. There are a number of simple concepts that can be applied with very little preparation other than being prepared to be different.

Years ago Apple computers ran an advertising campaign that said, ‘Think Different’. Steve Jobs, the CEO, said that this statement was more for themselves than customers – they needed to be willing as a company to question the accepted ways of doing things in the computer industry. The results of this philosophy are products like the iMac, iPod and iPhone.

Supporting innovation
A major UK based organisation with no end of good ideas was finding it difficult to select the right ones to be developed into products. Part of their solution has been to build a talent pool of people with the crucial entrepreneurial skills, behaviours and connections to help drive the massive innovation cycle and draw out the real opportunities from the mass of good ideas.

In effect they are un-locking the talent and creativity that already exists

In effect they are un-locking the talent and creativity that already exists, so more ideas will get ‘test-driving’ by people who might not normally be involved with product development. And key to this approach is confidence and accepting that.

1. You don’t always get it right first time with new ideas; false starts are normal
2. There never is a ‘right’ time because you will never have all the facts
3. Your customer has got to believe in the idea

We are all entrepreneurs
Everyone, everyday, uses entrepreneurial skills whether it be convincing a family member to go on holiday to a certain place, or telling the story of your day at work to show what a great guy you are to your friends. We are regularly using influencing and networking skills.

Something we can practice is to think about what we have achieved that was difficult but successful and we feel good about. We can ‘visualize success’ by reminding ourselves about what we did exactly:

• Why was it successful?
• How did we go about it?
• How did we feel at the time – the highs the lows?
• What were the key points – the decisions, the turning points?
• Who and what did we need to help us?
• What did we learn that we could use again?

This idea of visualising success helps us develop our own personal best practice, reminds us of tools we can use and highlights ones we may need to develop. And crucially it helps bolster our confidence and shows that though we may have set backs we can still achieve our goal in the end.