Break the Rules!

Preface: Why This Book?

These days, it seems, just about everybody wants to be an entrepreneur or part of a fast‐growing entrepreneurial venture. Most large companies say they want to be more entrepreneurial, too, though most don't like the risk and uncertainty that comes with the territory. Sadly, however, most entrepreneurial ventures fail—some sooner, some later—so the entrepreneurial path, whether for those who lead the journey or those who participate therein, is typically rocky at best.

“Entrepreneurs and the counter-conventional mindsets they embrace are different from most other businesspeople in some fundamental ways—six ways, as it turns out.”

With that reality in mind, a couple of years ago, I was taking stock of what I'd learned over my many years of both having been an entrepreneur—with a win, a draw, and a loss to my name—and having studied entrepreneurs of all shapes, sizes, and aspirations during this, my second career as a business school professor. A picture—an epiphany, perhaps—emerged: Entrepreneurs are different from the rest of their peers in the business world. I'd seen it. I'd heard it. I'd felt it. You may know it to be true, too. Duh! Entrepreneurs and the counter‐conventional mindsets they embrace are different from most other businesspeople in some fundamental ways—six ways, as it turns out. But, so what? Why might my discovery be of interest to a reader like you?

My Epiphany: It's Your Mindset That Can Take You Where You Want to Go

From my ringside ...