How to Survive and Thrive the Start-up Journey
In the first part, we will cover what a Conscious Entrepreneur looks like and how they behave.
In the second part, we will give you an overview of the YouTar – the self-awareness tool which gives you insight into who you are, where you want to get to and the foundation of being a Conscious Entrepreneur.
In the third part, we will look at two areas of the Youtar in more depth – Purpose and Strengths – and the critical importance of these two topics for your success.
The objectives of this workshops are to help you:
- Consciously create your path of success as an entrepreneur and leader
- Learn the fundamentals of the Johari Window – the tool that helps you better understand your relationship with yourself and others
- Gain insights into Where you want to go: your purpose, your values, your vision, your mission, your future self and how your business will fit into your life.
- Gain insights into how to find your purpose and understand how purpose is an accelerator which fuels success and growth
- Overview of your Internal Self-Awareness in 5 foundational areas: strengths, weaknesses, mindset, personality preferences and self-sabotage tendencies
- Appreciation of how using your strengths can transform your contribution and impact
- Overview of the Strengths Profile
- Kick-start your unique personal and professional development action plan.
Resources
Watch
Read
Additional Resources
Simon Sinek: author of Find Your Why: A Practical Guide for Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team and Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
Simon Sinek: How Finding Purpose Increases Sense of Fulfillment | Capture Your Flag
“How Has Understanding Your ‘Why’ Put You in a More Impactful Position to Change the World?”
Executives tell us that their individual purpose-to-impact plans help them stay true to their short- and long-term goals, inspiring courage, commitment, and focus. When they’re frustrated or flagging, they pull out the plans to remind themselves what they want to accomplish and how they’ll succeed.
After creating his plan, the retail operations chief facing global competition said he’s no longer “shying away from things that are too hard.” Dolf van den Brink said: “I’m much clearer on where I really can contribute and where not. I have full clarity on the kind of roles I aspire to and can make explicit choices along the way.”
What creates the greatest leaders and companies? Each of them operates from a slightly different set of assumptions about the world, their industry, what can or can’t be done. That individual perspective allows them to create great value and have significant impact. They all operate with a unique leadership purpose. To be a truly effective leader, you must do the same. Clarify your purpose, and put it to work.
The Entrepreneur’s Purpose | E&Y Report on Winners of The Entrepreneur of the Year Awards
WHAT IS THEIR FORMULA FOR SUCCESS? These award winners often see profit as a measure instead of a goal. For them, profit comes from infusing a company with a compelling purpose that builds trust and attracts more customers and talent than competitors can.
Purpose is an accelerator that fuels success and growth. As these Entrepreneur Of The Year winners demonstrate, a well-articulated and integrated purpose will engage and empower employees, build a customer base, increase brand loyalty and, yes, increase the bottom line. As Simon Sinek says, “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.”
The market likes purposeful companies too. Purpose-led companies outperformed the S&P 500 by 10 times between 1996 and 2011.
Great leaders are harnessing the power of purpose. Indeed, 64 percent of the 500 award winners surveyed for this report have a defined purpose. If you’re in the other 36 percent, it’s not too late to start.
Why purpose can be your foundation for your reputation and growth | Ernst & Young Report
It’s not enough for entrepreneurs to know why they started their business. The world at large needs to understand the bigger reason. Purpose and entrepreneurship are inextricably entwined. Why? Because in the very act of starting a business, an entrepreneur expresses their sense of purpose. Usually, that purpose will be an attempt to solve a pressing problem, seize a new market opportunity or bring a fresh perspective to a tired process or product.
That’s a thought echoed by business leaders who clearly embrace and embody the entrepreneurial spirit.Addressing the inaugural EY Beacon Institute event in January 2015, Sir Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Group, observed: “I think anybody who sets up a business sets it up with a purpose. I think just being in business itself, you’re almost definitely creating something to make a difference to other people’s lives. Otherwise, you won’t have a successful business.”
Purpose is a building block. According to the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, 100 million businesses are launched around the world every single year. That is a staggering amount. Purposeful entrepreneurs will undoubtedly have launched most of those businesses, yet very few of them will ever go on to scale their businesses or build powerful reputations in their industry. There will be a host of reasons why this is the case, but among them will be their inability to channel their purpose effectively. A clear purpose, based on human values — that is authentic and consistent with businesses’ actions — is a foundation stone upon which reputation and performance can be built. Spending the time to get their purpose right will serve entrepreneurs well as they grow.
The state of the debate on purpose in business | Ernst & Young Report
As you will read in this report, more and more business leaders today are discovering that why their organization exists is a key to success in business in the 21st century. Whether they are trying to decide which new products to develop, whom to recruit or where they should look for growth, they find that aligning the organization’s strategy, operations and performance metrics to a purpose beyond profit gives them a clear advantage over their competition. Purpose enables success. It can bring many advantages.
Here is what the E&Y Report concluded:
- Purpose instills strategic clarity. VUCA world and intense competition, purpose acts as a strategic North Star, a guiding light for short-term decisions and long-term strategy. Helps you think more holistically.
- Purpose channels innovation. By focusing on bigger picture purposes encourages everyone to think beyond incremental product or service improvement, and to look for durable value and returns. It sets clear boundaries on space company wants to operate in (think 5 Key Strategies Questions), focus on what matters
- Purpose is a force for and a response to transformation. Purpose motivates people through meaning not fear, thereby providing a more effective basis for driving change. It clarifies desired long-term outcome, allowing people to embrace change rather than feeling alienated by change imposed on them. Purpose also response to societal needs to take a longer-term view.
- Purpose taps a universal need. Purpose appeals to something fundamental in human, to contribute to something bigger than themselves or performance metrics. It is the ultimate motivator
- Purpose builds bridges. Internally purpose helps teams and individuals to work across silos in order to pursue, a single compelling aim. Externally purpose makes it easier for companies to create alliances by looking for common ground in their purposes.
You Don’t Know Your Values. Here’s Why That’s Hurting You (link here)| Nir Eyal
We need to understand, define, and understand our values if we want to live with personal integrity.
What Are Your Values? (link here)| MindTools
Before you answer this question, you need to know what, in general, values are.
Your values are the things that you believe are important in the way you live and work.
They (should) determine your priorities, and, deep down, they’re probably the measures you use to tell if your life is turning out the way you want it to.
When the things that you do and the way you behave match your values, life is usually good – you’re satisfied and content. But when these don’t align with your personal values, that’s when things feel… wrong. This can be a real source of unhappiness.
This is why making a conscious effort to identify your values is so important.
Big Hairy Audacious Goal (link here)| Jim Collins
So, there’s one guiding star, but each step along the way there’s the next big mountain to climb, the next Big Hairy Audacious Goal. So, you want to think of it as that every time you’re about to get to the top of the mountain, every time you’re about to summit, you say to yourself, “What’s the next mountain? What’s the next Big Hairy Audacious Goal?” so that you’re always saying, “Oh, my goodness, that was really hard, but this next one’s going to be even harder.” Then when you get to the top of that one, you look at it and you say, “Boy, that one was really hard, but the next one is even going to be harder still.” You just keep setting BHAG after BHAG after BHAG—Big Hairy Audacious Goal. And people wonder, “How do you stay out of complacency?” Well, if you just keep setting goals that are really huge, you will not be complacent. They will make you better.
What’s Your Vision of the Good Life? (link here) | Christopher Gergen and Gregg Vanourek | HBR
Some people struggle with the notion of having a vision of the good life because it sounds abstract and distant. Fortunately, authors Richard Leider and David Shapiro have come to the rescue with an elegantly simple definition of the good life: “living in the place you belong, with the people you love, doing the right work — on purpose.”
Introducing Strengths (link here)| StrengthsProfile.com
A strength is something you enjoy doing, something you’re good at and something you do often. When people use their strengths they’re more engaged at work, they’re happier and more confident and able to better achieve their goals. Realised Strengths | StrengthsProfile.com Realised Strengths are the things that we perform well in, we find energising and we use a lot. Dial up your strengths according to your context rather than your preference. So look at the situation and call on the right strengths, at the right time, in the right way. Be clear on how your strengths align to what you’re doing now and your future goals to develop them to their fullest potential. Unrealised Strengths | StrengthsProfile.com Our unrealised strengths are our greatest area for potential. We’re good at them and love doing them but whatever reason we just don’t use them as often as our realised strengths. We essentially want to learn to use them more Learned Behaviours | StrengthsProfile.com Learned Behaviours are something we’re good at but find draining so over using a learned behaviour can cause burnout. To ensure they’re sustainable over time use your learned behaviours only when needed rather than consistently relying on them
Realised Strengths (link here) | StrengthsProfile.com
Realised Strengths are the things that we perform well in, we find energising and we use a lot. Dial up your strengths according to your context rather than your preference. So look at the situation and call on the right strengths, at the right time, in the right way. Be clear on how your strengths align to what you’re doing now and your future goals to develop them to their fullest potential.
Unrealised Strengths (link here) | StrengthsProfile.com
Our unrealised strengths are our greatest area for potential. We’re good at them and love doing them but whatever reason we just don’t use them as often as our realised strengths. We essentially want to learn to use them more
Learned Behaviours (link here) | StrengthsProfile.com
Learned Behaviours are something we’re good at but find draining so over using a learned behaviour can cause burnout. To ensure they’re sustainable over time use your learned behaviours only when needed rather than consistently relying on them
What’s Your Type | Jean Kummerow | TEDx Grinnell College
AN MBTI expert takes the audience through the different personality types with humor and personal experience.
What is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Personality Assessment? | The Myers Briggs Company
What is the MBTI personality assessment? This video walks you through the basics of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator framework. It explains each of the preference pairs and how those might show up in the real world.
Intro to Myers Briggs Personality Types | Life’s Secret Sauce
Overview of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Self-Sabotage Know your inner saboteurs | Shirzad Chamine | TEDxStanford
Shirzad Chamine: How to Defeat Your Internal Saboteurs | Marina Krakovsky (Article)
“Your mind is your best friend, but it is also your very worst enemy,” he says, calling the best-friend part your “Sage,” the voice of authenticity, calm, and positive emotion. The Saboteurs — which, besides the Judge, include such instantly recognizable types as the Victim, the Avoider, the Hyper-Achiever, and six others — undermine you by triggering anger, anxiety, shame, regret, and other negative emotions. “Pretty much all your suffering in life is self-generated by your Saboteurs,” Chamine says.
Using Your Weakness Less (link)| StrengthsProfile.com
Weaknesses are the things that we perform poorly at and find de-energising. It’s all about using them less after all if you aren’t going to improve in them and you don’t enjoy them. You could use your strengths to support your weaknesses or you could delegate a role which better suits someone else or if the weakness is critical and impacts your role you could undertake professional development but in the knowledge you are not going to turn that weakness into a strength.
Energy Management The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz (link)| Animated Core Message
Higher performing athletes frequently engage in short rituals of recovery where they are relaxed enough to lower their heart rates by as much as 20 beats per minute between points and low ranked performing athletes have no ritual. These recovery rituals results in high level of performance throughout their matches and fewer errors particularly towards the end of the matches compared to the players who keep their heart rates elevated throughout the match.
High performers – business and sport – are able to perform at a consistently high level (to be their best selves) for long periods of time because they can rapidly switch from full engagement to complete disengagement and frequently do it.
The way we’re working isn’t working (link) | Tony Schwartz | TEDxMidwest
Time is finite. Tony Schwarz debunks the myth that “We are meant to run like computers; at high speeds for long periods of time”. He eloquently outlines how the reality of renewing our personal energy is just as important as expending it. This discipline grants value to rest which ultimately allows us to manage more skillful lives.
Brian Tracy Goal Setting Advice | Evan Carmichael
- Focus on one big goal with timeline
- Write your goals effectively: a. Write your goals in the present tense b. Write your goals in the positive sense – action verb c. Write your goals in personal tense – “I”
- Structure your goals as questions
- Identify your limiting step
- Take action quickly
- Prepare in advance
- Reward yourself
- Start and complete tasks
The Big Rocks and the Jar (link) : A Lesson in Making Priorities
“Unless you first place the big rocks into the jar, you are never going to get them in. The big rocks are the important things in your life …your family, your friends, your personal growth. If you fill your life with small things, as demonstrated by the gravel, the sand, and the water…you will never have the time for the important things.”
A Complete Guide to Goal Setting (link) | The Art of Improvement
Setting SMARTER goals: Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, Time-bound, Evaluate, Reward
Focusing on Process vs Outcome (link) | Whole Life Challenge (Andy Petranek and Michael Stanwyck)
Whole Life Challenge co-founders Andy Petranek and Michael Stanwyck explain the difference between focusing on the process versus focusing on the desired outcome — and how having a process-oriented mindset is far more positive and productive.
Why the secret to success is setting the right goals (link)| John Doerr | TED
Our leaders and institutions are failing us, but it’s not always because they’re bad or unethical, says venture capitalist John Doerr. Often, it’s simply because they’re leading us toward the wrong objectives. In this practical talk, Doerr shows us how we can get back on track with “Objectives and Key Results,” or OKRs, a goal-setting system that’s been employed by the likes of Google, Intel and Bono to set and execute on audacious goals. Learn more about how setting the right goals can mean the difference between success and failure and how we can use OKRs to hold our leaders and ourselves accountable.
You must answer the question why – transformational teams combine their ambitions/goals to their passion and purpose.
Objectives are what we want to achieve – they are significant, action-orientated, concrete, inspiring.
Key results are how you are going to meet your objectives – they are specific, time-bound, challenging, realistic, measurable, verifiable.
