Entrepreneurial Mindset and Leadership

What does it really mean to think entrepreneurially?

The entrepreneurial process isn’t only for start-ups, it’s a comprehensive mindset that will teach you to identify, assess, shape, and act on opportunities in a variety of contexts, settings and organizations. In this entrepreneurship course, you will learn to implement the method of Entrepreneurial Thought & Action® (ET&A™) – which will give you a roadmap to create and add value for stakeholders and society.

ET&A™ is a tactical, results-oriented process that may be applied to new venture creation as well as to promote innovation within existing organizations – large, small or family owned – and across profit, not for profit and social ventures.

The ability to ‘think like an entrepreneur’ and ‘act like an innovator’ are critical skills for success across industries and are proven tools to help distinguish you in the workplace and to accelerate your career.

The challenges facing our world are increasingly complex and affect corporations, communities, citizens, and the natural environment. For many companies, even those with strong traditions of philanthropy and corporate social responsibility, there is a growing consensus that current models of corporate engagement in society are no longer sufficient. They see that new approaches are needed.

Fortunately, the past decade has seen an explosion of interest and development in social innovation—a discipline that employs entrepreneurial knowledge and methods to develop solutions to pressing social issues.

This course combines learnings from the real-world experience of business leaders with analysis and practical applications. These leaders,who have developed and led social innovation efforts, share the theories, strategies, and management frameworks that are drivingnew models for business engagement in society.

You will learn from firsthand accounts and interaction with key executives who’ve led social innovation initiatives. They hail from leading organizations and brands including, Campbell’s, Dunkin Brands, Verizon, Salesforce.com, FIFCO, Barclays and more.

In addition to online interactions, there will be opportunities for in-persontouchpoints for anyone in the Greater Boston area; with the potential for meetups elsewhere in the future.

You will learn the key steps and apply the management frameworks to your organization. You will also develop a clear, practical understanding of the process, knowledge, and skills required to develop social innovation efforts. Finally, you'll learn to address key related challenges including business growth, innovation, employee engagement and retention, social impact, and connection to society.

This is a course for anyone interested in understanding and acting on the new frontier of Corporate Social Innovation. No matter where you sit inside your company, you’ll be able to apply the lessons from companies in the field to develop the practical steps needed for the specific needs of your organization.

This new context is driving companies – large and small – to think beyond Corporate Social Responsibility and to view business opportunities through the lens of social innovation.

Entrepreneurial leaders succeed bytaking an opportunity-minded approach to their interactions with colleagues. As the pace of change accelerates and requires leaders to do more with less, smart leaders have realized that results don't simply follow by telling others what to do. Instead, it takes an entrepreneurial leader who understands how to translate opportunity, lead from their strengths, and enroll others in the organization’s work. This course provides a toolbox of key concepts and practices to help you adopt an entrepreneurial mindset as you lead.

Leadership is a learned skill. The more you work on it, the bigger your repertoire of skills will be. In this course, you’ll come to understand that the best leaders are always learning! We’ll look at old heroic paradigms of leadership and consider why they may not fit today’s world. We’ll then look at what it takes to lead in a world where everything can’t be known, as well as the skills and behaviors you need to be able to move an idea forward, get others to be part of the effort, and operate successfully.

You’ll have an opportunity to reflect on your own strengths, imagine the kind of leader you want to be, and practice keymethods of thinking andacting that helpa leader emerge.