How to expand the boundaries of the entrepreneurial mind
Jaroslav Kaplan
President of the Kaplan Research Company
Founder of the Business IQ project
President of the Kaplan Research Company
Founder of the Business IQ project
In a modern business saturated with competition and change, entrepreneurial thinking is becoming one of the key competencies. It allows business leaders and owners to see opportunities where others see obstacles and make strategic decisions to achieve success.
First of all, let's look at the context in which businessmen work, what challenges they face and what difficulties they overcome. In the field of entrepreneurship, there is a key and at the same time unpredictable variable — the perception of the value of products on the part of consumers. It can sometimes be difficult to predict, and its impact on the success of any business is difficult to overestimate. Why does the same product have different levels of popularity in different countries? Why do clients make different choices at any given moment? Why is a product that was still in line yesterday no one needs today? Entrepreneurs are looking for answers to these questions every day.
Let’s examine an interesting study conducted by the well-known American company Bain & Company. A survey of 362 large companies found that in 80% of cases, their employees believed they were providing their customers with an "excellent experience." However, when the researchers asked the latter the same question, the results turned out to be completely different: only 8% of the surveyed consumers confirmed this belief. Why is there such a tenfold gap in the perception of the value of products between companies and consumers?
The reason lies in the fact that entrepreneurs often act on the basis of incorrect assumptions, that is, they are mistaken about the value of the products they create for customers. This is indirectly confirmed by the statistics of failures when launching new products. According to Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, 95% of new products that are brought to market each year fail.
The boundaries of perception
Here we come to connect two concepts: "the boundary of entrepreneurial thinking" and "the boundary of consumer perception of the value of products." These two borders are invisibly linked. If customers have a "zero value of the company's products", then the entrepreneurial mindset of business owners is most likely not formed. How can it be fixed?
The entrepreneur solves the client's problem not at all, but in one of the many possible ways, based on his knowledge and experience. The fundamental point here is that all knowledge belongs to some category. For example, a person has some kind of pain in his body. Knowledge about how to deal with it can relate to various "categories of knowledge": physiotherapy, massage, sports, hypnosis, surgery, etc. Which way an entrepreneur chooses to get rid of pain depends on his worldview, upbringing and education. Moreover, it is the choice of this method of solving the problem (categories of knowledge) that will subsequently determine its context of interaction with consumers: surgeons will interact with one type of consumer, physiotherapists with others, nutritionists with others, etc.
At the same time, the opposite statement is most often true: the context of interaction with consumers completely determines the category of knowledge that an entrepreneur uses. For example, if you lead a fitness group (the context of interaction with consumers), it is easy to assume that your activity will be based on knowledge about fitness and its benefits for the physical condition of a person (knowledge category).
Moreover, it can be found that in the context of such interaction between an entrepreneur and consumers, what could be called a "category of meaning" is born. For some, it makes sense to solve the problem of body pain with surgery, for others — with aromatherapy. These are different "meanings" and different fields of activity. It is unlikely that in our example it is possible to relieve the pain of the same patient at the same time in all available ways at the same time. For him, it just "won't make sense." And only an entrepreneur with low business Intellect will try to use logic and look for cause-and-effect relationships in an area where he does not know the context of interaction with consumers.
If the old methods don't work, look for new ones
Today, the strategies and approaches of entrepreneurs that were once effective turn out to be outdated and ineffective. We often can't tell what exactly makes sense or doesn't make sense for a particular consumer based only on their age, gender, education, income or place of residence. We need to act differently and look wider.
In a highly competitive environment, it is important to accurately define the context of interaction with your customers. Acting within the framework of "his category of knowledge", an entrepreneur gets the opportunity to outline the boundaries of his activity and define clear criteria for what belongs to it and what does not. This will allow him to get his own system of priorities when making decisions: what is important to him and what is not, and move in the right direction.
There is a metaphor that perfectly illustrates the essence of entrepreneurial thinking. Let's look at scissors — a simple device consisting of a pair of metal blades connected by a small nail. If you take it out, the parts lose their functions. They no longer cut anything together and individually cannot replace either a knife or a razor. This reflects the idea of the existence of something important, but often inconspicuous in every field of activity. This is what everything revolves around. In our case, this is an entrepreneur with his worldview, Intellect and peculiarities of thinking, without which all activities lose their meaning. And it is he who creates the context of interaction with his consumers and sets them the experience of such interaction.
Different people do business in different ways and apply the same knowledge in practice. And today, the personality of an entrepreneur is becoming a more important component than what he does. Everyone forms the boundaries of entrepreneurial thinking independently, based on their experience, interests and understanding of the world. In fact, entrepreneurs set the parameters of the game themselves and focus on those customers for whom their product "makes sense". Otherwise, it will most likely be an aimless activity, fun that will not lead the entrepreneur to the desired result.
First of all, let's look at the context in which businessmen work, what challenges they face and what difficulties they overcome. In the field of entrepreneurship, there is a key and at the same time unpredictable variable — the perception of the value of products on the part of consumers. It can sometimes be difficult to predict, and its impact on the success of any business is difficult to overestimate. Why does the same product have different levels of popularity in different countries? Why do clients make different choices at any given moment? Why is a product that was still in line yesterday no one needs today? Entrepreneurs are looking for answers to these questions every day.
Let’s examine an interesting study conducted by the well-known American company Bain & Company. A survey of 362 large companies found that in 80% of cases, their employees believed they were providing their customers with an "excellent experience." However, when the researchers asked the latter the same question, the results turned out to be completely different: only 8% of the surveyed consumers confirmed this belief. Why is there such a tenfold gap in the perception of the value of products between companies and consumers?
The reason lies in the fact that entrepreneurs often act on the basis of incorrect assumptions, that is, they are mistaken about the value of the products they create for customers. This is indirectly confirmed by the statistics of failures when launching new products. According to Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, 95% of new products that are brought to market each year fail.
The boundaries of perception
Here we come to connect two concepts: "the boundary of entrepreneurial thinking" and "the boundary of consumer perception of the value of products." These two borders are invisibly linked. If customers have a "zero value of the company's products", then the entrepreneurial mindset of business owners is most likely not formed. How can it be fixed?
The entrepreneur solves the client's problem not at all, but in one of the many possible ways, based on his knowledge and experience. The fundamental point here is that all knowledge belongs to some category. For example, a person has some kind of pain in his body. Knowledge about how to deal with it can relate to various "categories of knowledge": physiotherapy, massage, sports, hypnosis, surgery, etc. Which way an entrepreneur chooses to get rid of pain depends on his worldview, upbringing and education. Moreover, it is the choice of this method of solving the problem (categories of knowledge) that will subsequently determine its context of interaction with consumers: surgeons will interact with one type of consumer, physiotherapists with others, nutritionists with others, etc.
At the same time, the opposite statement is most often true: the context of interaction with consumers completely determines the category of knowledge that an entrepreneur uses. For example, if you lead a fitness group (the context of interaction with consumers), it is easy to assume that your activity will be based on knowledge about fitness and its benefits for the physical condition of a person (knowledge category).
Moreover, it can be found that in the context of such interaction between an entrepreneur and consumers, what could be called a "category of meaning" is born. For some, it makes sense to solve the problem of body pain with surgery, for others — with aromatherapy. These are different "meanings" and different fields of activity. It is unlikely that in our example it is possible to relieve the pain of the same patient at the same time in all available ways at the same time. For him, it just "won't make sense." And only an entrepreneur with low business Intellect will try to use logic and look for cause-and-effect relationships in an area where he does not know the context of interaction with consumers.
If the old methods don't work, look for new ones
Today, the strategies and approaches of entrepreneurs that were once effective turn out to be outdated and ineffective. We often can't tell what exactly makes sense or doesn't make sense for a particular consumer based only on their age, gender, education, income or place of residence. We need to act differently and look wider.
In a highly competitive environment, it is important to accurately define the context of interaction with your customers. Acting within the framework of "his category of knowledge", an entrepreneur gets the opportunity to outline the boundaries of his activity and define clear criteria for what belongs to it and what does not. This will allow him to get his own system of priorities when making decisions: what is important to him and what is not, and move in the right direction.
There is a metaphor that perfectly illustrates the essence of entrepreneurial thinking. Let's look at scissors — a simple device consisting of a pair of metal blades connected by a small nail. If you take it out, the parts lose their functions. They no longer cut anything together and individually cannot replace either a knife or a razor. This reflects the idea of the existence of something important, but often inconspicuous in every field of activity. This is what everything revolves around. In our case, this is an entrepreneur with his worldview, Intellect and peculiarities of thinking, without which all activities lose their meaning. And it is he who creates the context of interaction with his consumers and sets them the experience of such interaction.
Different people do business in different ways and apply the same knowledge in practice. And today, the personality of an entrepreneur is becoming a more important component than what he does. Everyone forms the boundaries of entrepreneurial thinking independently, based on their experience, interests and understanding of the world. In fact, entrepreneurs set the parameters of the game themselves and focus on those customers for whom their product "makes sense". Otherwise, it will most likely be an aimless activity, fun that will not lead the entrepreneur to the desired result.
Jaroslav Kaplan
Author of the book "Business Incognita. How to push the boundaries of entrepreneurial thinking". Expert in the field of sustainable development of organizations and discovering new sources of growth. Developer of the methodology of contextual market research. Member of the International Association of Strategic and Competitive Intellect Professionals SCIP (USA).
Blog: https://www.kaplanresearch.pro/eng
In this light (yet profound) business fable a very magical and sincerely nice goldfish, Goshio, navigates her aquarium and the seas of the Paraquarian world beyond. The heroine's journey is an allegory of the entrepreneurial world (and of life) – based on the author's own research journey to circumnavigate the fascinating World of Entrepreneurship. www.goshio.com
Contact:
E-mail: work@kaplan4research.com
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jaroslavs-kaplans-11255b
Author of the book "Business Incognita. How to push the boundaries of entrepreneurial thinking". Expert in the field of sustainable development of organizations and discovering new sources of growth. Developer of the methodology of contextual market research. Member of the International Association of Strategic and Competitive Intellect Professionals SCIP (USA).
Blog: https://www.kaplanresearch.pro/eng
In this light (yet profound) business fable a very magical and sincerely nice goldfish, Goshio, navigates her aquarium and the seas of the Paraquarian world beyond. The heroine's journey is an allegory of the entrepreneurial world (and of life) – based on the author's own research journey to circumnavigate the fascinating World of Entrepreneurship. www.goshio.com
Contact:
E-mail: work@kaplan4research.com
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jaroslavs-kaplans-11255b