The Entrepreneur’s Faces: How Makers, Visionaries, and Outsiders Succeed
Jonathan Littman and Susanna Camp
Snowball Narrative Press
How a seven-stage process using multidimensional perspectives can achieve high impact results
Jonathan Littman and Susanna Camp would be among the first to agree that entrepreneurship is NOT limited to startups. As they explain, this book is about “personal journeys, change and transformation. Our characters [each of whom is assigned a different FACE] set out on different paths. They must overcome pain and setbacks, leap boundaries and demonstrate tremendous vision, imagination, and drive. They don’t all end up at the same place, but they do pass through the same seven essential stages, points on this hero’s journey for an entrepreneur. We call this process The Arc…where you find out how far you’re ready to go.”
The stages are:
1. FINDING YOUR AWAKENING: “There is no one way to Awaken. The Faces provide multiple paths for your crucial beginning. Who helps you discover your initial burst of inspiration?”
2. SHIFTING INTO GEAR: “Getting started. Moving from talking and dreaming to actually doing. The Faces provide distinct approaches to how to take action. Who helps you to get down to business?”
3. DISCOVERING YOUR PLACE: “Place. The right people, connections and environment to noiurish your soul and dreams. Perhaps no stage is more individual. What Face guides you to your best Place?
4. LAUNCHING: “Rubber, meet road. It’s time to go to market with your software or app. Ship product and go live. Launching requires that all-hands-on-deck mindset, when you absolutely need the right people. What Faces do you want on your team when you launch?”
5. LANDING THE THE MONEY: “Money makes the world go round. Scoring investment and backing requires confidence. And a great pitch. What Faces help bring in the money?”
6. PASSING THE TEST: “Test. The penultimate stage that encapsulates the entrepreneur’s journey. Commitment and tenacity are key. You methodically remove risks to clear the runway for the acceleration stage. Here’s where you steel your rfesolve and strengths and begin to make leaps you didn’t think possible. Who will get you through the test?”
7. SCALING UP: “:Growth. Expansion. The critical point at which the gears start turning. The mountaintop is within range, the goal you have been shooting for now within sight. What Faces do you need to scale?”
Thus far, I have provided a detailed briefing on the WHAT. It remains for you to read and (I hope) re-read the book in which Littman and Camp explain HOW.
Here are the ten “Faces.” Each is different and all are pitentialky invaluable.
LEADERs begin by studying leaders. “Who else has tried to do this? What did they learn?”
OUTSIDERs trust in their “beginner’s mind.” They reject the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom.
ACCIDENTALs embrace their obsessions. “Let’s try. I’ll know it when I see it.”
CONDUCTORs vary the model — big, small, or in between [i.e. in terms of size and/or complexity].
ATHLETEs see motion [i.e. action] as driving performance. “Let’s make something happen.”
GUARDIANs think of others first. “Who will derive the greatest benefit from what we’re trying to do?”
EVANGELISTs begin with the story. “Let’s anchor this innovation in experience that people can identify with emotionally.”
COLLABORATORs start by connecting with potential partners, allies, and boosters. Build a network.
VISIONARies lean around the bend. They protect a compelling vision of what could be, what should be.
I have just provided a detailed briefing on the WHO. It´remains for you to read and (I hope) re-read the book in which Littman and Camp explain HOW to select and engage the people needed.
An engraved copy of Henry Beighton’s engraving dated 1717, that may represent what is probably the second Newcomen engine erected around 1714 at Griff colliery, Warwickshire.
As I read this book, I began to think about a hypothetical brainstorming session early in the 18th century during which Thomas Newcomen and his colleagues share their thoughts about what could be done with a new source of power: steam. Issues such as these would probably be addressed:
o How to use steam power to remove standing water from the mines.
o How to mine and remove more coal faster.
o How to use steam power to transport more coal faster to the transport ships in the harbor?
o Once coal has been loaded, how to use steam to get those ships to their destinations much sooner and more safely?
You get the idea.
Think in terms of a process for your innovation that consists of sequential steps or stages. Also think about the assistance you will need to help you complete that process. Include Jonathan Littman and Susanna Camp among the “Faces” on your project team.