If you're an
entrepreneur, you've got your hustle on. You don't work normal hours, every day
is spent on your business and you're doing all you can to make it go. You know
how to work hard, but there are other skills that great entrepreneurs need too.
1. Quiet your
lizard brain.
Whether you know it or not, we all have what Godin refers to as a lizard brain.
He says, "The lizard is a physical part of your brain, the pre-historic
lump called the amygdala near the brain stem that is responsible for fear and
rage and reproductive drive."
Godin
has written a lot about this in previous books including Linchpin and Poke the
Box and cites author Steven Pressfield for further explanation -- “As
Pressfield describes it, the lizard brain is the resistance. The resistance is
the voice in the back of our head telling us to back off, be careful, go slow,
compromise. The resistance is writer's block and putting jitters and every
project that ever shipped late because people couldn't stay on the same page
long enough to get something out the door. The resistance grows in strength as
we get closer to shipping, as we get closer to an insight, as we get closer to
the truth of what we really want. That's because the lizard hates change and
achievement and risk," Godin says in The Icarus Deception.
Quieting the
lizard brain is a constant struggle for entrepreneurs. It is a skill that needs
to be developed. But as we tune into the frequency of what we feel is the right
decision and tune out the lizard brain we will be able to truly test our
business plans and hypothesis.
2. Think like
an artist.
Most of us put ourselves in one of three categories. Godin breaks it down into
being either the chef, cook or bottle washer. Chefs run the show, they hire and
fire, make plans and big decisions for their subordinates. Chefs have all the
power. Cooks are the executors; they get it done. Bottle washers are often
disrespected. They are the grunts on the front line in the trenches doing the
dirty work. Which one are you at this particular day and time?
In The Icarus
Deception, Godin
challenges us to think beyond the norm and become artists.
"It's not
art if the world (or at least a tiny portion of it) isn't transformed in some
way. And it's not art if it's not generous. And most of all, it's not art if
there's no risk. The risk isn't the risk of financial ruin (though that might
be part of it). No, the risk is the risk of rejection. Of puzzlement. Of
stasis. Art requires the artist to care, and to care enough to do something
when he knows it might not work."
Thinking like
an artist instead of like chefs, cooks and bottle washers opens up a whole new
world of possibilities for change, progress and success.
3. Connect the
disconnected.
Connecting people on the surface might feel like
old-school networking events where everyone just exchanges business cards.
Godin writes about "The Connected Economy" and explains that the era
where we needed to care about catering to the masses is gone. It's about connecting
people who are disconnected -- then connection becomes a function of art. The
opportunity in the Connection Economy is about finding the problem (where are
people disconnected).
This is an
essential skill that might require significant effort, he says:
"How much
connection did you just make? That's one way to measure whether or not the work
you did made a difference. When you make a daring comment at a meeting, when
you produce a video or app or an idea that spreads, when more people visit your
farm stand because they can't get enough of the way you engage…Boring and safe
rarely lead to connection. Connection happens when humility asserts
itself."
Article by Seth
Godin's new book The Icarus Deception (Portfolio, 2013) he shares three
essential skills every great entrepreneur needs.
