The Secret of How to Think Like an Entrepreneur | Amy Wilkinson | TEDxPaloAltoSalon

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Published 2018-01-31
Author and Stanford Lecturer Amy Wilkinson reveals the skills underlying entrepreneurial success. Amy Wilkinson is founder and CEO of Ingenuity, a lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business and author of The Creator’s Code: The Six Essential Skills of Extraordinary Entrepreneurs. She advises executives and emerging leaders around the world on how to master the skills that underlie entrepreneurial success.

Wilkinson’s career spans leadership roles at McKinsey & Company, J.P. Morgan and as founder of Alegre, a foreign-based export company. She has also served in the White House as a senior policy advisor to the United States Trade Representative and a White House Fellow.

Fascinated by how leaders must reinvent their approaches to excel in an entrepreneurial age, Wilkinson interviewed 200 of today’s top entrepreneurs including the founders of Airbnb, LinkedIn, eBay, PayPal, Yelp, Dropbox, Tesla Motors, SpaceX, Chipotle, Under Armour, Spanx, Jetblue and Revolution Foods to distill what it takes to go from start-up to scale in our rapidly changing economy. She conducted this work while a senior fellow at Harvard University and public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center. The Ewing Marian Kauffman Foundation awarded Wilkinson a grant for her groundbreaking research on high growth entrepreneurs.

Wilkinson has been a keynote speaker for corporations, institutes and universities around the world. Recent speaking events include the World Economic Forum at Davos, Consumer Electronics Show, NASSCOM (India’s Leadership Forum), Microsoft, IBM, TD Ameritrade, National Governor’s Association and Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

She is an expert for The Wall Street Journal and has been featured by CNN, Fox News, CNBC, Bloomberg TV & Radio, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Fortune, Forbes, Inc. TIME, The Washington Post and USA Today.

Wilkinson earned BA, MA, and MBA degrees from Stanford University. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and an Eisenhower Fellow. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

All Comments (21)
  • While watching this I realized that even if your old it’s not too late to become an entrepreneur, to become an entrepreneur you need to get out on your comfort zone you need to take a risk we need to explore to find what we really want. Its okay to failed all the time but we should fail wisely. I learned that being an entrepreneur you need set different ration; you need to be resourceful in a very terribly moment and we should make our dreams a reality.
  • @JUNIMUSICAS
    I like the mindset of keep your eye open, set yourself up, make up your mind and just do it. Practice makes it perfect.
  • Every entrepreneur has a unique story about why they decided to start their own business. Some knew from the start that they wanted to work for themselves, while others have ideas while working for someone else and decide to take the entrepreneurial leap. Entrepreneurs are pioneers. Consider all of the new technology and ideas that have emerged in recent years. All of these were once just ideas, but incredible entrepreneurs brought them to life. You are a role model. People will look up to you as an entrepreneur. You have the potential to be a role model for your family, friends, coworkers, and community members. Your success serves as a source of motivation and inspiration for others.
  • The speech has that entrepreneurial mindset of thinking like even there is no box💯
  • @1netvideos
    "she's not complaining & she's not complacent - she's challenging ...( the status quo )... " LOVED THESE! <3
  • This talk is really an eye opener. Every entrepreneur has difficulties, and those difficulties motivate us to do our best and improve. Getting out of your comfort zone is a major step, and you must be willing to take risks in order to learn new things in the business world. Keep your eye open, take risk, set yourself up and stand tall! Good things takes time and practice makes perfect.
  • This video really helped me understand more about having the appropriate mindset for being an entrepreneur, and the best part is that it mentions that failing is acceptable since it will bring you to the innovation curve. Being hungry to attempt new things till you learn to explore your potentials is the true entrepreneur mindset.
  • @kobeflores5100
    This video really helped me understand more about having the right mentality of being an entrepreneur and the best thing about this video is that it mentioned here that it is okay to fail because your failure will lead you to the innovation curve. True entrepreneur mindset is being hungry to try new things until you learn to explore your potentials. Having to think outside the box and going out of your comfort zone is very hard but it will ensure the improvement of your mindset especially when it comes to entrepreneurship.
  • Entrepreneurs succeed like they do because they think, act, and view the world differently from most people. I got the chance to pick the brain of a successful American business woman, Kara Goldin. According to Kara, you should find your main purpose in life to be able to have a creative mindset and become a successful entrepreneur. After finding that passion, everything will smoothly go their way.
  • @paulnwosu2880
    The aspect of seeking connectivity and being honest caught me.
  • This video’s message is so relevant for us students and future entrepreneurs. There is something special about successful entrepreneurs, they have a way of thinking and acting that is different than most people. The good news is that anyone can learn to think like an entrepreneur and to put these powerful secrets to work in their own lives, no matter what they do. You're the one who decides the attitudes and assumptions you will carry with you through your life, and you're the one who can change them. Know that you can succeed (you can!), and then put all your energy into it. Once we resolve ourselves to achieve something, then nothing can stop us.
  • I like how this talk opened our eyes to the fact that entrepreneurship is timeless and without bounds. It all comes down to making an effort and being willing to adapt to changing circumstances. Also, by not relying entirely on what you believe you are capable of doing. Be as adaptable as possible and take advantage of the opportunity to learn and broaden your knowledge through innovation. Importantly, have your own group of people who share your interests. Because it will help you and your subordinates improve and grow your business. As the saying goes, "Two heads are better than one." Also, we should keep in mind that not all successful entrepreneurs did not fail. Failure pushes us forward by enabling us to improve our performance. This is about making good decisions and giving ourselves room to grow.
  • By watching this video it gave me the idea of how a entrepreneur really works, we should not let opportunity just pass around us, we should grab it and take care of it. And as a graduating student it gives me the motivation to pursue my dreams entirely.
  • I'm a shy person, so talking to people, selling, and marketing are all out of my comfort zone, but since I love cooking and making beverages, I thought, "What if I sell this?" But how exactly? I don't want to talk to people and attempt to convince them to purchase my products. But I gave it a shot anyway, thinking outside the box about how I might sell my products despite the fact that communicating to people is my weakness. As I'm still a shy person, I looked for resellers to help me sell my products while I figure out, observe, and learn or master the art of communicating, selling, and how to approach potential customers. We should also not be afraid of failing since it is a part of success. We learn from our mistakes, and it is never too late to learn. Everything has its own process.
  • "they got comfortable being uncomfortable" you know where else I read that? "Living with a SEAL" by Jesse Itzler, good stuff
  • I admire the thought that Amy Wilkinson's favorite Entrepreneurs are her grandmother and her partner because as she said they are curious, they are constantly learning, constantly questioning, they constantly overcome setbacks, and they really believe that tomorrow will be better than today. I immediately understood why she said it because the people that she interviewed like Elon Musk embody these traits. Like her Grandmother, Elon isn't complacent and does not complain, he challenges everything and we see that in his Space X project. The talk gives insight on how the future entrepreneurs should be like her grandmother, not entirely, but to be able to continually improve, be hungry for knowledge, be flexible, and more importantly be adventurous. We shouldn't be always happy with the state we are in now, we should always think better and bigger and that should mean leaving our comfort zone which Amy pointed out is where the magic happens. The TED Talk gives us facts and big insights on how we should adjust our thinking to fit that Entrepreneur mentality, although people have it naturally, again we should always be hungry for knowledge and always be acceptable to change.
  • It will take effort on the part of the entrepreneur, but it will be worthwhile. Other keys to thinking like an entrepreneur include not being troubled by inefficiency, seeing opportunities, invention, flexibility and adaptation, self-direction, effective communication, critical thinking, and others.
  • @josephcruz1611
    This is a remarkable video with important lessons to help us understand many aspects of life, It made us realize that entrepreneurship is eternal and has no limitations, especially if you've ever contemplated starting a business. Successful entrepreneurs are not scared to attempt new things, so they do not grow too comfortable in their existing circumstances. They keep trying new things and expanding their horizons. We'll have to think outside the box and push ourselves out of our comfort zones on a daily basis. We must also maintain our optimism in order to properly comprehend the positive aspects of every mistake we make. Aside from that, our upbeat outlook allowed us to make more informed selections.
  • This is an interesting video about the entrepreneur. An entrepreneur is new challenges and opportunities present themselves at every turn and also having the success of entrepreneurs is not easy. The only way is to do the great work that we love what we do. If we haven't found it yet, don’t give up, even if we have to wait a few years for our dreams to come true. keep looking. Don't settle. So in the future, I will try my best to be a successful entrepreneur and I know if my wishes will be fulfilled or not but be sure to be responsible, hardworking, and perseverant.