Entrepreneurial Success in Business, Professor Saras Saravathy and Effectuation

To understand innovation and entrepreneurship, listen to Saras Saravathy, Associate Professor – Darden School of Business, University of Virginia.  She speaks on how to be successful in business, starting  with “entrepreneurship is teachable.”  She has also been featured on TEDxMidAtlantic.

Professor Saravathy says, “if you have the desire and intention, as well attention, it can be learned.”

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Entrepreneurship is a powerful tool for social change.

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From her, I learned the term, “Effectuation.” It is a set of decision-making principles expert entrepreneurs are observed to employ in situations of uncertainty. The alternative to effectuation is causality, which describes decision-making heuristics rooted in prediction. The two logics can be contrasted as follows:

* Causation: If I can predict the future, I can control it.

* Effectuation: If I can control the future, I do not need to predict it.

— Ref:  Wikipedia

Another aspect of this is being open to the future, creating the attention and intention to be open to the future as it emerges.  This is the focus of Theory U, via Otto Scharmer, which I’ve highlighted more extensively here.

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If I can control the future, I do not need to predict it.

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This approach centers on the entrepreneurial method as the key skill in assessing the resources available. She looks at the world through entrepreneurial glasses and explains how entrepreneurs are action-oriented. She sees the entrepreneur in all of us and explains what characteristics we share.

From the entrepreneur viewpoint, a crisis is another word for opportunity, thus, she doesn’t mind a little recession. Entrepreneurs are innovators, and in this world, innovation is “the name of the game. She encourages companies to “encourage change.” Entrepreneurship is a powerful tool for social change.

Source: How to Condition Your Mind

Deb worked with entrepreneurial leaders. Find Deb on LinkedIn here.

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