Archimedes in writing to King Heiro, made the above statement.
If an entrepreneur were to ask for such a lever, what would be that lever? The lever would be called Conative traits. These traits enable us to find our passion, discover purpose of our life or find meaning of life that enables us to connect with our work differently. Why is this important for an entrepreneur in today's century? To answer this question, we will have to understand the second law of career success
First law of career success on inputs states that
Developing Talent = Using A
Developing minimum Talent = Using 'CA + CAT + COT' .( these are minimum abilities required to ensure that you will not fail. It does not ensure success)
Why conative traits act like a lever for an entrepreneur?
As we have seen in this blog, conative traits are important for a corporate professional mainly to take quick work-related decisions. But for an entrepreneur, conative traits act like a lever by which they can change the entire world.
Conative traits enable an entrepreneur to go beyond 'money' and 'profits'. By finding the meaning of 'work' in his life, an entrepreneur can express his desire to contribute to the lives of others, either by introducing something new that improves the quality of their lives or by showing people that something thought to be impossible is in fact possible. Steve Job did by using his passion of design. Narayan Murthy did this by finding different meaning of 'capitalism'.
Anthony Tjan trying to find the common qualities of billionaires believes that it is their purpose that defines them. He believes that "purpose is neither something soft nor something overly lofty. Instead, purpose is the bigger why of a business". He has categorised purpose into three categories: a>Making the world more beautiful. b> Making the world more fun and c> Making the world more efficient and smart. Please read the above link to see his examples of entrepreneurs and how they are using these three different type of purposes.
Worse still, if entrepreneurs fail to develop conative traits, they fall in the money trap. Money, instead of becoming means, becomes an end. Money, instead of enabling experimentation and exploration, ties them to tested and obsolete ways of doing business. All the joy is sucked out of the work, and entrepreneur starts seeing work as drudgery. The very purpose of entrepreneurship is put at question.
Conative traits, on the other hand, help you see beyond money and make your choices without thinking of money. There are various possibilities. For instance, you will do something what Vinay did. Vinay focused on nurturing his passion. This enabled him to take several counterintuitive decisions like partnering with others to share work, without worrying about sharing the profits of his innovative product development. Or, like Kanpreet, you will be able to mix and match your abilities in the way that suits your development of talent.
Conclusion
Finding meaning or purpose of life is therefore not an empty exercise of discussions for an entrepreneur. For him, it is way of increasing his options and growing himself and his enterprise to unthinkable heights. If you are entrepreneur, you will need to learn the tricks of developing your conative traits. Please use some of the tricks that were mentioned in this blog. See movies. Read interesting literature. There is no need to read serious books in philosophy, ethics or aesthetics. Read biographies. Read the journey of other individuals like Bill Watterson. Engage with people who know more than you on this subject. And most importantly; find a mentor or coach who can show you the path. Because, with conative traits, you can make a big difference to the world.
If an entrepreneur were to ask for such a lever, what would be that lever? The lever would be called Conative traits. These traits enable us to find our passion, discover purpose of our life or find meaning of life that enables us to connect with our work differently. Why is this important for an entrepreneur in today's century? To answer this question, we will have to understand the second law of career success
First law of career success on inputs states that
Developing Talent = Using A
- A stands for using a single ability or skill or even trait like passion or willpower. This list of abilities and traits will differ depending on which book you are reading
Developing minimum Talent = Using 'CA + CAT + COT' .( these are minimum abilities required to ensure that you will not fail. It does not ensure success)
- CA Stands for Cognitive abilities, CAT stands for character traits like self regulation and creativity, and COT stands for conative traits like purpose and passion. All three are required to find and nurture minimum your talent. And synergising these three qualities is more important. Not just making them 1+1+1 =3, but making it 1+1+1 = 5.
Why conative traits act like a lever for an entrepreneur?
As we have seen in this blog, conative traits are important for a corporate professional mainly to take quick work-related decisions. But for an entrepreneur, conative traits act like a lever by which they can change the entire world.
Conative traits enable an entrepreneur to go beyond 'money' and 'profits'. By finding the meaning of 'work' in his life, an entrepreneur can express his desire to contribute to the lives of others, either by introducing something new that improves the quality of their lives or by showing people that something thought to be impossible is in fact possible. Steve Job did by using his passion of design. Narayan Murthy did this by finding different meaning of 'capitalism'.
Anthony Tjan trying to find the common qualities of billionaires believes that it is their purpose that defines them. He believes that "purpose is neither something soft nor something overly lofty. Instead, purpose is the bigger why of a business". He has categorised purpose into three categories: a>Making the world more beautiful. b> Making the world more fun and c> Making the world more efficient and smart. Please read the above link to see his examples of entrepreneurs and how they are using these three different type of purposes.
Worse still, if entrepreneurs fail to develop conative traits, they fall in the money trap. Money, instead of becoming means, becomes an end. Money, instead of enabling experimentation and exploration, ties them to tested and obsolete ways of doing business. All the joy is sucked out of the work, and entrepreneur starts seeing work as drudgery. The very purpose of entrepreneurship is put at question.
Conative traits, on the other hand, help you see beyond money and make your choices without thinking of money. There are various possibilities. For instance, you will do something what Vinay did. Vinay focused on nurturing his passion. This enabled him to take several counterintuitive decisions like partnering with others to share work, without worrying about sharing the profits of his innovative product development. Or, like Kanpreet, you will be able to mix and match your abilities in the way that suits your development of talent.
Conclusion
Finding meaning or purpose of life is therefore not an empty exercise of discussions for an entrepreneur. For him, it is way of increasing his options and growing himself and his enterprise to unthinkable heights. If you are entrepreneur, you will need to learn the tricks of developing your conative traits. Please use some of the tricks that were mentioned in this blog. See movies. Read interesting literature. There is no need to read serious books in philosophy, ethics or aesthetics. Read biographies. Read the journey of other individuals like Bill Watterson. Engage with people who know more than you on this subject. And most importantly; find a mentor or coach who can show you the path. Because, with conative traits, you can make a big difference to the world.
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