Ahmad Fuad - To be a successful employee, you need to think like an entrepreneur. There is a long list of employees who do not go beyond mid-career level and even a longer list that keeps revolving around entry level of the organisational hierarchy. And there are very few employees who reach C-level. It is the entrepreneurial mindset that helps C-level employees grow faster than the mid or entry level employees.

If you want to climb the ladder of success faster than your co-workers who are struggling at mid-career or entry level, you need to, consciously know the difference between the entrepreneurial mindset that C-level employees have and the employee mindset that most of the employees suffer from and end up their careers with the complaints of being cornered or victimized.

Difference between entrepreneurial and emmloyee mindset

Neither entrepreneurs are super-humen, nor are employeesa destructive creature. Both are integral parts of an organisation. Organisations flourish only when both the parts work with full force and with exemplary harmony. However, there are certain people who become decision makers of the organisations and others remain followers. What makes them different is the mindset that they carry. Having entrepreneurial mindset helps you become a brave decision maker and strategist, even if you are at the early stages of your career. However, having an employee mindset is always a career threatening approach that does not let you go beyond a certain level of middle management. Let’s discuss, how employee mindset is exhibited at workplace.

KPIs, JDs, promotions vs holistic picture of the business

An employee mindset revolves around JDs (Job Description). He is hardly interested in going beyond the JDs. He would do what ensures his promotion or helps achieve his KPIs and rewards him in appraisal. He would rather refuse anything that he feels is not part of his job even if it is critical for the business. On the other hand, an entrepreneurial mindset looks at the bigger picture of the business. His concern is his business, not the JD of a particular part of the job. He would measure his performance on the parameters where overall growth of the business is being measured, whereas an employee mindset would be contented if has achieved his personal objectives even if the business is at a loss.

Problem oriented or

solution oriented

Present a problem to an employee mindset and he will tell you how soon the ship of the business will sink and present same problem to an entrepreneurial mindset and see how quickly he gets up to fix it. It’s that simple.

Challenging comfort zone

Employee mindset enjoys doing things over and over again and resists anything that challenges its established skill set. However, entrepreneurial mindset challenges its comfort zone over and over again. It embraces every change that hits the market and can be monetised however an employee mindset prefers to stay in its comfort zone.

Welcoming mistakes

Employees with entrepreneurial mindset would always try new things, be it a new technology or a new concept of growing the business fast even if he make severe mistakes. However, an employee mindset would like to play safe so that he does not face ‘serious’ consequences. He would not encourage his people to try new things and make mistakes.

Response to feedback

The entrepreneurial mindset is always open to feedback. He listens to the feedback carefully and takes corrective measures quickly. He does not mind even if he is told that the decision was absolutely incorrect. An employee mindset avoids taking feedback and reacts to it negatively when someone criticizes.

9 to 5 Job

A task in hand, not the clock decides when an entrepreneurial mindset has to stop working. Entrepreneurial mindset can work round the clock even when he is not at the workplace. He will try to finish the job by looking at the deadline, not the clock. However, an employee mindset closes the business when business hours are closed even if the task in hand is unfinished.

Proactive or reactive

Entrepreneurs are proactive and so are the employees who have entrepreneurial mindset. They ask questions before the launch of any product or system. They try to resolve as many issues as they can before that they happen. However, an employee mindset would wait for the issue to occur and would then react to it, fix it and would go back to doing routine job. Anticipating future problems is not part of its ‘JD’, so it would not bother.

Taking responsibility or

playing blame game

You will see people playing blame game after an accident. You will find some culprits after some investigation but you will hardly find anyone taking the responsibility of entire mess. But entrepreneurs and employees with entrepreneurial mindset take the responsibility of their poor decisions and bounce back with a better strategy. An employee mindset would always play blame game and try to come clean out of almost ‘every’ issue. This creates even more mess for them and the organisation.

Negativity personified

Negativity is inversely proportional to the exposure of the world. The more you know, the less you will be accepting and creating negativity. Entrepreneurial mindset increases its exposure and keep going to the market to stay positive and to create opportunities. However, you will rarely witness an employee mindset visiting various markets, industries, networking sessions and even talking to their counterparts from other organisations. Entrepreneurial mindset connects with market, people, observes and reads about local and international trends and enlighten its reportees with the information that help people understand business and stay positive.

Job security or danger zone

There is no such thing as job security in an entrepreneurial mindset. In an ever changing business environment, no one can survive forever with the skillset he has today. He foresees a crisis and makes business strategies accordingly whereas an employee mindset, without developing himselfwill seek Job Security, all the time and this approach is truly a threat to his career.

Annual leaves – A catharsis or a restart

Just like employees, entrepreneurs to go for annual leaves but the willing of come back to work makes a difference. An employee mindset prays for never-ending leaves and feels bad when he has to join back the office. However, an entrepreneurial mindset uses annual leaves as a restart button and comes back to the office with more energy and enthusiasm. He brings a refreshing air with him and shares it with others as well.

Which mindset is better

and which is not?

Entrepreneurial mindset, indeed. It is not that employees are bad and entrepreneurs are great or vice versa but it is about having a mindset that pushes you to grow all the time. An employee can have entrepreneurial mindset and be a successful business professional and an entrepreneur can run his business with the employee mindset and ruin it. It is all about staying relevant to the ever-changing business environment. As long as you stay relevant, you are useful and in demand. And to be in demand, you need to think like an entrepreneur, even if you are an employee, an entrepreneur or an employee who is dreaming of becoming an entrepreneur.