A new year requires new thinking

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Entrepreneurship is a way of thinking, not a way of doing. Are we as designers learning to change the way we think?

Are we applying the same principles and processes (not formulas) that we advise our clients with to ourselves?

Does the way we think lead to greater economic gain for our clients, and by extension to ourselves?

Are we becoming more adept at what we do, by applying experience and thinking learned from previous opportunity to new opportunity?

Are we thinking beyond the current state: beyond branding, beyond marketing, beyond doing?

It's never too late to change the way we think.

Designer vs. Entrepreneur

A recent photo in a magazine had the titles of the individuals listed as "engineer" and "entrepreneur." But is that how they view themselves?

Being labeled as an entrepreneur is how someone else thinks of an individual (similar to branding: it's not what you think of your company, it's what others think of you.)

As a designer, has it occurred to you that you're en entrepreneur? There's so much buzz around the concept that it's easy to lose perspective on it.

"In the future, everyone will enjoy 15 minutes of entrepreneurship." Entrepreneurship will become a commodity, and we'll have to invent a new word for what it is we do.

A key similarity between designers and entrepreneurship is in how we think. Essentially, an entrepreneur identifies a problem and solves it, as do designers. Both are willing to challenge the status quo, affect change, take huge risks... we want to change the world.

If the future, I'll think of myself as a designer. But I'll continue to think like an entrepreneur.

How about you? Ready to change the world?