Doing more than minding the gap

 

So, what are the characteristics of an entrepreneurial mindset?

Things start off with a gap between what is and what ought to be — between

reality and imagination. The world seems out of whack, and not what it

could or should be. To the entrepreneur, this gap often causes a powerful

emotional response — sometimes even anxiety and frustration. The solution

can’t be to simply “mind the gap,” as the British say about stepping between

a subway car and platform. In the entrepreneur’s view, the gap has to be

repaired.

You may be thinking, “But isn’t that just discontent? After all, aren’t our lives

filled with unlimited needs, wants, and desires that we struggle daily to sat-

isfy? We’re hungry, we’re homeless, we’re lonely, we want to have kids, we

want the joys of family and community, we want spiritual rewards, and on

and on. . . . And we’re constantly trying to find ways to gratify all these urges.

So, are we all entrepreneurs then?”

No, and here’s why: Although we all feel the initial discontent that moti-

vates entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs organize to do something about it.

Entrepreneurs seem to be cut from a different cloth. Many people, if they

sense that can’t get from Point A (what is) to Point B (what ought to be),

downgrade their expectations so that getting to somewhere short of Point B

becomes doable and acceptable.

And that isn’t necessarily a bad move. The problem, of course, is that it

means settling for less, which isn’t what they really wanted in the first place.

So they’re still left with a gnawing, half-empty feeling. And that emptiness still

irritates them and can cause more dissatisfaction.