Class
Entrepreneurship
Organised by The School of Life
Entrepreneurship is a major fascination of our times. According to a 2016 report by the OECD, the UK has seen a steady rise in levels of self-employment since the beginning of this decade, and statistics from Start Up Britain show that 657,790 start-ups launched in 2016 alone.
Increasingly, it seems, people are more willing to work for themselves and to take on the challenge of establishing a fresh enterprise. Within organisations, too, thinking like an entrepreneur is increasingly important as markets change rapidly and new ideas and business approaches are needed. Yet entrepreneurship (and “intrapreneurship”) can be a difficult undertaking and without the right skills and preparation, it can become even more challenging.
At The School of Life, our approach is based around the idea of Emotional Intelligence. We believe that successful, creative enterprises are built up from a strong foundation of psychological insight. Introspection and empathy can be used to identify trends, generate ideas and comprehend the unvoiced desires of future customers – giving a key edge of innovation to any new business or individual entrepreneur or intrapreneur.
In this two-hour session we will:
- Learn myths about what it takes to think like an entrepreneur
- Explore how to spot key frustrations and build products and services to address them
- Practise using introspection and empathy to uncover what potential customers would really love
- Consider the role of higher needs in the development of new ideas and products