The magic of thinking big

During my four years at IU, I have had the chance to speak to hundreds of entrepreneurs. I have met with everyone from the owners of mom-and-pop shops to very successful alumni like Mark Cuban. As a student of success, I have tried to understand the differences between these two groups. Was it intelligence, resources or plain luck? For several years, I didn’t understand. As I started to read Dr. David Schwartz’s “The Magic of Thinking Big,” I finally got it. The main difference was in the scope of their thinking.\nSentimental issues set aside, thinking big has many practical advantages. The positives of thinking big heavily outweigh the negatives. Time is a main reason to think big. There is a misconception that larger businesses require a proportionally greater amount of time, but there are only 168 hours in a week, no matter how you break it up. In fact, it is often people involved in small businesses that spend more time working than those in big businesses (read “E-Myth” by Michael Gerber).\nAfter meeting with legendary private equity investor Jay Jordan, I saw firsthand that a $2 billion fund manager spends as much time working as a $20 million fund manager – the only difference is a return 100 times that.\nThe second reason thinking big is smart is that it rallies people to work significantly harder. Employees, investors and partners all want to be part of something great, new and successful.\nDespite the advantages of thinking big, there are many obstacles. From my personal experience, I have found there are two main reasons why people do not think big. One is they do not feel like they are “good enough.” This is typical for people in the middle class. Group dynamics keep people in the middle class in check by shunning and criticizing anyone that believes he or she is good or special. We are conditioned from an early age to be polite, humble and not upset others. This is fine and dandy if you would like to be on a “Barney” set. If you want to do something great, you will have to ruffle a few feathers. People will criticize you and mock you if you tell them you aspire to be great. It is up to you to decide whether what you are doing is worth this treatment, because I have found this to be universal among all entrepreneurs.\nThe other side of this coin is that people do not think big because they think they have to be anointed by an outside source. We are so accustomed to being externally validated that we waste years trying to find someone to believe in us. Successful entrepreneurs learn to validate their goals and dreams from the inside and stick to them.\nNowhere is the magic of thinking big more evident than in the cultures of companies and universities. Certain universities, such as Stanford, are notorious for churning out great entrepreneurs at an incredible rate. Unperceptive people will say Stanford graduates are more “educated.” While this might be true, it has very little to do with their success, which can be attributed to the school’s culture of entrepreneurship.\nUnfortunately, the IU culture has traditionally produced few entrepreneurs. We have been the school for middle managers. Things are quickly changing, though. Under the transformational leadership of Donald Kuratko, executive director of the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, we are quickly turning into a hub of entrepreneurial thought and ambition. Even within the last several years, several entrepreneurship professors, such as Johannes Denekamp, have made it their careers to help students become successful.\nThe future of entrepreneurship at IU rests in the hands of the students. If you would like to be surrounded by people that believe in thinking big, I invite you to attend the Young Entrepreneur’s Association call-out at 7 p.m. Thursday in Kelley School of Business 209. I have been asked to speak at this meeting and I promise not to disappoint.