The lines of code that define your inner functioning: your “intrinsic programs”

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From the course by HEC Paris

Entrepreneurship Strategy: From Ideation to Exit

150 ratings

HEC Paris

Entrepreneurship Strategy: From Ideation to Exit

150 ratings

This course covers in the chronological order each defining step of an entrepreneurial project. It begins with very personal considerations related to getting to better know yourself better so as to decide if you are ready for the multiple challenges of entrepreneurship. It then deals with creativity in order to provide the right set of tools to find an idea with the right potential to disrupt an existing business. We then discuss how to gather a founding team, how to raise money to initiate the project, and how to deal with day to day cash management. Later in the course, we discuss the art of selling, focusing on business to business sales, and how to measure the product launch phase using cohort analysis. Later on, we discuss the challenges of HR in an entrepreneurial environment, and of recruiting at a point where nobody knows your company. We then describe very practical techniques to initiate the international development of a small company. Last, we cover the exit strategy topic.

From the lesson

Knowing who you are

Welcome to the module 1. In this week, we’re going to deal with knowing who you are, because knowing yourself is the key to shaping a project that will truly fulfill you. We will talk about your “intimate mechanics”, and take a closer look at your inner functioning. We will also discuss your intrinsic values to help you assess if they match the demanding reality of entrepreneurship. Finally, we will see how you can analyze and then consolidate your “belief system”, i.e. the set of values that are the pillars of your personal and professional life.

The lines of code that define your inner functioning: your “intrinsic programs”6:13

Choosing entrepreneurship compared to your other options: The Cash Flow Quadrant4:50

Interview: Stories of choosing entrepreneurship over job3:11

The life choice of entrepreneurship: identifying the trade-offs4:46

Interview: The life choice of the entrepreneurs2:22

Meet the Instructors

Ambroise Huret
Partner at Eleven Strategy & Management
strategy and management

It is time now to move to the second set of pillars

you can use to get to know yourself:

your intrinsic programs.

These are like the lines of code that define the person you are.

I will give a few examples here,

but you should keep in mind that there are

many intrinsic programs that can shape your personality.

The first example is the "towards" vs "away from" intrinsic program.

A "towards" person is someone who tends to be motivated by reaching a goal.

However, a "move away from" person

will be motivated by doing everything to avoid a situation.

An example for "towards" could be:

"I want to be free and make my own decisions,"

vs "away from":

"I never want to have a boss that tells me what to do."

I invite you to take a break here and answer this question:

Where do you find yourself in this intrinsic program?

Are you a "towards" person or an "away from" person?

Whatever type of person you are,

it's perfectly okay to be on either side of the intrinsic program.

Okay. Then, how can you identify a "towards" person vs an "away from" person?

"Towards" people tend to integrate in their vocabulary

words like: "our aim..." or "what we want to achieve..."

while "move away from" individuals use words like: "what we want to avoid..."

or "we want to make sure that we do not..."

You may ask:

"how can I use this intrinsic program?"

For instance, when making a commercial offer to someone

whom you have identified as being more "away from" than "towards",

you should insist on the security your product or service will offer

against any type of failure.

A second example is: "options vs procedures".

An "options" person wants to have multiple options

while a "procedures" person wants to have

a predefined set of options in order to minimize choices.

How do you identify them?

You will find "options" people use expressions like:

"we have several possibilities here," or

"the choice we have to make is..."

while "procedures" people will use expressions like:

"the process is..." or "the system we have to put in place is..."

To make use of this intrinsic program

when making a commercial proposal to an "options" person, for instance,

you should insert lots of modules, options, sub-options,

so that you put her in a position to make a choice.

On the contrary,

you should strongly limit the number of choices for a "procedures" person

and, typically, let her choose between, for instance,

only two complete packages of options.

A third example is "in time" vs "through time".

"In time" people tend to be fully indulged in the moment

but forget what was before and what lies after.

You may have encountered this type of person in your life.

Think about people who often finish their meetings late, for instance.

On the contrary, through time people always keep in mind

what is before and what is after in their agenda

but are less indulged in the present moment.

This type of framework is especially useful to organize your time during a key meeting.

Indeed, when you interact with an "in time" person,

you might get suddenly cut off when he realizes what time it is

because he easily loses track of time

and you might not have even reached your goal for the meeting by that point.

The fourth example is "detail" vs "global".

"Detail" people tend to catch one or two precise points

when considering something and cannot move forward

before they are sure they have perfectly understood them,

while "global" people tend to always keep the big picture in mind

and want, first and foremost, to understand

the "global mechanics" of something.

Let's take a poll here and share your personal experience.

Can you think of a time when you missed a small detail in a project

and it impacted your results in a major way?

Your answer can be Yes or No.

Perhaps you would have benefited from having

a "detail" person to support you.

That's why, in any kind of team project,

it is key to have a mix of "detail" and "global" people.

"Detail" people will sometimes give the impression that they make you

lose time on petty things yet, on occasion,

they will help you avoid making a big mistake by not giving enough attention

to potential threats that could have been overlooked by more "global" teammates.

The last example is: "feeling" vs "thinking".

"Feeling" people react first based on

how they feel about something or someone,

while "thinking" people analyze situations in a very rational, intellectual way.

Just like with "detail" and "global",

it is key to mix those profiles within your project team

because they also complement each other very well.

"Feeling" people will alert you on occasions where

your "thinking" teammates might not have noticed what's going on.

On the contrary, a "thinking" profile will be much better when you need to stay calm

and consider the situation in a very logical and practical way.

Of course, as you can see,

these intrinsic programs are represented on a spectrum

because no one is strictly on one side or strictly on the other side

of each program but, on the contrary,

a little more on one side or a little more on the other side.

Now is a good time to do two things:

first, try to position yourself on the spectrum

for each of the five examples we reviewed.

Second, think of other intrinsic programs that I did not mention.

Try to think of at least two other intrinsic programs.

In the next part,

you will learn about the Cash Flow Quadrant.

Stay with me.

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