Three Mindsets of Entrepreneurial Leaders

Abstract

Discontinuous change is becoming the norm. This has consequences for how organisations are managed and led. Strategic entrepreneurship—the simultaneous practice of advantage-seeking behaviour and opportunity-seeking behaviour—has been proposed as a solution. But practice of strategic entrepreneurship confronts challenges requiring a special type of leadership for its successful implementation—entrepreneurial leadership. People who display such leadership behaviours are called entrepreneurial leaders. We know little about such individuals. We purposively studied three different types of organisations that renewed themselves under such leaders and inductively arrived at three unique mindsets—purpose-oriented, people-oriented and learning-oriented—which help us unpack one aspect of what makes a leader entrepreneurial. We contribute to the entrepreneurial leadership literature by contributing a more nuanced view to mindsets of such leaders which is an important cognitive filter. Our findings also contribute to the literature on strategic entrepreneurship by indicating how leaders with certain combination of mindsets are better at implementing renewal. We advance practice by enabling organisations better identify and develop mindsets among potential leaders who can take on entrepreneurial roles. Limitations and future research are discussed.