The Iconic Definition

Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity beyond the resources currently controlled.
— Harvard Professor Howard H. Stevenson

In 1983, Harvard Business School Professor Howard H. Stevenson coined this iconic definition, which Inc. Magazine described as “the best definition of an entrepreneur ever.”

Stevenson’s definition reframed entrepreneurship as way of approaching the world and identified a certain set of beliefs and behaviors, ones that could be taught, learned, and applied by leaders in organizations of all sizes and types—from a Fortune 500 company, to a nonprofit, a university to a government. CET Cambridge focuses not only on early-stage companies but specifically on how well established, often large organizations can adopt the behaviors more typical of early stage, nimble companies. We provide a playbook for leaders to implement Entrepreneurial Thinking in their organizations and products and services to facilitate its success.

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Entrepreneurial Thinking: The Inspiration