For Great Ventures™: The New Mental Model for Post-Recession Success

The world has dramatically changed since the Great Recession that began in 2008.  We no longer live in a world of perceived stability and certainty.  We live in a world of perceived instability and uncertainty and many have predicted that it will remain that way for some time.  We are really all on our own ventures, whether we recognize it or not.

The two definitions I like best to describe ventures come from Dictionary.com.  They define a venture as 1.) an undertaking involving uncertainty as to the outcome, especially a risky or dangerous one and 2.) a business enterprise speculation in which something is risked in the hope of profit.  During this Great Recession, most everything we did vocation or avocation moved into the realm of being a venture by these definitions.  There was much less certainty, more risk or danger, and we had to proceed forward with more hope for success than probability of success.

We now live in a venture-based world.  Embracing that paradigm or viewpoint puts you in a space that increases your odds for success.  On the other hand, if you resistance this new reality, you increase your risk of failure as we find our path to recovery!

But it is not only your success that is based on this new mental model, but your happiness as well.  Tony Hsieh, Founder of Zappos.com, built his latest company on the premise of “delivering happiness.”  In order to deliver happiness through his company, Tony spent a great deal of time at work and home researching happiness.  Thus, he decided to write a book and create a movement on “delivering happiness.” 

What really strikes me about his perspective and the application of his viewpoints on happiness is that he looks at it from the venture-based mindset.  He is a serial entrepreneur who has successfully built multiple great ventures.  However, the lesson he learned from his first venture (that he sold for $265 in 1998) was that success was not nearly as sweet as it could be without happiness.  He was miserable in the later stages of his first venture and thus determined to make happiness a part of his next ventures.

Pursuing Great Ventures is about pursuing both abundant success and great happiness!  Based on Tony Hsieh’s research and application, happiness involves:

• Perceived Control
• Perceived Progress
• Connectedness
• Vision/Meaning (being part of something bigger than yourself)

Some of these are the same components needed for abundant success.

Embrace great venture-based thinking and you will become the commander and controller of your destiny in the post-recession economy. You will also experience much greater success and happiness on your journey!

© Copyright 2010 Jon L. Iveson, Ph.D.