SPARK: Strategic Pursuit of Agility, Resilience, and Knowledge through the Entrepreneurial Mindset

SPARK is a flagship program designed to empower corporate leaders to perform at their next best level. Coupled with contextual case analysis, role-plays and action projects this program transforms individuals into the best role models with focus on future and results. Program outline as follows:

2-Day Entrepreneurial Mindset Cohort Workshop

Objective:
Equip corporate leaders with an entrepreneurial mindset while focusing on rapid decision-making, risk-taking, leadership, and continuous learning within a startup-style environment. This workshop emphasizes agility, strategic re-prioritization, and open feedback, essential for corporate entrepreneurs.

Day 1: Context & Competencies

Morning Session (3.5 hours)

  • Welcome & Icebreaker:
    Introduce participants through a team-building exercise focused on agility and problem-solving, setting the stage for rapid iteration and decision-making.
  • Introduction to Corporate Entrepreneurship
    Topics:
  • Differences between Entrepreneurship and Intrapreneurship
  • Overview of Corporate Innovation: Running Business Units Like Startups
  • Business Focus & Startup Thinking: How to instill startup energy in large organizations by focusing on agility, risk-taking, and quick execution.
  • Quick Decisions & Risk Appetite: A guide to fast decision-making while embracing uncertainty. Emphasizing learning from failures, avoiding the trap of perfectionism, and how imperfect action often beats delayed action.
  • ABCDs of Entrepreneurship
    Topics:
  • Action, Boldness, Creativity, and Discipline within a corporate context.
  • Courageous Leadership: Being bold in decision-making, with a focus on taking calculated risks and acting in the face of uncertainty.

Lunch Break (1 hour)

Afternoon Session (3.5 hours)

  • Competencies for Corporate Entrepreneurs
    Topics:
  • Discover New Opportunities: Techniques for identifying new growth areas and potential innovations. Tools to quickly assess viability and pivot if necessary.
  • Nurturing Ideas & Innovations: How to foster innovation within a corporate culture that rewards experimentation.
  • Acceleration & Commercialization: Rapid decision-making, market testing, and launching prototypes with agility.
  • IDEAL Model of Entrepreneurship: A focused exploration of the Identify, Develop, Evaluate, Accelerate, Launch process.
  • Doer to Thinker: Strategies for combining quick execution with thoughtful long-term planning.
  • Case Study & Leadership Simulation:
  • Each team works on a real-life business scenario requiring rapid decision-making, risk analysis, and iterative course correction.
  • Participants practice quick pivots and strategic re-prioritization in a dynamic simulation.

Day 2: Entrepreneurial Mindset & Strategic Execution

Morning Session (3.5 hours)

  • Entrepreneurial Mindset: Tools & Methods
    Topics:
  • Opportunity Mapping: How to quickly spot new opportunities and map their business potential.
  • Prioritization & Re-prioritization: Learn to manage moving targets and re-prioritize based on the strategic shifts of the organization.
  • Design of Experiments: Embrace a “learn as you go” mentality, testing ideas quickly and pivoting based on feedback.
  • Failure as a Steppingstone: Real-world examples where failure led to breakthrough innovation. Focus on embedding a growth mindset within the corporate environment.
  • Interactive Exercise:
  • Participants design quick prototypes for their business ideas, taking into account the inherent risks and using feedback to improve iteratively.

Lunch Break (1 hour)

Afternoon Session (3.5 hours)

  • Business Focus & Startup Thinking in Execution
    Topics:
  • Market Identification & Business Design: Rapid customer validation and market analysis to test assumptions quickly.
  • Courageous Leadership in Decision-Making: How to lead with conviction, make bold decisions, and rally teams around fast-paced execution.
  • Collaboration Design: Building cross-functional teams that thrive on agility, feedback, and constant improvement.
  • Pitching & Feedback Culture:
  • Participants pitch their business ideas and receive open, candid feedback from their peers. Focus on giving and receiving feedback to accelerate learning and performance.
  • Feedback at All Levels: How to embed an open feedback culture in organizations, ensuring that all voices are heard.

Monthly Follow-Up Sessions (1.5 hours each for 6 months)

Objective:
To ensure that participants continue to apply the traits of rapid decision-making, risk-taking, and courageous leadership in their day-to-day work. Sessions will focus on their ongoing projects, addressing roadblocks, offering strategic advice, and reinforcing key principles.

Month 1:

  • Recap & Reflections:
    Reflect on participants’ experiences applying startup thinking in their roles. Share successes and challenges.
  • Focus Topic:
    Quick Decisions & Risk Appetite – Practical advice on how to make quicker decisions with the available data, without waiting for perfect information.

Month 2:

  • Case Study Review:
    Participants present real-life examples of projects they’ve pivoted based on feedback and learning from failure.
  • Focus Topic:
    Failure as a Steppingstone: How to reframe failure and use it as fuel for growth. Best practices for rapid iterations.

Month 3:

  • Pitching & Feedback Session:
    Each participant gives an update on their projects, receives open feedback, and discusses how they’ve adjusted based on past mistakes.
  • Focus Topic:
    Re-prioritization & Strategic Focus – How to pivot priorities quickly in a dynamic business environment while maintaining strategic alignment.

Month 4:

  • Collaboration & Leadership:
    Discuss how participants are fostering courageous leadership and open feedback in their teams.
  • Focus Topic:
    Courageous Leadership: Building resilience, fostering transparency, and empowering teams to take risks.

Month 5:

  • Course Correction & Adaptation:
    How to manage projects with changing priorities and handle moving targets. Participants share how they’ve adapted.
  • Focus Topic:
    Doer to Thinker: How to balance quick actions with strategic thinking for long-term success.

Month 6:

  • Final Check-In:
    Participants reflect on the 6-month journey, highlighting their growth, challenges, and next steps. Final feedback on leadership, risk-taking, and innovation culture.

Workshop and Follow-Up Features:

  • Action-Oriented Tools: Templates for rapid decision-making, market testing, and re-prioritization.
  • Startup-Like Environment: Exercises and simulations designed to mimic the fast-paced nature of a startup.
  • Courageous Leadership Practices: Techniques to lead teams through uncertainty and innovation, fostering a bold and transparent culture.
  • Feedback Loops: Structured sessions on giving and receiving candid feedback.
  • Continuous Learning: Emphasis on learning from mistakes and course correction through every iteration of a project.

By embedding entrepreneurial traits—business focus, quick decisions, learning from failure, and courageous leadership—this cohort will provide participants with the tools to drive real impact within their corporate environments, while also cultivating a resilient, risk-tolerant culture.