John Mullins is an Associate Professor of Management Practice at the London Business School. He has published five books, dozens of cases and more than 50 articles in a variety of outlets, including Harvard Business Review, the MIT Sloan Management Review, and The Wall Street Journal. He is a sought-after speaker and educator for audiences in entrepreneurship and innovation.
John’s first trade book, The New Business Road Test: What Entrepreneurs and Executives Should Do Before Launching a Lean Start-Up, has become the definitive work on the assessment and shaping of entrepreneurial opportunities and is widely employed in universities worldwide.
His second book, the critically acclaimed Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through to a Better Business Model, co-authored with Randy Komisar, a partner at the esteemed venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, was named to “Best Books of 2009” lists by BusinessWeek and INC Magazine.
John’s third book, The Customer-Funded Business: Start, Finance or Grow Your Company with Your Customers’ Cash, was named one of five “not-to-be-missed books” for 2014 by Fortune magazine. It challenges the commonly held assumption that among an innovator’s first and most important tasks is that of raising capital. Its material provides the foundation for John’s widely viewed online course on Coursera.
John’s forthcoming book, Counter-Conventional: How the Six Break-the-Rules Mindsets of Entrepreneurs Can Help Anyone Change the World, enables practitioners to apply these entrepreneurial mindsets to their innovation challenges.
John has done executive education on five continents for a variety of organizations both large and small and has served on the boards of fast-growing companies in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, and Asia.
In his latest book, Break the Rules!, John Mullins draws on 20 years of field research to build a compelling argument that successful entrepreneurs exhibit one or more of six mindsets that allow them to challenge assumptions, overcome obstacles, mitigate risk and, sometimes, change the world. Surprisingly, however, these mindsets run counter to the conventional wisdom that’s typically found in large and well-established companies. They fly in the face of what’s taught in business schools about strategy, core competencies, target marketing, financing and more.
John’s keynote will bring to life the six counter-conventional mindsets that enable iconic entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Elon Musk and others to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves. Innovators of every kind and stripe owe it to themselves to understand, master, and embrace these winning mindsets.
- Business Model Innovation, Intrapreneurship & Future Scenarios
- Keynote
Every business these days wants its people to be more “entrepreneurial,” it seems. Rarely, however, do their leaders know exactly what they mean. Do they want more out-of-the-box thinking? Probably. More innovation? For sure. Do they want more risk? Not so much!
This Lab, based on John’s forthcoming book, Counter-Conventional, will bring to life the six break-the-rules mindsets of entrepreneurs that can help anyone to challenge assumptions, off-load risk, and overcome obstacles that stand in their way to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves. Surprisingly, perhaps, these mindsets run counter to the conventional wisdom that’s typically found in large and well-established companies. They fly in the face of what’s taught in business schools about strategy, core competencies, target marketing, financing and more.
Working in small breakout groups, Lab participants will:
- Apply one or more of these mindsets to an innovation challenge they currently face
- Develop a one-page action plan for putting one or more of their new mindsets to work to resolve that challenge.
- Business Model Innovation, Intrapreneurship & Future Scenarios
- Culture & Leadership for Innovation & Agility
- Innovation Lab