What separates enduring leaders from everyone else is not strategy. It’s how they think under pressure. After interviewing over 1,000 of the top entrepreneurs/CEOs over the past two decades, I have learned the difference is not that they have better answers; it’s that they approach uncertainty, failure, and decision-making fundamentally different.
As Stasia Mitchell, Global Entrepreneurship Leader at EY who oversees the ecosystem of EY Entrepreneur of the year awards puts it, “Entrepreneurs lead differently, not because they have better answers, but because they are always considering the questions not yet asked.” She adds “There is a pattern in how they think and act. It is a mindset towards simplifying complexity and brings an attitude that suggests ‘we got this’.”
That pattern reveals itself most clearly in four ways which you can use immediately – additionally, if you use AI to help develop your strategy, you can plug these ideas in with your business model and challenges/opportunities:
1. Use Failure as a Strategic Advantage
Gary Shapiro, Executive Chair & CEO of the Consumer Technology Association and for 35 years leader of the world’s largest conference CES (with over 140,000 executives and media a year), reinforces the same principle from a different vantage point, “You don’t learn from success; success breeds arrogance. Failure is the great educator.”
Most leaders try to avoid failure. The best leaders use it. Ishan Patel, who as Founding CEO Audien Hearing built in under a decade the world’s largest over the counter hearing aid company, states it plainly, “I’m not a product of my successes… I’m a product of my failures.” He goes further, reframing what winning actually looks like, “I have failed more times, faster and forward, than anybody, and that’s the reason I’ve gotten here.” This is not rhetoric—it’s a discipline.
2. Act on Conviction, Not Certainty
Great leaders are not waiting for perfect data. They are waiting for clarity. Fred Laluyaux, Co-Founder, President & CEO of Aera Technology – the visionary leader who created the self-driving enterprise where decisions are made by AI, draws a sharp line, “You don’t become an entrepreneur because you want to be one. You become an entrepreneur because there is something you feel you can fix.”
Every CEO talks about resilience. Few define it clearly. For Laluyaux, it is the difference between impulse and endurance, “The impulse comes from something deep … but then it’s years of hard work, pain, and obstacles. A lot of it requires a tremendous amount of energy.”
3. Think Independently—Especially When Others Don’t
One of the most under appreciated leadership traits is the ability to resist consensus. Shapiro has seen firsthand how often organizations get this wrong, “Sometimes there’s massive groupthink where people lead each other in a direction which doesn’t exist.” The implication is clear: independent thinking is not optional; it’s a strategic edge.
4. Power in the Purpose
Lee Mandel, CEO of XSponse, who pioneered the new integrated AI-driven school safety system, believes this entrepreneurial mindset is about uniting and motivating people around a clear purpose that goes beyond simply focusing on profits. “I have seen firsthand how purpose motivates people to achieve the extraordinary,” said Mandel. “Successful leaders bring talented people together behind a shared vision and inspire them through creativity, innovation, communication, and teamwork. When people believe in the mission and understand they are building something meaningful together, it creates the energy, focus, and accountability needed to accomplish the remarkable and make a lasting impact. At XSponse, that purpose is deeply personal and mission-driven: saving lives through school security technology, and that shared mission motivates the team every day."
In Summary – Evan Quinn founder and CEO of Hiyo Beverages built Hiyo from an MBA-school concept into one of the fastest-growing non-alcoholic beverage brands in the U.S., with over 6,000 retail locations nationwide in just four years shares, “Entrepreneurship comes down to conviction and real-world need. You have to believe deeply in what you’re building -- especially before the data catches up -- but that belief only matters if you’re solving a genuine problem. The resilience to keep going comes from that intersection.”
This article was originally published on Forbes.com