ENTREPRENEUR HERO

Neuroscience is revealing the difference between a sovereign creator and an automaton Borg as brain specialization towards “exploration” vs. routine tasks. Entrepreneurs are “wired differently” from the rest of us. A research team of neuroscientists and business-school scholars from Italy and Switzerland found that when entrepreneurs sought out novel courses of action, they were more likely than managers to use the “right side” of the prefrontal cortex, which is associated with creativity. While the managers tended to use only the “left side,” which is related to logical thinking.  Entrepreneurs might approach the problem differently because they are “hard-wired” to use creativity, for they have the gene for self-transcendence. That is they are naturally driven to explore and to discover, through a thrust of curiosity that leads them to boldly go where no one has gone before.

Genetic predispositions that make some people more likely than others to seek novelty also affect their odds of being in business for themselves. Molecular geneticists found that a version of one of the genes that governs the level of dopamine in the brain, and which is associated with the tendency to search out novelty, was more common among entrepreneurs than non-entrepreneurs. Those entrepreneurs with higher testosterone levels, (or being exposed to higher testosterone levels when in utero) had faster growing firms and were more tolerant of risk than those with lower base testosterone levels.

Due to prefrontal lobe integration entrepreneurs have increased interiorization. This then leads to greater autonomy, freedom or positive deviance. The more we go within, the more we go beyond identification with lower and partial centrisms, and the greater our capacity autonomous decision making and original thought. Through mature ego development, self-actualization and differentiation self-centeredness or narcissism is reduced. This makes the entrepreneur a natural leader, unlikely to fall into wasteful, entropic power games.

The entrepreneur is the closest thing we have to a hero in the modern age, thus they engage the hero’s journey in their daily lives. The hero-entrepreneur has the courage and audacity to spin something from nothing…bringing greater value to themselves and society. Creatives are instigators and see solutions and opportunities where others see problems, and so they are not victimized by setbacks and obstacles. While unhappy people often feel victimized by others and their circumstances and conditions. Depression is the stalling of the hero’s journey and a collapse of the self-wheel through identification with the victim/slave self rather than the entrepreneurial sovereign self. I think the greatest lie is that we are of no importance except as an economic unit and for the security and power of others.

Powerful dopamine ignition of the prefrontal lobes and strong engagement of the more creative right brain mean that the entrepreneur is more likely to be happy, positive and energized than the follower, worker bee type. In order to establish the self-facilitated drive of the liberated dopamine circuits we must acknowledge and negotiate our weakness, blindspots, shadow and denial and expand our sense of identity into resilience and positive affirmation knowing that whatever obstacles in our way will reveal their own solution. The entrepreneur is therefore someone who quits the bullshit, and gets out of their own way, and doesn’t let others stand in their way. That is the entrepreneur is a self-transcendent Hero!

To achieve the ultimate goal of the mystic-visionary level in our lifetime, we have to study sovereignty, and so we have to look into the behavioral neurochemistry of self-efficacy and creativity. If you look for the highest vibration in human thought, there you will find people working on sovereignty. Through study and practice the % of time we inhabit the crippled, golem-slave victim state is less and less, through being mindful of where one is residing energetically. It takes a high degree of honesty and commitment to get out of one's own way. If we don't champion ourselves we are like a void or a blackhole on God's stage. Having to reject the reality of our own existence in order to accommodate other people’s animal and egoic needs is a surefire recipe for an impossible, convoluted and unsatisfying life. Therefore we must step up to the plate and actively direct our conversations, our social networks and our lives—that takes getting real with who we are and who we are not, and expressing our truth.

“Novelty-seeking is one of the traits that keeps you healthy and happy and fosters personality growth as you age.” C. Robert Cloninger

Those with the happiest temperament and character score high in novelty-seeking and risk-taking, as well in persistence and “self-transcendence.” If neophilia is combined with adventurousness, curiosity, persistence and a sense that it’s not all about us, then you get the kind of creativity that benefits society as a whole. The love of novelty or “neophilia” has always been the quintessential human survival skill ensuring positive adaptation to changing conditions and allowing for the exploration of new resources. Dopamine-charged neophiliacs left Africa 70,000 years ago to adventure to the furtherest reaches of the earth and adapted to nearly every habitat possible. Neophilia is in the genes. The Hero-Entrepreneur takes on the world with curiosity, passion, empathy, innovation and gratitude, sees problems as opportunities and gets out of their own way.

Any day that is your day is a day in the progress of the Universe!