The line between product and service has become a continuum in recent years, and as such, we have to adjust how we conceptualize new ventures. As the services organizations provide become more complex, there is a potential strain on both the end user and the team propping up the internal process.

Enter service design. “[L]eaving services to individual talent and managing the pieces rather than the whole make a company more vulnerable and creates a service that reacts slowly to market needs and opportunities.”  

For those learning to think like entrepreneurs, there is much wisdom in considering service design as opposed to designing a service. By thinking about the “backstage” processes, we can significantly improve the end user’s experience, offering more value to everyone involved.

For organizations to remain relevant, they have to innovate. But what does that look like when you go to implement your “Big Idea?” In The Other Side of Innovation, we see a practical breakdown of what it takes to move beyond ideation.

Through building strong and effective teams while also testing assumptions on the way, organizations of any type can begin to offer real innovation.

Much like service design, preparing a team to execute innovative ideas requires entrepreneurial skills, regardless of if you are the head of the organization.

Shifts in economic complexity and seemingly endless crises affect everyone. But, as the workforce shifts towards younger generations, these stressors weigh more on workers. So rather than framing this as a deficit of Gen Z, it is essential to consider how we can adapt the workplace to be more agile and resilient.

“Whatever happens outside the office walls, leaders can begin by building what [experts describe] as a culture of purpose and impact. ‘Gen Zers want to work for an organization that offers flexibility, a boss who is a coach and a mentor (rather than a technical expert), frequent communication and clarity on how their work creates a positive impact in the world.’”

Entrepreneurial workforces start with entrepreneurial leadership, which includes creating space for experimentation and collaboration. These factors are the hallmark of the type of place Gen Z and others want to work in.

If you’re in the entrepreneurship education space, you will have heard of the lean start-up methodology many times. But, it bears repeating in the context of designing processes that serve everyone involved. 

“The lean definition of a start-up: a temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model.” Rather than excessively planning, entrepreneurs use their most incredible resource—potential customers—to discover the best path toward providing value.

Ten years after the Harvard Business Review published this article, let us reflect on how an important part of this iterative process is considering how we relate what we do to both the frontstage audience and the backstage crew.