Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.

Help me prepare and run the exercise below. First ask for my participant count, time, setting, access needs and intended result. Check these against the stated limits. Use the supplied rules and materials. Explain any proposed changes before using them, and label them as adaptations. Do not invent source claims or require personal disclosure. Give me one step at a time when I say start. I manage the people, physical activity and clock; do not claim to observe the room. Ask me what happened before choosing a next step.

Reference revision: c032b5dd47ef0d7a31350bed01017a3a3ece1bf6aaddcea83c634c0ab6335c5a

# Leadership and an Entrepreneurial Mindset

Pairs examine short profiles of community leaders to identify specific traits that made them effective. The room then maps the commonalities between community leadership and entrepreneurial thinking onto a shared board.

**Time:** 15 minutes. Source specifies 10 to 15 minutes; budgeted here at 15 minutes to allow paired analysis and concise group synthesis.
**People:** 4 to 24. Pairs or trios for profile analysis, then whole-room synthesis.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Compare real-world community leadership actions with entrepreneurial habits to identify shared practical behaviors.
**Use it when:** Use in youth leadership programs, community development workshops, or early-stage entrepreneurship training to broaden how participants define enterprise and initiative.
**Skip it when:** Skip if the group has already run a general mindset exploration exercise in the same session, or when the agenda requires technical business planning rather than conceptual framing.

## Materials and tools

- Printed profile cards (one card per pair from supplied examples or local equivalents)
- Sticky notes (one pad per small group)
- Markers or pens (one per person)
- Whiteboard, flip chart, or wall space divided into two columns: Leadership Behaviors and Entrepreneurial Habits

## Before participants arrive

1. Select and print leader profile cards relevant to the group context (print at least one card per pair).
2. Label a wall or whiteboard with two headings: Leadership Behaviors and Entrepreneurial Habits.
3. Distribute sticky notes and markers to tables.

## Say this to open

Leadership and entrepreneurship are often taught as separate skills, but they share specific habits in practice. In pairs, you will review a short profile of a real community leader. Your task is to identify two distinct qualities or actions that helped that person create an impact.

## How to run it

### 1. Introduce leader profiles (3 minutes)

Deliver opening remarks. Hand one leader profile card to each pair or trio. Clarify that leadership includes art, advocacy, local trade, and public service, not just corporate executive roles. Instruct pairs to read the profile silently.

### 2. Analyze leader traits in pairs (5 minutes)

Pairs discuss their assigned leader. They identify and write two specific behaviors or strengths on separate sticky notes. Prompt them to focus on observable actions rather than vague praise. For example, write 'spotted unmet need for winter supplies' rather than 'was visionary'.

### 3. Map traits to entrepreneurial habits (4 minutes)

Call on three to four pairs to read one trait aloud and place it on the board under Leadership Behaviors. As each note goes up, ask the room: 'How does this same behavior show up when someone starts a new initiative or business?' Write matching entrepreneurial terms in the second column (such as initiative, resourcefulness, or risk management).

### 4. Debrief and synthesize (3 minutes)

Facilitate a brief group reflection on the two-column board. Invite two participants to share which identified trait they already use in their daily work. Conclude the activity.


## Debrief questions

- Looking at our board, which traits appear in both community advocacy and business creation?
- What is an example of an entrepreneurial action taken by someone who does not run a formal company?
- Which specific behavior from these leaders could you test in your own project this month?

**Finished output:** A two-column visual board showing community leadership behaviors paired with equivalent entrepreneurial habits, plus personal action notes kept by participants.

## Remote

Distribute digital profile cards or paste profiles directly into breakout room prompts. Send participants into paired breakout rooms for 5 minutes. Use an online whiteboard with two labeled columns. When returning to the main room, invite pairs to add sticky notes and unmute to share.

## Hybrid

Pair in-person participants together and remote participants into online breakout rooms. Assign the same set of digital cards accessible via a shared link. Remote participants post directly to a digital board displayed on the room screen, while in-person pairs post physical notes or have a designated scribe enter them.

## Access and participation choices

- Offer leader profiles in audio format or read them aloud before small-group work for participants with reading challenges.
- Participants may discuss without writing notes, or contribute to discussion via chat in remote settings.
- Any participant may pass during room-wide sharing without explanation.

## If the session gets stuck

**Participants focus only on formal titles or political offices rather than practical behaviors.**

Prompt them with: 'What did this person actually do with their hands, words, or resources when problems arose?'

**Pairs finish reading early and stall during the discussion.**

Ask them to identify one obstacle their leader faced and name the exact tactic used to get past it.


## Terms used here

- Entrepreneurial Mindset: A set of habits focused on spotting opportunities, taking calculated initiative, gathering resources, and learning from small experiments.

## Participant material: Community Leader Profile Cards

Card 1: Chief Jim Boss
Role & Context: Chief of the Southern Tutchone Ta'an Kwäch'än for over 40 years during the Klondike Gold Rush.
Actions: Recognized the sudden influx of newcomers. Built enterprises supplying firewood, fresh fish, and furs to miners. Used his standing to formally advocate for his people's land and future rights.

Card 2: Lila Fraser Erasmus
Role & Context: Dene medicine woman and small business founder (Naturally Dene, Bows & Arrows).
Actions: Combined traditional indigenous botanical knowledge with modern retail products. Created direct local employment and preserved cultural healing practices through consumer goods.

Card 3: Cat McGurk
Role & Context: Tradesperson, community builder, and Yellowknife city councillor.
Actions: Co-founded Makerspace YK to give local residents access to tools, fabrication equipment, and workspace. Bridged community organizing with trade skills to build self-reliance.

Card 4: Susan Aglukark
Role & Context: Inuk singer-songwriter and founder of the Arctic Rose Foundation.
Actions: Used an artistic platform to launch charitable initiatives supporting mental wellness, youth leadership, and after-school creative spaces across northern communities.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in SessionLab, titled 'Activity: Leadership & An Entrepreneurial Mindset', attributed to Inspire Team for Small Economy Works.

Retained the four-phase discussion mechanic and profile-based analysis from the SessionLab record by Inspire Team for Small Economy Works. Concrete time boundaries, pair-work logistics, explicit profile text cards adapted from the source appendix, a two-column mapping board, and neutral facilitator scripts were added by UWT to make the 15-minute format actionable.

[SessionLab](https://www.sessionlab.com/methods/activity-leadership-an-entrepreneurial-mindset)

[SessionLab](https://www.sessionlab.com/methods/leadership-an-entrepreneurial-mindset)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/activity-leadership-amp-an-entrepreneurial-mindset/