Saras Sarasvathy, Darden School of Business and Effectuation.org

Saras Sarasvathy, a professor at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business has a study out on how great entrepreneurs think.

Sarasvathy concluded that master entrepreneurs rely on what she calls effectual reasoning. Brilliant improvisers, the entrepreneurs don’t start out with concrete goals. Instead, they constantly assess how to use their personal strengths and whatever resources they have at hand to develop goals on the fly, while creatively reacting to contingencies. By contrast, corporate executives—those in the study group were also enormously successful in their chosen field—use causal reasoning. They set a goal and diligently seek the best ways to achieve it.

We’re currently watching a live chat with her at Inc.com. The question asked was ‘how do you become a successful entrepreneur.’ Sarasvathy’s answer, “Ask yourself, are you willing to fail?”

Good enough for us.