There’s a lot of talk about ‘unleashing entrepreneurialism’ in the workforce. But not everyone wants to be an entrepreneur – not at first, and sometimes, never. And when being an entrepreneur is described as ‘jumping off a cliff and designing and building the parachute on the way down’, I can’t blame them. You’d be mad to want to do that without a safety net.

In pop music, that’s what cover versions are – a safety net. When bands first get together, they rarely start by playing their own songs. They get to know each other and their audience by playing other people’s tunes – cover versions. Only once they’re confident with those do they move on and start performing their own music. And of course, some bands never write their own songs, and make a perfectly decent living as tribute bands, playing only cover versions.

So if you want to unleash entrepreneurialism in your small business, take a leaf out of the pop music playbook, and start by writing down your song. So you can give your team a safety net over which to practise being entrepreneurial. Give them the responsibility of playing it well, plus the autonomy to play it their way.

The least that will happen is that a tribute band will form. The best that will happen is that they help you to make your unique music even better. Or go off to make their own, new music, inspired by yours.

Discipline makes Daring possible