Entrepreneurial Life Design

A New Paradigm for Personal and Professional Growth
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-3-032-30929-7
Verlag: Springer

Buch, Englisch, 427 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm

Reihe: FGF Studies in Small Business and Entrepreneurship

This interdisciplinary volume introduces Entrepreneurial Life Design (ELD) as a transformative framework for navigating personal and professional transitions in an era of uncertainty. Drawing from entrepreneurship education, human-centered design, and career development, the book offers theoretical foundations, empirical insights, and practical tools to foster purpose, resilience, and adaptability. Contributions from leading scholars and practitioners explore ELD’s application across educational, organizational, and societal contexts, with case studies and program models that support learners, professionals, and changemakers. By integrating research-based strategies with real-world relevance, this volume empowers individuals and institutions to design sustainable, value-driven futures. It is an essential resource for educators, coaches, researchers, and anyone seeking clarity and agency in shaping their life and career paths.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Maisch, Bettina

Schulte-Holthaus, Stefan

Zittel, Karina

Wolf, Barbara

Fachgebiete

• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Betriebswirtschaft Management Unternehmensführung
• Sozialwissenschaften Pädagogik Berufliche Bildung Berufs- und Studienberatung, Karriereplanung
• Sozialwissenschaften Pädagogik Pädagogik
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Betriebswirtschaft Bereichsspezifisches Management Personalwesen, Human Resource Management

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Part I: DEFINE: Why Entrepreneurial Life Design, and what is it?.- Editorial Introduction: Designing Lives, Not Just Ventures: The Case for Entrepreneurial Life Design.- Developing Change Competence: Empowering Individuals for a Transformative World.- Toward a Design Thinking-Informed Conceptual Model of Entrepreneurial Life Design in Digital Ecosystems.- Part II: INVESTIGATE: The human foundations of ELD. Mindset Alchemy: Reframing Beliefs, Crafting Identity, and Cultivating Entrepreneurial Agency.- Mental Time Travel in Entrepreneurial Life Design: Neurocognitive Foundations and Practical Implications.- Dealing with Failure through Individualized Self-Intervention: A Micro-Intervention for Self-Management based on Personality Systems Interactions Theory.- Eudaimonic Entrepreneurship Education: through “lemon” challenges to long-term “lemonade” well-being.- Part III: OPERATIONALIZE: Tools, methods, and pedagogies.- The Immersive “Life Design For Entrepreneurs” Sprint as a Pedagogical Model.- From Dreams to Entrepreneurial Actions and Life Design - Creating Flourishing Students through Visionboosts in Higher Education.- The Opportunity Alignment Canvas: Operationalising Founder-Fit within Entrepreneurial Life Design. Operationalizing Entrepreneurial Life Design through Career Crafting, Job Crafting, and Intrapreneurship: Insights from Higher Education.- Invisible Entrepreneurs: How Life Design & Systemic Coaching Reveal Unimagined Career Futures.- Part IV: APPLY: ELD in context — populations, institutions, geographies.- Designing Futures, IdeasLab, Life Design, Transdisciplinary Learning, and Student Success Coaching: Entrepreneurial Life Design (ELD) in an Irish University Context.- Entrepreneurial Leadership and Life Design: An Ecosystem Approach.- Designing Futures: Entrepreneurial Life Design for Agency, Self-Efficacy, and Career Planning.- Career & Life Design for Mid and Late-Life Transitions: Applications in Executive Development and MBA Education.- Crafting Lives That Don’t Fit Into One Job Description: Entrepreneurial Life Design Through Hybrid Entrepreneurship.- Entrepreneurial Life Design in a High-VUCA Context: Processes from Ankara-Based Founders.- Part V: ENVISION: The future of ELD.- Redesigning Lives and Sustainable Careers for a Complex World with the Inner Development Guide.- Progressive Affectivity: Designing Societal Resonance for a Holistic ELD Paradigm.- Editorial Conclusion: From Field to Practice to Horizon: What We Have Learned, and What Comes Next.

Über Autor(innen)

Bettina Maisch is Professor of Entrepreneurship at HM Munich University of Applied Sciences. Her work explores entrepreneurial life design, wellbeing, and transformative education, with a focus on how individuals can develop agency, purpose, and resilience in times of uncertainty. She co-founded the Entrepreneurial Life Design Academy, serves as Co-Chair of the Life Design Track at EURAM, and is Faculty Fellow at Yale’s Life Worth Living Program. She also co-edits a Special Issue on Life Design for the CERN IdeaSquare Journal of Experimental Innovation.

Stefan Schulte-Holthaus is Professor of Music and Media Management at Macromedia University in Munich. As a former recording and entrepreneurial artist, he explores tensions between artistic ambition and entrepreneurship, with a focus on how passion and life context shape well-being and performance. His teaching fosters an entrepreneurial mindset through experiential, action-oriented learning.

Karina Zittel is co-founder of hundred times and a post-doctoral researcher at TU Berlin. She created Design Your Happy Life — the first course of its kind at a German university, honored with TU Berlin's 2024 Teaching Award — and co-founded the Entrepreneurial Life Design Academy, helping people design lives of purpose through science-backed tools.

Barbara Wolf is founder of Panoramawolf and co-founder of the Entrepreneurial Life Design Academy. Her work focuses on sustainable transformation, entrepreneurship education, and human-centered communication. At LMU Munich’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center, she researches and teaches impact entrepreneurship using the 4D LOOPING model. She holds a PhD in communication science.