The stereotypical image of the writer is that of the reclusive shut-in, most memorably–if sensationally–portrayed by Jack Nicholson in The Shining.

In the first five years of the Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative, 521 ASU student-led teams applied to join the program that provides up to $20,000 in seed funding, office space at SkySong, and mentoring to help launch a business or non-profit venture. image: Arizona State University students attending the Innovation Challenge Summit 2011.This year, 250 teams applied for the same 15 to 20 spots in the 2011-2012 Edson accelerator program.

Until you have sat in a darkened room for days on end, watching through a two-way mirror as groups of total strangers discuss their interpretations of messages you spent months crafting to make a different point than the one they are getting – unable to intervene and explain what you meant and on the wrong side of a sugar rush from eating too many M&Ms out of frustration – you cannot truly appreciate the gulf that can exist between the messages you intend to communicate and what it is that people receive.

One common misconception for entrepreneurs is the belief (because they’re told repeatedly) that they need to capture their business idea – however radical – in the structured and declarative statements called mission, vision and values. I know this, because I used to tell clients the same thing.