"If you're a disruptor, you must play a bold and fun game with the big guys," says Eucalyptus CEO M�rten Mickos. During his previous tenure as CEO of MySQL AB, the management team encouraged Mickos to take bold action when a large competitor outmaneuvered the company for a critical acquisition. Mickos tells the story of how MySQL AB turned this challenge into a successful marketing opportunity.

"You must decide how you receive advice," says M�rten Mickos, CEO of Eucalyptus Systems. Mickos believes this simple, but important, concept is critical for young entrepreneurs who will be bombarded by input and challenges from all sides. Using a story from his experience at MySQL AB, Mickos illuminates the need to re-evaluate your position based on new information and adversities.

Eucalyptus Systems CEO M�rten Mickos loves the expression, "He was a great executive. All he lacked was inexperience." Mickos explains how inexperience can be a tremendous asset to an entrepreneur, and he shares his personal story of transformation from open source neophyte to being perceived as a "godfather" of open source business models.

When it comes to management, Eucalyptus Systems CEO M�rten Mickos respects the value of individual human beings. His perspective grew out of earlier career experiences where employees were treated like machines, rather than people. "Can't we treat the human beings like human beings, and treat the machines like machines," says Mickos.

As CEO of MySQL AB, M�rten Mickos saw advantages of utilizing a distributed organization model where seventy percent of the company's employees worked from home. According to Mickos, this cultural design actually put the focus on results and productivity, while still allowing colleagues to share their lives with one another.

Rather than having to choose between being an open source organization or a commercial software company, you can create a successful open source business, says Eucalyptus Systems CEO M�rten Mickos. Mickos also offers a telling insight on how to deal with detractors.

Eucalyptus Systems CEO Mårten Mickos is a devotee of management guru Peter Drucker. Mickos elaborates on Drucker's position that "company culture eats strategy for breakfast," by offering amusing examples of culture building from his time at MySQL AB.

While serving as CEO of MySQL AB, M�rten Mickos had a falling out with a founder of the company. These types of situations are common in startups, says Mickos, especially between original founders and new management teams. Mickos explains why he made some tough choices out of dedication to the employees he had brought on board.

"You have to believe in something bigger than the business you are trying to address," says Eucalyptus CEO M�rten Mickos. In this clip, Mickos explains why the foundation of an entrepreneurial mindset is a belief system that not only requires a belief in big ideas, but includes believing in oneself and working with others that believe in you.