Real entrepreneurs are bulletproof. Now get your lieutenants to believe they are, too.

As the U.S. Congress goes further in hock to stem the economy's decline, I can't help but think of the words of Thomas Paine: "I seek opportunity ... not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen ... dulled by having the state look after me … I refuse to barter incentive for a dole; I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence."

Paine's words are more than a surgery ode to capitalism--they cut to the very heart of the entrepreneurial spirit. Paine mapped the DNA of any successful business builder: self-reliance, fearlessness and the need to conquer obstacles. In psychological jargon, people who feel this way have an over-abundance of self-efficacy.

Self-efficacy is not the same thing as self-esteem. The former is driven by judgments of competence, the latter by estimation of personal worth. Nothing girds an entrepreneurial ego better than a surfeit of self-efficacy, mainly because it prevents people from taking (inevitable) setbacks too personally. Self-efficacy allows their egos live--and yearn--to fight another day.Research shows that people with strong feelings of self-efficacy not only don't quit when problems arise, they double down and try harder. Why? Because they see any impediments as obstacles to be overcome--not threats to their self-esteem that would be best avoided.

How do you nurture (or at least replenish) your own self-efficacy? Stretch. Embrace failure. Put ideas in front of people. This isn't about being cheered on by a fan club--it's about taking lumps and growing a thick skin. Self-efficacy comes the old-fashioned way: You earn it. By doing things. Not by being liked.

Cultivating your own self-efficacy is hard; imbuing your employees with it is harder. You have to push them out of their comfort zones--and you have to allow them to fail.

One useful tactic: Trade the employee suggestion box for a "Recession-Breaker" box. Encourage staffers to offer improvements (not complaints), with specific plans for implementing them--anything from how to cut costs to going green. Go easy on the criticism at first. And let the efficacy build.