Essential qualities of entrepreneurship – ver. 1
Okay, time for you all to speak up and tell me what you think. After taking my own notes as to the qualities I think are essential for entrepreneurship, I posted a question on the topic over at LinkedIn’s Q&A section and got some great additional feedback. So in this post, I will quickly outline three lists:
- The qualities I believe are essential for successful entrepreneurship
- Qualities “on the bubble” that I can’t decide are essential or not
- Some ideas on what might be missing from the first list
I’m looking for your feedback. As I’ve said numerous other places on this blog, I want to develop this topic through not only my own thoughts but a rich dialogue with everyone reading the blog. Please comment early and comment often.
The yardstick I am using for these essential qualities is one of “necessary and sufficient”. That is to say that each of these qualities not only has to be present for successful entrepreneurship (e.g. it is necessary), but possession of all these qualities is all you need(they are sufficient). Therefore in your feedback tell me not only what is missing, but what can left off. If “entrepreneurship” is not a familiar term to you, then evaluate these qualities from a leadership perspective.
The goal of this post is not so much to examine the qualities in detail, as to simply start the process of getting a list we all agree on.
Essential qualities
- Passion- my list of essential qualities is not intended to be a prioritized list. That being said, I think Passion is the number one quality to be a successful entrepreneur. This quality is a no-brainer I believe.
- Vision – the ability to dream, to be bold and see future outcomes is wrapped up in vision. Any successful entrepreneur must have a vision they are working toward.
- Faith – and not the religious kind. By faith I mean the ability to stay true to your vision even during adversity. Belief that things will work out in the end.
- Commitment- Vision without commitment is just a dream. Commitment keeps us on course and moving toward our goals.
- Responsibility- as an entrepreneur, you are solely responsible for not only your own livelihood, but your families and your employees, in addition to generating a reasonable return for your investors and adding value somehow for your customers. Successful entrepreneurs realize they own all that responsibility and they accept it.
- Flexibility – Rigid, “my way or the highway” thinkers need not apply for the job of entrepreneur. Too many things change and the odds that one way is the only way is far too small.
- Courage – courage involves not only the willingness to take risks but pressing ahead even when everyone around you calls you a fool for doing so.
- Discipline- in my incubator, we constantly work with entreprenueurs to keep them focused. As many of them tend to be very creative people, they have a habit of wandering off into too many side projects. Discipline helps you stay on task.
- Resilience – failure and rejection are expected, often frequently, in the course of building something new. Without the ability to weather such events, an entrepreneur is doomed.
That’s my starting list of essential qualities of successful entreprneurship. Please tell me what I am missing in comments.
“On the bubble”
Here’s some qualities I know are valuable, I’m just not sure if they are essential, or merely supporting qualities. Remember, to be essential, they need to be not only necessary, but sufficient. I’m sure these qualities, in combination with the other great essential qualities above, would be sufficient; I’m just not sure they are necessary.
- Charisma – this will certainly serve you well anytime you are representing your business, but is it necessary?
- Character / Substance – by this I mean having something inside that backs up the vision and passion.
- Creativity – yes, most entrepreneurs are creative, but is it essential to be creative to be a successful entrepreneur?
- Curious – this I think belongs on the list, but I’d like your feedback.
What might be missing
Finally here are some thoughts on qualities that I maybe can’t put a word to, but I know why they are important. Help me name these qualities, and tell me if they are essential or not.
- Good entrepreneurs respond to coaching and mentoring. They keep their individuality, but typically don’t take coaching personally and are able to process it to be better entrepreneurs. I don’t think that is simply flexibility as it seems the core quality is the positive response to the coaching.
- A positive attitude I think is also essential. That’s not really faith, nor courage, nor resilience. What is that?
- Balance. Often, entrepreneur’s lives greatly skew toward their business for an extended period of time. However, it seems like successful ones do have a sense of balance.
- Is a sense of pragmatism necessary? I tend to think being able to step out of my own biases and look at situations “objectively” is a good quality and am tempted to add it to the essential list.
- Finally, it seems like something that speaks to security or thick skin, or believe in one’s self is missing also. Does anyone have a good idea for this quality?
And I bet you thought I was just going to tell you all the answers! Nope. Anyone that knows me knows that I’m never short on an opinion, but I’ll be the first to admit I don’t have all the answers. Let’s build this list together through your comments and we’ll come up with something even better.
Thank you in advance for taking the time to comment on this post.
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