Dad always said, “Only suckers work for someone else.” A tidy philosophy, but narrow. The Old Man and I didn’t share a vision—yet here I am, self-employed like him, for fifteen years and counting. Did I inherit some Sinatra-ish gotta-do-it-my-way gene? No? Well, maybe it was just something in my psyche.
There are business people, and there are entrepreneurs. Two different species. Nothing new in that observation. People have been trying to figure entrepreneurs out for a long time. And for good reason: They’re responsible for a lot of the wealth and innovation we’ve enjoyed throughout the modern age.
Jibran Malek’s blog, on Masschellange.org, traces the term’s storied past. Over 250 years, we’ve come to know entrepreneurs as risk-takers, “resource hackers,” even “wild spirits.” From areas of low productivity and yield, they make great things.
Outliers
They have a way of leaving business as usual behind. That makes them outliers. Most people have an investment, financial and otherwise, in the status quo, and like stability. Given this, there’s strong resistance against the entrepreneurial impulse—so strong that few can stand up against it. Yet entrepreneurs do. Where do they get their strength?
Professor Saras D. Sarasvathy believes that entrepreneurial thinking differs from conventional business strategy. Normally, we identify our goals and our available means to achieve them. We try to find the fastest, most cost effective approach. We evaluate the results we expect for viability. Business people are, he says, like military generals.
Innovators, on the other hand, are explorers in uncharted waters. They start with what they’ve got and run with it. The goals emerge organically. They’ll try something, pivot, and pivot again. They’re very action-oriented. Business as usual simply wouldn’t have tried some of these gambits, the source of some of our most iconic success stories.
The DNA of it
According to many, it’s not a talent or a mindset we can learn in school. It’s simply in the blood.
With three colleagues, Scott Shane co-directed a study that found that helpful qualities pass between the generations—in the DNA. In a blog post for the New York Times, he writes that “the tendency to be an entrepreneur and personality traits of extraversion, openness to experience, and sensation-seeking have a common genetic component.” Your blueprint, he says, will make you more or less able to see opportunities, start a business, and make money.
James V. Koch is president emeritus at Old Dominion University. He told Entrepreneur.com that entrepreneurs have to take risks. Tolerance for that sort of life, its ambiguity and uncertainty, are heritable. “The notion that I can add six inches to someone’s height and that will make them an NBA player is bankrupt. So why do we think we can send someone to a business school and change their risk-taking preference?”
According to Forbes.com, fluid intelligence and a balanced personality are key. So are pattern recognition, logic and abstract thinking. Also, a capacity to work well with others, to be friendly but firm—you know, to get things done.
How are your kids shaping up? Is the little guy or girl smart, confident and “in charge”? Is the family educated and stable, but he or she has scant regard for the rules of the house? You could have a mogul in the making.
(I note here with some interest that IQ and conscientiousness are irrelevant. With this in mind, I am tempted to contemplate my career; but I resist the urge.)
Dr. Koch reminds us that inherited traits are a double-edged sword. Looking at the entrepreneur, he describes an almost artistic temperament—often mercurial, intuitive and over-optimistic. Their highs are high, their lows are low. “A very large proportion of entrepreneurs fail. They tend not to be as devoted to consensus decision-making. They violate the status quo more often. Many don’t accept defeat or losses gracefully. They are energetic, and a higher percentage tend to be loners and work long hours.”
Brave New World
Well, if you’ve read Brave New World, I can guess what you’re thinking. Might as well go to the lab, book a session with the analyst, get this settled. I had a dot com idea, but maybe I should just play bass. Wait, there’s more to this.
Julian Lange, senior professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College, rejects any idea of cookie-cutter personalities suited best for business adventure. Natural talents aside, technical and leadership skills must be learned and optimized. The venue itself of school, being around other like minds, contributes to networking and getting vital feedback.
There may be characteristics that correspond to entrepreneurs, but it reminds me of what Thomas Edison said about genius—that it was “one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.”
People in sports or music might have great talent or physical strength, but the people who are the most outstanding might not be the people with the most physical strength. Often they are people who work hard, try to overcome deficiencies and put things together in a package that works for them.
As usual, life isn’t easily categorized. Statistics show a weave of factors, including family, society and luck. Most who succeed come from the middle class, and have parents with degrees. (And half of them had someone in the family already self-employed.) They had over a decade’s experience in their field; didn’t like working for others—and, one has to add, often had a hard time finding work.
You could look at my grandfather and his reiterations in my father and me and note that there are hardly three generations less alike. My grandfather came from Europe, with nothing—the kind of nothing that makes you hungry. He built himself into a business owner, a land owner, a crop farmer, an employer. Did my father inherit that, or learn by example? How did I, a student of world religions, wind up starting a web development company?for more info, check out avant career
There are business people, and there are entrepreneurs. Two different species. Nothing new in that observation. People have been trying to figure entrepreneurs out for a long time. And for good reason: They’re responsible for a lot of the wealth and innovation we’ve enjoyed throughout the modern age.
Jibran Malek’s blog, on Masschellange.org, traces the term’s storied past. Over 250 years, we’ve come to know entrepreneurs as risk-takers, “resource hackers,” even “wild spirits.” From areas of low productivity and yield, they make great things.
Outliers
They have a way of leaving business as usual behind. That makes them outliers. Most people have an investment, financial and otherwise, in the status quo, and like stability. Given this, there’s strong resistance against the entrepreneurial impulse—so strong that few can stand up against it. Yet entrepreneurs do. Where do they get their strength?
Professor Saras D. Sarasvathy believes that entrepreneurial thinking differs from conventional business strategy. Normally, we identify our goals and our available means to achieve them. We try to find the fastest, most cost effective approach. We evaluate the results we expect for viability. Business people are, he says, like military generals.
Innovators, on the other hand, are explorers in uncharted waters. They start with what they’ve got and run with it. The goals emerge organically. They’ll try something, pivot, and pivot again. They’re very action-oriented. Business as usual simply wouldn’t have tried some of these gambits, the source of some of our most iconic success stories.
The DNA of it
According to many, it’s not a talent or a mindset we can learn in school. It’s simply in the blood.
With three colleagues, Scott Shane co-directed a study that found that helpful qualities pass between the generations—in the DNA. In a blog post for the New York Times, he writes that “the tendency to be an entrepreneur and personality traits of extraversion, openness to experience, and sensation-seeking have a common genetic component.” Your blueprint, he says, will make you more or less able to see opportunities, start a business, and make money.
James V. Koch is president emeritus at Old Dominion University. He told Entrepreneur.com that entrepreneurs have to take risks. Tolerance for that sort of life, its ambiguity and uncertainty, are heritable. “The notion that I can add six inches to someone’s height and that will make them an NBA player is bankrupt. So why do we think we can send someone to a business school and change their risk-taking preference?”
According to Forbes.com, fluid intelligence and a balanced personality are key. So are pattern recognition, logic and abstract thinking. Also, a capacity to work well with others, to be friendly but firm—you know, to get things done.
How are your kids shaping up? Is the little guy or girl smart, confident and “in charge”? Is the family educated and stable, but he or she has scant regard for the rules of the house? You could have a mogul in the making.
(I note here with some interest that IQ and conscientiousness are irrelevant. With this in mind, I am tempted to contemplate my career; but I resist the urge.)
Dr. Koch reminds us that inherited traits are a double-edged sword. Looking at the entrepreneur, he describes an almost artistic temperament—often mercurial, intuitive and over-optimistic. Their highs are high, their lows are low. “A very large proportion of entrepreneurs fail. They tend not to be as devoted to consensus decision-making. They violate the status quo more often. Many don’t accept defeat or losses gracefully. They are energetic, and a higher percentage tend to be loners and work long hours.”
Brave New World
Well, if you’ve read Brave New World, I can guess what you’re thinking. Might as well go to the lab, book a session with the analyst, get this settled. I had a dot com idea, but maybe I should just play bass. Wait, there’s more to this.
Julian Lange, senior professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College, rejects any idea of cookie-cutter personalities suited best for business adventure. Natural talents aside, technical and leadership skills must be learned and optimized. The venue itself of school, being around other like minds, contributes to networking and getting vital feedback.
There may be characteristics that correspond to entrepreneurs, but it reminds me of what Thomas Edison said about genius—that it was “one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.”
People in sports or music might have great talent or physical strength, but the people who are the most outstanding might not be the people with the most physical strength. Often they are people who work hard, try to overcome deficiencies and put things together in a package that works for them.
As usual, life isn’t easily categorized. Statistics show a weave of factors, including family, society and luck. Most who succeed come from the middle class, and have parents with degrees. (And half of them had someone in the family already self-employed.) They had over a decade’s experience in their field; didn’t like working for others—and, one has to add, often had a hard time finding work.
You could look at my grandfather and his reiterations in my father and me and note that there are hardly three generations less alike. My grandfather came from Europe, with nothing—the kind of nothing that makes you hungry. He built himself into a business owner, a land owner, a crop farmer, an employer. Did my father inherit that, or learn by example? How did I, a student of world religions, wind up starting a web development company?for more info, check out avant career
