The seven major themes that characterize entrepreneurs are commitment and determination, courage, leadership, opportunity obsession, tolerance of risk, ambiguity, and uncertainty, creativity, self-reliance, and adaptability, and motivation to excel (Spinelli & Adams, 2012). More on each of those are explained in the paragraphs to follow.
Commitment and determination is one of the seven major themes that characterize an entrepreneur. One must be always prepared to make personal sacrifices to get the result. If you want to start your own venture, you must be prepared and ready to leave behind all the comfort (be of job security, personal life and all the other). The person should also be fully committed to the mission of getting it all done. He/she must never shy away from experimenting and have a strong moral strength. The person must always do the right things (ethically). Not being afraid of failure and conflicts that can arise in the business are some of the traits under courage.
Without leadership, no one can be a successful entrepreneur. One doesn’t need to be a perfectionist but certainly have to have high standards and an ability to start things oneself (Chrysostome, 2010). He/she must be able to inspire that fire in others to join the vision and an ability to build a strong team chemistry. The person should also have the right amount of patience when it comes to things but also show urgency for things that matter. One must not be like a lone wolf and thus share the learning he/she has while also being open for what others in the team have to share and learn from it. Obsession for opportunity is another theme that characterizes entrepreneurs. Having knowledge about the customer desires and need while being market driven and not just sticking to what you feel is a skill not many have. The behavior under this also includes of being able to think of creating value and enhancement of the services or product you offer intensely.
Tolerance of risk, ambiguity, and uncertainty involves behaviors like the ability to take a risk in a calculated way, minimize risk and share them with the team or other collaborators. Other behavior like tolerating unknown outcomes and unstructured work plan is part of it as well. He/she also tolerate conflict and stress in a better way. Another theme would be creativity, self-reliance, and adaptability under which one doesn’t have any fear of failure but adapt to whatever situation that comes around while creatively solving the problems (Karp, 2006). Behaviors like learning things quickly, open-minded, and the ability to conceptualize are also part of it.
Motivation to excel is the last theme but of equal importance which characterizes entrepreneurs. Behaviors like strong orientation towards the high but realistic goals, drive to achieve all the milestones and grow, not care much of the status or power, and awareness of the strengths and weakness are part of it.
People may have their own take on which of the above seven themes best characterize the entrepreneur. But for me, I believe each of the seven has equal importance and are necessary to define an entrepreneur. One must have one or the other behavior of all the seven themes presented above. A person who is a calculated risk taker, has a strong moral strength, shows the ability to learn quickly and adapt in the hardest of situation decides to be an entrepreneur. The person lacks the passion - the commitment and sheer determination of doing something, which would obviously present itself as a hurdle and if unable to enhance those skills, the venture might crumble or even collapse.
Those skills are something which one with an entrepreneurial mindset or aspiration should realize and not something that someone else should encourage. However, at times a small push for someone you know or someone you admire or just a random person can ignite the desire in you to make a difference. These skills can be developed through practice, experimentation and by failing while attempting. It can also be enhanced through mentorship programs, talks with different people who have some knowledge about the domain, and looking at other related business cases. Having said that, it all depends on the person in question. If the person doesn’t have the desire, commitment and attitude to learning, no one can make him/her learn. So, it first starts with oneself and continues to secondary sources to show some path and finally back to oneself to make better sense of it and take it further.
References
Chrysostome, E. (2010). The success factors of necessity immigrant entrepreneurs: In search of a model. Thunderbird International Business Review , 52 (2), 137-152.
Karp, T. (2006). The inner entrepreneur: A constructivistic view of entrepreneurial reality construction. Journal Of Change Management , 6 (3), 291-294.
Spinelli, S., & Adams, R. (2012). New venture creation (9th ed., p. 38). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
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The seven major themes that characterize entrepreneurs are commitment and determination, courage, leadership, opportunity obsession, tolerance of risk, ambiguity, and uncertainty, creativity, self-reliance, and adaptability, and motivation to excel (Spinelli & Adams, 2012). More on each of those are explained in the paragraphs to follow.
Commitment and determination is one of the seven major themes that characterize an entrepreneur. One must be always prepared to make personal sacrifices to get the result. If you want to start your own venture, you must be prepared and ready to leave behind all the comfort (be of job security, personal life and all the other). The person should also be fully committed to the mission of getting it all done. He/she must never shy away from experimenting and have a strong moral strength. The person must always do the right things (ethically). Not being afraid of failure and conflicts that can arise in the business are some of the traits under courage.
Without leadership, no one can be a successful entrepreneur. One doesn’t need to be a perfectionist but certainly have to have high standards and an ability to start things oneself (Chrysostome, 2010). He/she must be able to inspire that fire in others to join the vision and an ability to build a strong team chemistry. The person should also have the right amount of patience when it comes to things but also show urgency for things that matter. One must not be like a lone wolf and thus share the learning he/she has while also being open for what others in the team have to share and learn from it. Obsession for opportunity is another theme that characterizes entrepreneurs. Having knowledge about the customer desires and need while being market driven and not just sticking to what you feel is a skill not many have. The behavior under this also includes of being able to think of creating value and enhancement of the services or product you offer intensely.
Tolerance of risk, ambiguity, and uncertainty involves behaviors like the ability to take a risk in a calculated way, minimize risk and share them with the team or other collaborators. Other behavior like tolerating unknown outcomes and unstructured work plan is part of it as well. He/she also tolerate conflict and stress in a better way. Another theme would be creativity, self-reliance, and adaptability under which one doesn’t have any fear of failure but adapt to whatever situation that comes around while creatively solving the problems (Karp, 2006). Behaviors like learning things quickly, open-minded, and the ability to conceptualize are also part of it.
Motivation to excel is the last theme but of equal importance which characterizes entrepreneurs. Behaviors like strong orientation towards the high but realistic goals, drive to achieve all the milestones and grow, not care much of the status or power, and awareness of the strengths and weakness are part of it.
People may have their own take on which of the above seven themes best characterize the entrepreneur. But for me, I believe each of the seven has equal importance and are necessary to define an entrepreneur. One must have one or the other behavior of all the seven themes presented above. A person who is a calculated risk taker, has a strong moral strength, shows the ability to learn quickly and adapt in the hardest of situation decides to be an entrepreneur. The person lacks the passion - the commitment and sheer determination of doing something, which would obviously present itself as a hurdle and if unable to enhance those skills, the venture might crumble or even collapse.
Those skills are something which one with an entrepreneurial mindset or aspiration should realize and not something that someone else should encourage. However, at times a small push for someone you know or someone you admire or just a random person can ignite the desire in you to make a difference. These skills can be developed through practice, experimentation and by failing while attempting. It can also be enhanced through mentorship programs, talks with different people who have some knowledge about the domain, and looking at other related business cases. Having said that, it all depends on the person in question. If the person doesn’t have the desire, commitment and attitude to learning, no one can make him/her learn. So, it first starts with oneself and continues to secondary sources to show some path and finally back to oneself to make better sense of it and take it further.
References
Chrysostome, E. (2010). The success factors of necessity immigrant entrepreneurs: In search of a model. Thunderbird International Business Review , 52 (2), 137-152.
Karp, T. (2006). The inner entrepreneur: A constructivistic view of entrepreneurial reality construction. Journal Of Change Management , 6 (3), 291-294.
Spinelli, S., & Adams, R. (2012). New venture creation (9th ed., p. 38). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.