Invictus

The 8 Characteristics of a Successful Entrepreneur

 

The Entrepreneur:  Nature vs. Nurture

I have helped start three companies, have created and grown several divisions within larger companies and have advised more than my fair share of entrepreneurs on their business ventures for over two decades.  As such, I have been exposed to a great many entrepreneurs, both successful and unsuccessful.  Through this exposure, I have found that the entrepreneur, this special breed of humankind, definitely marches to the beat of a different drummer. 

There has been much debate over the years as to whether entrepreneurs are born or made.  While I fall strongly on the nature over nurture side of this argument, it comes with a caveat.  Entrepreneurs are like gifted athletes.  They are born with the innate talents, abilities and characteristics to be that successful entrepreneur.  On the other hand, like the elite athlete, most would-be entrepreneurs, no matter how gifted, would fail without accumulating the proper tangible skills, training or guidance.  Also like the elite athlete, the successful entrepreneur will constantly acquire and hone the necessary skills for success. 

Sadly, though, no matter how many skills or specialties a person accumulates in life, only select few have the natural born make up to be the successful entrepreneur.  While no two entrepreneurs are the same, I have found that there are 8 main characteristics shared by them all.  The pneumonic “INVICTUS” will assist us on this journey of discovery and enlightenment.

I               Industrious / Hard Working

N             Narcissistic

V             Visionary / Foresight

I               Intrepid (Resolute Fearlessness, Unwavering Confidence)

C             Communicative

T              Thick Skinned

U             Unemployable

S              Spirit / Passion

 

Invictus:  Strength in the face of adversity

I chose Invictus not only because its first letters correspond nicely to the required characteristics of an entrepreneur but also because the meaning of the word Invictus is the very personification of an entrepreneur.  Invictus is Latin for “unconquered.”  But, largely based on the poem of the same name by William Ernest Henley and further solidified by a subsequent movie starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, it has come to reflect the larger meaning of “strength in the face of adversity.”   If I had to pick a single concept that best embodies an entrepreneur, it would be strength in the face of adversity.

 

Industrious

Ben Franklin was one of America’s first and most successful entrepreneurs.  He founded the University of Pennsylvania, established Philadelphia’s first library and fire brigade. He invented the lightning rod, indoor stove ventilation and countless other products.  While many know of these achievements, most do not realize that Franklin was also one of our nation’s first franchisers.  Franklin would find qualified young men and would set them up in the printing business throughout the colonies.  The most important characteristic that Franklin sought in a partner was that they were industrious, or hard working. 

Although many of the 8 characteristics are not listed in order of importance, industriousness takes its rightful place at the top.  To be successful in any endeavor, unless you are a member of the lucky sperm club, you must outwork those around you.  Intelligence, charm and strength are nice characteristics to have but they are wasted without the proper work ethic to maximize their impact.  Much of entrepreneurial success also has a luck factor or the good fortune of being in the right place at the right time.  You can increase your odds of being successful by always working hard to seek out the right place to be.

 

Narcissistic

While narcissism often refers to one’s obsession with their appearance, narcissism also covers one’s love for their own abilities, ideas and achievements.  It manifests itself in a self-confidence that is impervious to outside attacks.  For these purposes it might as easily mean the lack of self-doubt.  One cannot be a successful entrepreneur unless they were truly in love with their ideas and creations.  It is this love that drives them.  It is this self confidence that creates a force field against the world’s inherent negativity towards others’ successes.  Not all entrepreneurs are as explicit in their narcissistic approach to self-promotion as Jobs, Ellison, Zuckerberg or Disney but, this characteristic in definitely present in the self-confidence of all entrepreneurs including less overt entrepreneurs like Branson, Hershey, Buffett and Franklin.

Visionary (Foresight)

Almost by definition, every successful entrepreneur has vision.  But it is more than just the ability to see that which does not exist.  Entrepreneurs have an uncanny knack to envision that which is around us in a completely different way.  Steve Jobs saw early on that the computer was not just an exclusive toy for early programmers.  George de Mestral was able to see that the plant burrs that stuck to his pants after hiking would make a novel premise for a great fastener and thus envisioned Velcro™.  Howard Schultz saw Starbucks as far more than just a seller of premium coffee beans.
 

Intrepid (Fearless Perseverance)

“He who sticks to the sidewalk may never get hit by a car but, he will also never cross the street.”  
By Yksnip Nevets (management consultant and industrial philosopher)
 
It is in the danger filled streets of the new and unknown that the entrepreneur thrives.  While others are afraid of being struck down by the traffic of failure, the successful entrepreneur welcomes the challenges that come with dodging the vehicles of doubt, challenge and adversity.  The road of the successful entrepreneur is dangerous to cross and leaves many an unworthy pedestrian to end up as a footnote in the annals of professional road kill.

Intrepid means resolutely fearless.  It is an almost pathological sense of invincibility that keeps the entrepreneur moving forward when common sense dictates otherwise.  Walt Disney went bankrupt in his early ventures and then had his first successful cartoon, Oswald the Rabbit, stolen from him.  His fearlessness to continue on led to the creation of his next successful cartoon, Mickey Mouse.  Milton Hershey failed at upwards of eight businesses before finding his sweet success in the form of caramels.  Most people would have stopped at one or two failed ventures (actually, most people would have been afraid to start even one venture).  But that is why most people are not successful entrepreneurs.

Communicative

“A really good idea effectively communicated is better that a great idea that languishes in obscurity.”

By Yksnip Nevets

The venture capital floors of Silicon Valley are paved with business plans of potentially great ideas that never got funding or support because they were never communicated properly or, even worse they were communicated improperly.  Good communication skills come in many different forms and are not limited to great business plans or PowerPoint presentations.  A good entrepreneur has the ability to paint a picture of potential; the potential of how great their idea can be.  How they do this may be different for each entrepreneur.  It could be as formal as a fully populated business plan or it could manifest itself in a passionate verbal description that leaves potential partners and investors in awe.  In certain cases, many an entrepreneur has let their product do the talking.  For this to be successful, the inventor has to make sure their product is speaking to the right audience.

No matter what the form of communication, a common communication strategy of the ultimately successful is to communicate often and in many case more than just one way.

Thick Skinned

It is said that Marconi, the inventor of the radio, was physically taken by his “friends” to a mental hospital for forced evaluation after he shared with them that he had invented a way to send communication signals without the use of wires.

For as long as there have been entrepreneurs, there have been critics, naysayers, doubters, detractors and all other forms of road blocks.  Many an aspiring entrepreneur has lacked the fortitude and has succumbed to these counter-forces and, as a result, their idea died a premature death.  The successful entrepreneur has the ability to block out the negativity of doubt and fear and push on.  The really successful entrepreneur finds improvement opportunities between the lines of criticism and uses it to make their idea and businesses even better.  The outside world often misunderstands this attitude for arrogance or narcissism (see narcissism above).  And there may be a bit of that, too but, if the entrepreneur is not so sure and absorbed in the certainty of their creation, there is no way the world will follow suit.

 Unemployable

“The truly successful are those with the impatience to accept their current lot in life but possess the patience to put in the hard work and preparation to improve it.” 

By Yksnip Nevets

Mark Cuban recently credited his entrepreneurial success in his failed attempts at working for others.  It is not that entrepreneurs cannot get jobs and do them very well.  It is the restlessness of always wanting more that prevents the true entrepreneur from remaining for extended periods of time in the indentured servitude of others.  Often this is magnified by the deep down feelings that they are smarter or better than those for whom they work (see narcissism above).  This is never a recipe for a harmonious work relationship and an impediment to a long tenure.

 Spirit and Passion

“Goals without passion are like Ferraris without gas.  Sure they look great in the driveway and impress the neighbors but they won’t get you anywhere.”

By Yksnip Nevets

As Industriousness took its rightful place at the top of this list, it is spirit and passion that have the final words.  All the other attributes of the successful entrepreneur would fade into obscurity without a blood boiling drive that fuels their every action.  Often, this passion manifests itself as narcissism (see narcissism above) or arrogance (see Trump, Cuban or Ellison).  But for the entrepreneur, the appearance of arrogance is nothing more than their passion escaping from the artificial boundaries of their physical being.  Yksnip Nevets also said that you are as the world sees you but your potential, both good and bad, lies in the way you see yourself.   While most of the world is trying to get the world to catch up to their potential as manifested in the way they see themselves, it is the entrepreneur whose self-esteem and passion sets the pace for how they are viewed by others.