Winning at Entrepreneurship. Rod Robertson
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Название: Winning at Entrepreneurship
Автор: Rod Robertson
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: О бизнесе популярно
isbn: 9781613397213
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— CASE STUDY —
When I initially purchased a small pet-supply company in New England, there were five smaller distributers my size, three larger regional players, and three nationals. I instinctively understood that I immediately needed to drive out of business or acquire my three like-size competitors and, once I had a bigger regional footprint, had to prep my company to be acquired. It was easier to compete than buy these competitors, so I eventually absorbed two of these companies. But the third small competitor eluded me. The remaining company had a new CEO and was hidden up in Maine. I spoke with him once and understood immediately he was a threat for the long term since he was lying low and gathering momentum, as my firm was. I eventually exited, but this third competitor, a relative newcomer, grew to twenty-five million dollars in sales before merging with another industry player. He is an example of staying out of sight, out of mind until bursting on the stage with a large merger. As an epilogue—or more fitting, his epitaph—he become the CEO of a fifty-million-dollar business that, for reasons covered later in this book, never successfully integrated and eventually crashed and burned.
NOTES
1 Jack Torrance, “Entrepreneurs work 63% longer than average workers,” Real Business, August 13, 2013.
2 Jessica Bruder, “The Psychological Price of Entrepreneurship,” Inc., September 2013.
Chapter 3
Assessing Your Entrepreneurial CapabilityBy Nancy Parsons
Nancy Parsons is president of Tulsa-based CDR Assessments Group, Inc., which offers breakthrough leadership development and talent management assessments and services for global clients. Nancy provides coaching services for C-suite executives and key leaders, facilitates strategic executive team development and custom authentic leadership workshops, and trains and mentors executive coaches. In 1998, Nancy and co-founder Kimberly Leverage, PhD, developed CDR 3-D, which reveals insights about leaders, character-risk factors for derailment, and drivers/reward needs. The suite is in five languages and is used for coaching, development succession, custom training, teams, staffing decisions, research, diversity, and more. Nancy can be reached at [email protected].
Tou may be surprised to learn the real reason that only about 10 percent of entrepreneurs succeed is because very few people have the hard wiring to succeed. Many people have some of the inherent capabilities needed, but very few have the whole package. Before investing your life savings and your blood, sweat, and tears in a new venture, consider two things: 1) your inherent suitability as an entrepreneur and 2) your team’s make-up and balance.
Your entrepreneurial capability cannot be evaluated by considering your educational pedigree, skills, and experience as sufficient data for this all-consuming business leap.
Whether someone is the “right person” has more to do with character traits and innate capabilities than with specific knowledge, background or skills.
— Jim Collins, Good to Great
In addition, no matter how amazing and scalable your business idea may be, the sad truth is that most terrific ideas become mired into the quicksand of human failure or inherent shortcomings.
MUST HAVES
A would-be entrepreneur’s capability is best evaluated with psychometric measures, including a scientifically validated character (personality), risks for derailment, and motivational assessment instruments. It is important to note that personality characteristics are firmly rooted by the time an individual reaches adulthood. We develop these ingrained traits from infancy on up, based on our social/family environment and experiences on top of predispositions at birth. Once one reaches working age or adulthood, these character traits are fairly well set. Short of a mind-altering accident or injury, longevity studies of ten, twenty, and thirty years show that our character traits do not change in any marked way. That is why measuring character traits to determine entrepreneurial-fitness is the first hurdle to identify the “must haves.”
The myth espoused by many educators and consultants—that you can be anything you want to if you put your mind to it—is simply not true. We cannot teach fish to fly. So you need to find out what you are inherently well suited to do and then do (or develop) that.
Entrepreneurial leader profile ranges in Figure 3.1 highlight characteristics for success. The stars indicate where in the competency range a successful entrepreneur should be according to CDR Assessment Group’s research and profile studies.
Entrepreneurial Leadership Character and Competency Profile Ranges
Figure 3.1. The stars indicate the position a successful entrepreneur should hold for that characteristic. (Source: N. E. Parsons, CDR Leader & Entrepreneurial Character Profile Ranges (2002 Rev. 2014), CDR Assessment Group, Inc., Tulsa, OK.)
The most important character strengths for a successful entrepreneur are:
Leadership energy: natural leader, aggressiveness, confidence, achievement, and goal-drive
Intensity: burn in belly
Innovative, strategic, and clever
Compelling communicator: leader voice, initiator
Courageous: bold
Tough: indifferent to others
Risk taker
Adaptable: flexible, resilient
Quick study: resourceful
Moderately practical: logical
Many of these traits are obvious. However, what makes the entrepreneurial success profile so unique is that there are some unusual combinations or trait configurations needed that are not typical among leaders in general.
Clearly, you need to be a person who is leader-like. Being aggressive or pushy, having a sense of urgency, being confident as a decision maker, pushing ideas fervently, and being able to inspire others to act are part of the package. Achievement and goal drive are imperative too.
While having natural confidence as a leader and not regularly second-guessing decisions is important, having an “edge” on what is called the “adjustment” trait is critical. People with lower adjustment tend to have high levels of “burn in the belly” and tend to be self-critical, which provides them with extra intensity to out-perform. They dig deeper and are relentless in pursuit to prove themselves successful. So, achievement and goal drive alone fall short. A strong dose of intensity is required too.
The downside of lower adjustment is that people who are edgy and intense tend to be less stress tolerant. Therefore, they are prone to crack or become emotionally volatile. So, it is a fine line for the entrepreneur to maneuver. This is why having life balance and some productive outlets to relieve stress for the start-up entrepreneur can be pivotal to success. Since you will be on a tightrope in many ways, having a fair degree of life balance, support on the home front, and outlets for СКАЧАТЬ