I love posts like this and can never get enough of the good ones. Even if they say a lot of the same things, they are so important that they bear repeating.
The more I read them, though, the more I realize that these "traits" are not really the cause of anything. They are the result of something bigger, something I describe like, "when you absolutely, positively must get that thing done".
Once you adopt the attitude that you have to do something, you change. Sometimes you even surprise yourself. You find yourself doing things you couldn't previously imagine. You find yourself with much more energy when you least expect it, becoming the person you have to be to get done what must be done.
The sentence that best describes this attitude is, "I am willing to do whatever it takes to get what I want."
And the metaphor I love is, "At what point do you give up trying to teach your child to walk?"
I believe we get Self-Motivation, Persistence, Plays Well With Others, Attention to Detail, Quick Thinking, and whatever else we need as soon as we decide that we have to do something. Then these character traits help us get it done.
Personally, I can't imagine not doing my start-up. It's that important to me.
Others have criticized this attitude by saying that you won't know when to quit when you should. Fine. I can live with that.
I don't get it though, why does 'plays well with others' make one an entrepreneur ? Jack asses routinely score big. Sometimes bigger than their 'nice' counterparts.
What about attention to detail ? The perfect is the enemy of the good, if you spend lots of attention to detail you'll never ship product. There is such a thing as 'too good'. I would say that there is an optimum level of attention to detail. More and it won't pay off, less and you will give the customer a less than good experience.
Quick thinking ? I'd rather have 'good' thinking than 'quick' any day.
Persistence is an absolute must, I can see that one. To keep going, especially in the face of disappointment or adversarial circumstances.
"Playing well with others" is very important if you're trying to build a large scale business with lots of employees. From my article: "If you want to build something large and successful, you'll need to know how to delegate tasks, step aside for others that know more than you, and generally be more of a leader and less of a know-it-all." Basically, I could have more crudely phrased it as "Don't Be An Asshole". Nobody likes working for one and it'll lead you down a path to failure.
People don't choose who to work for based on whether or not the 'boss' is an asshole, in fact I would put forward that most bosses are less than nice, even (or maybe especially) the successful ones.
The biggest deciding factor for most people to choose where to work is the size of the paycheck and the benefits, a nice boss is 'nice to have' but not an absolute must. And that is why people are frequently frustrated about their workplace environment. Some will burn out or even get ill.
But quitting because the boss is a jerk and taking a paycut to work for a nicer person is not common, even though it definitely does happen.
I think it is idealistic to put these things forward as traits of entrepreneurs. In an ideal world they would be, in the world we live in the reverse seems to be the case more often than not. I'd rather live in your world though :)
I've been a boss, and I've tried hard to be one of the nicer ones. The downside of that is that your employees will find that they do not really know how to deal with that, so their interpret 'the boss is nice' as 'we can do what we want'. It is very hard to be both a 'nice' boss and to stay productive, that is why I think that most experienced managers adopt a less than 'nice' stance to keep the wheels turning. They don't much care if people think they are jerks, as long as the trains run on time and the bottom line is going up.
I disagree - what you're describing are "cogs", people who have no choices when it comes to employment. For people further up the ladder in skill, they are in enough demand that they can easily afford to pass up the opportunity of working under an asshole.
I've passed up job offers where they refused to let me speak with my future boss. I'm going to be spending the majority of my waking hours working, and I have enough options that I am in no way compelled to work with someone who drives me up the wall all day. This includes being nice.
I absolutely agree with you. I knew a very smart guy who went out to start his own company and you could see the failure coming a mile away. He thought because he was smarter than most at some things, he was smarter than everyone at everything. Bankruptcy quickly ensued. The people who don't see how important this is are the ones who can't play well with others.
This is not disproved by assholes becoming successful. One of the common traits of ruthless people is fierce loyalty to a small group of people. If you can't create that core of people to trust, delegate, get advice from, you can not reach the higher level.
The point of being ruthless is to step on people when that's the most useful thing for you, not to step on people because you like stepping on people. Bill G. is a classic example of a ruthless person that is more than willing to pay well and take care of their competent staff.
I used to love posts like this, but now I see them for what they are: something to read so you feel good about being an entrepreneur, instead of actually starting or building your business.
Here's my own version:
Are you an entrepreneur? Do you have a business? Then congratulations, you're an entrepreneur. Don't have a business? Start one, and then you'll be an entrepreneur.
This is a great roundup of what traits you need. One other I will add is the ability to give and get feedback. This is slightly different than "plays well with others" because it is the ability to take and iterate on feedback from 1. your market, 2. your potential users 3. your friends and family and 4. everyone else.
This is helpful in the early stages for product justification but also later on when larger decisions come up. You have to know how to seperate the advice from those that just don't believe you can achieve what you set out to do.
This is turning into its own blog post so ill stop there...
My question to you is: Are these ever not good traits for someone to have? I chuckle whenever I see this kind of post, because saying "having <positive trait> makes you better for <something>" is a non-statement--that's the definition of a positive trait.
These analyses would be more interesting if they were about qualities that aren't pure benefit. Would having a short attention span be of benefit, because you constantly work on the most profitable venture and never get stuck on something without potential? Or are the drawbacks too great? Is it good to be controlling of employees, because you want something done exactly right, or is it too annoying?
You can be an entrepreneur just fine when you think slowly, are sloppy and do not play well with others.
I don't even think it is a measure of success.
For me that leaves persistence.
Another one that is hard to define is 'start-up', I've seen it used here from one end of the spectrum (where I would use 'hobby project', 'trial balloon' or something like that) all the way to million dollar+ in turnover, funded and now self-sustaining entity (something that I would call a mid size company).
In no way can you be greedy, sloppy, slow, and not play well with others. Those are all traits that are going to lead to your eventual downfall. They're all negative traits that will prohibit your company from growing and ultimately being a success.
I can cite you off-hand at least 10 examples of not-so-nice people that made it big in business, I have a real problem finding more than 3 that I think are or were successful and that are very nice people.
It may be just my experience. But the Dilbert series has to ring true to so many people for a reason.
Being not-so-nice can definitely be a symptom of playing well with others. The stereotype of the "popular" kids in high school is that they're jerks. And yet, they're considered the ones with the best social skills!
It's a fine line between 'social skills' (playing well with others) and 'manipulation' (getting others to do what you want them to).
Many people that are very successful are really good at getting others to do what they want them to do by pushing the right buttons. That does not make them 'nice people' or 'people that play nice with others'.
Dilbert lives in a cube farm in a large corporation. Neither he nor his co-workers are entrepreneurs. Dilbert rings true because so many people live in cube farms and many entrepreneurs have escaped cube farms. Based on your other comments, it appears you live in or escaped from a cube farm yourself.
Your comment "people that made it big in business" is telling... at the point someone has made it big in business, their business is likely to be big and they are not likely an entrepreneur any more.
Would you mind citing the comments that gave you the impression
I live in or have escaped from a cube farm?
You said you were a boss and appreciate Dilbert. Good predictors, but apparently not flawless. ;-)
So, someone who has a large business is not an entrepreneur?
That is not a disjoint set, but it is a very small set. The qualities spencerfry talks about, I associate with small businesses. Spencerfry (now) says this explicitly in a comment on his web page.
I've seen one or two Dilbert episodes, and I typically relate it to how large companies are being run where-ever I go. I've been a boss, the last time more than five years ago, it is a frustrating experience when compared with the freedom I've got as an independent. The last time I was actually employed is ages ago and it never was in a 'cube farm', nor did I have to escape (in fact, I had a really nice boss, but he definitely was the exception).
Small businesses and large businesses are completely different beasts, but entrepreneurs are found in all businesses by definition.
The more I read them, though, the more I realize that these "traits" are not really the cause of anything. They are the result of something bigger, something I describe like, "when you absolutely, positively must get that thing done".
Once you adopt the attitude that you have to do something, you change. Sometimes you even surprise yourself. You find yourself doing things you couldn't previously imagine. You find yourself with much more energy when you least expect it, becoming the person you have to be to get done what must be done.
The sentence that best describes this attitude is, "I am willing to do whatever it takes to get what I want."
And the metaphor I love is, "At what point do you give up trying to teach your child to walk?"
I believe we get Self-Motivation, Persistence, Plays Well With Others, Attention to Detail, Quick Thinking, and whatever else we need as soon as we decide that we have to do something. Then these character traits help us get it done.
Personally, I can't imagine not doing my start-up. It's that important to me.
Others have criticized this attitude by saying that you won't know when to quit when you should. Fine. I can live with that.