Traits of Successful People

Maul and Mayfield (1990) list ten traits that are key to entrepreneurship û although they are clear in their assessment that not every entrepreneur is equally good at all of them; in fact some entrepreneurs may not possess some of these traits at all. (Or rather, that they may not possess some of these traits when they begin an entrepreneurial path and so have to learn them as they go.)

These half-score of traits are: the belief both in the idea one is pursuing and in oneself; the ability to keep sight of the big picture at all times and the related skill of being able to keep things as simple as possible; the creativity to think beyond traditional barriers and to find creative ways to fill a marketable niche; the flexibility to modify plans after every major change, to expect the unexpected and to be able to form contingency plans; the optimism to see the good in

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hard (Jones, p. 29). CassonÆs definition of a successful entrepreneur reflects many of the same points made by Maul and Mayfield (1990), although he of course puts different emphases on different areas. For Casson, an entrepreneur is ôsomeone who specializes in taking judgmental decisions about the coordination of scarce resourcesö (p. 23), which is certainly true, although this definition is almost too technical to give one a good feel for what the entrepreneur actually does, which is no doubt why Casson then elaborates this definition as a way of underscoring what he considers to be the most important aspects of the entrepreneur. Casson sees these aspects of his definition as being the most crucial: The entrepreneur is an individual (and not some form of work group or other collection of people) who specializes in decision making (i.e. this is not someone for whom decision making is ancillary to what they are really supposed to be doing, but someone whose expertise and experience is focused on this particular process) about the allocation (or reallocation) of scarce (almost always economic) resources (Casson, 1982, p. 24). This definition by Casson focuses both on the needed decisiveness of the entrepreneur and his or her abil
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Maul Mayfield, Finally Drucker, David McClelland, , Fine Kiam, Noble Drucker, successful entrepreneur, Jones Elsaesser, References Casson, maul mayfield 1990, mayfield 1990, maul mayfield, drucker 1985, personality type, River Publications, york harper row, harper row, entrepreneurial skills, entrepreneurial enterprises, york harper, particular business, Harper Row,
Approximate Word count = 1391
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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