Traits of Successful Entrepreneurs

Successful entrepreneurs generally possess a rich complement of personal traits, inherent skills, and business savvy that help them rise above the huge and growing tide of would-be entrepreneurs everywhere. Although some entrepreneurs have achieved great success in spite of a paucity of management knowledge, those cases are rare. Management knowledge is the bedrock that supports a rising star after the initial blaze of early success subsides and the matter of managing a real-world business comes into play. An entrepreneur who can design a great product but cannot manage employees, time, inventory, or finances will not be able to run a successful business. Many companies with an innovative idea or novel marketing scheme shoot up like a rocket and then peter out when they are unable to sustain growth and establish equilibrium. Management knowledge ensures that the enterprise once launched will be able to function successfully on a day-to-day basis and become a solid presence in the marketplace.

The types of knowledge that entrepreneurs need cover a wide range of topics. One of the most important and most overlooked is a knowledge of people. "It is often the major factor in a decision and it affects those myriads of personal encounters that fill a manager's day" (1). In any company larger than one person, a knowledge of how to handle people is a major criterion of success. At the personal level, this knowledge manifests as interpersonal skill the ability to communic

Related Essays

Common Characteristics of successful entrepreneurs s .... entrepreneurs will be conducted by relating their entrepreneurial characteristics to the list of the common traits of successful entrepreneurs identified in .... (1866 7 )

Traits of Successful People .... those key ingredients for being a successful entrepreneur .... Maul and Mayfield (1990) list ten traits that are key .... all of them; in fact some entrepreneurs may not .... (1391 6 )

Professional Managers vs. Entrepreneurs .... visions and ambitions. Successful entrepreneurs are generally characterized by a number of traits (Drucker, pp. 336-339) . First, they .... (1229 5 )

Entrepreneurial Urges .... that the most successful entrepreneurs in any era tend to be those individuals who have a definitive and observable array of skills and traits that distinguish .... (817 3 )

Entrepreneurs and Management Knowledge Entrepreneurs and Management Knowledge Successful entrepreneurs generally possess a rich complement of personal traits, inherent skills, and business savvy .... (5343 21 )

e of learning by doing is great," Friedman says. "People learn more when they're the ones who are pulling in the ideas, the people, and the resources" (11). No amount of training or simulation, however, can prepare an entrepreneur for every eventuality that may crop up during the running of a business. Therefore, the best training empowers the student to make his own decisions rather than submitting to the authority of a teacher (12). In the crucible of a real-life business, the entrepreneur learns usually the hard way, by making mistakes how to manage time, people, and a business. For entrepreneurs whose training period is over or for those who must start their business with no training, the real-life experience of managing a business should be approached with at least some effort to maximize the benefits of experience and minimize the risks. Therefore, in the process of managing the business, entrepreneurs need to make the most of their experience by keeping track of lessons learned, insights they have gained, and new initiatives developed in the course of discovering what does and does not work. Journaling or the use of a journal-type planner is one option for recording this type of information; another is the small, pocke

Category: Psychology - T