I hope you had a great bank holiday weekend.
I have been out and about enjoying the good weather here and I hope you have the same there.
So, we have been exploring the A to Z’s of Successful Business Owners and Leaders each week.
This week is all about “Q for QUALITIES” and all of the A to Z’s so far are about the qualities that Business Owners and Leaders need to have.
When you think of “Q”, you may well think of Q in James Bond! Q being a fictional character and standing for “Quartermaster”! And in James Bond films, they use letters for job titles, rather than a name, like “M” as well.
So, I want to spend a little time this week just thinking about the qualities, personality characteristics and behaviours that lead to venture creation and success.
For business leaders these are often entrepreneurial characteristics that create “Intrapreneurs”
Can one learn to be an entrepreneur, or is it a quality a person is born with?
Just as there are tests for IQ, EQ (Emotional Intelligence), MQ (Motivational Intelligence) and even SQ (Spiritual Intelligence), … how do we know who are natural-born entrepreneurs and who can be nurtured to launch and scale up successful businesses?
We have explored so many of these qualities over the past few weeks …
Gallup conducted research on 2,500 entrepreneurs to understand what it takes to create a business, scale it, make profits and create jobs.
They concluded that the ten key talents of successful entrepreneurs are: –
- business focus
- confidence
- creative thinking
- delegation
- determination
- independence
- knowledge-seeking
- promotion
- relationship-building, and ·
- risk-taking.
Some level of talent is innate, some can be nurtured and I thought you might find the following table interesting …
| Traits | Challenges | Action points for maximisation |
| 1. Business focus | ||
| Profit-oriented, plan for growth, clear goals, alignment with business, tight operations | Can sometimes lose sight of customers | Use timelines and yardsticks, communicate clearly, focus on human element also, read a lot |
| 2. Confidence | ||
| Self-awareness, conviction in ability to succeed, action-oriented, pro-active | Over-confidence, haste, over-commitment | Plan ahead, prepare for contingencies, get diverse feedback, avoid the speed trap |
| 3. Creative thinker | ||
| Firing off many ideas, curious, quick learner, exploratory, imaginative, alert | Difficult to work in a team, rushing off in many directions | Balance present and future, use metrics, prioritise, use simple structure, learn from failures |
| 4. Delegator | ||
| Collaborate, recognise and draw on people’s abilities, encourage team contribution | Abdicating responsibility, communication gaps | Map processes and skills, allow employees to perform, give effective feedback |
| 5. Determination | ||
| Persistent, eager to act, confront obstacles, not deterred by roadblocks | Sticking with failing strategy, regret with failed steps | Share your optimism, partner with creative types, focus on big picture, be alert to environment |
| 6. Independent | ||
| Resolute, faith in self, multi-tasking, responsible, multiple competencies, ‘can-do’ | Burnout, difficulty in growing the team to scale the enterprise | Focus on main objective, form alliances, delegate, don’t let love for your product blind you |
| 7. Knowledge-seeker | ||
| Anticipate and use knowledge, drive for in-depth information, knowledge as an asset | Generating too many new ideas, too many pivots | Write and share ideas, prioritise, get outside inputs, create a clear roadmap for changes |
| 8. Promoter | ||
| Communicator, speaks boldly, storyteller, ambassador, persuasive, enthusiastic | Becoming blind to flaws, lack of objectivity | Rehearse your story, use multiple media, build a whole community of evangelists and champions |
| 9. Relationship-builder | ||
| Mutually-beneficial links inside and outside workplace, open, socially aware, integrity | Time management, focus, lack of diversity in networks | Diversify and renew networks, reciprocity, understand the local social landscape, be selective |
| 10. Risk-taker | ||
| Optimistic, rational decisions, charismatic, confident, will to win, can deal with complexity | Over-confidence, judgement errors, haste | Take incremental risks, cool off, map knowledge and scenarios, experiment systematically |
So, I hope this has given you food for thought this week!
I would love to know what you think about all of this!
And if you haven’t already, remember that I would love to help you to explore you own hopes, dreams and challenges and create a roadmap to success with you. You can book your Free Clarity Session
There is absolutely no obligation and we can meet via Zoom or Skype.
Have a great week!
Very best wishes for your success.
Korinne