When I lived in Connecticut, I would often found myself in a “New York state of mind.” I frequently would hop on the Metro North and head into the self-proclaimed “Greatest City in the World.”
With apologies to Alicia Keys and Jay-Z, since moving to Lubbock, I’ve found myself in an “entrepreneurial state of mind.” Entrepreneurship an emerging area of focus at my college and university. Naturally, I try to instill an entrepreneurial ethos into the classes I teach.
Of course, an entrepreneurial mindset is about more than starting a business. It’s an attitude. A lifestyle. And a characteristic that will serve students of all ages well at any stage in life. In honor of next week’s Global Entrepreneurship Week, I thought I would highlight some key traits that in my mind define an entrepreneur. They are:
1. Novel. In the words of Peter Drucker, “entrepreneurs innovate.” Innovation is about a novel idea or concept. They can be new to the world or a different way of using existing technologies. Entrepreneurs at their core are “idea men/women.”
2.Teammate. No entrepreneur can succeed alone (except maybe Jack Dorsey. Between Twitter and Square, that guy is an entrepreneurial beast. I mean that as a compliment.) Teamwork is essential. Entrepreneurs who create startups must find others with strengths to complement their owns. Entrepreneurs are the ultimate team players.
3. Driven. Social entrepreneur extraordinaire Gary Vaynerchuk always likes to talk about the importance of “hustle.” The bottom line is that entrepreneurs must have a strong work ethic. They must be willing to put in long hours and sacrifice in order to make it. Entrepreneurs work hard.
4.Decisive. Entrepreneurs must be decisive as they’re faced with lots of choices during the entrepreneurial process, from funding decisions, team-building decisions, product development decisions, and so forth and so on.
5. Strategic. A good entrepreneur makes strategic decisions. They’re in it for the long haul. Strategy is needed to guide the startup mission, the culture and the company ethos.
6. Analytic. Entrepreneurs should be analytic. They should be making decisions off audience insights. They should know the market, know the competition, know the numbers, and know future trends and projections.
That’s my list. Agree? Disagree? What traits would you add to the list?
Graybs 