My top strengths chart out as Achiever, Input and Learner, so you’d expect me to be gleaning and digesting, right? Right! The 2011 Ernst & Young report is linked at the bottom, as is the original posting on their site. I’ve simply whacked out all the reading for you to see the bullet points. Assuming you simply want a litmus test to compare ‘you’ versus ‘them’ – or ‘me’ versus ‘we’?
Buried Lead:
“These findings highlight that most successful entrepreneurs share a unique combination of seeing opportunity where others see only risk. And they tend to be optimists and believe they can succeed despite the fact that everyone else is telling them they cannot.”
I tell Angelina that she’s a “delusional optimist” at least twice a month and she changes tracks on me twice as often as that!
Digested E&Y Executive Summary
Decades of academic research has sought to identify the particular characteristics of successful entrepreneurial leaders. These characteristics alone are not enough to create the conditions for business success. Building a successful entrepreneurial venture also depends on a complex interaction of internal and external factors, including timing, geography, culture and sometimes luck.
With many major governments and industries around the world extolling entrepreneurship and innovation as a source of economic growth and job creation, the question remains, what makes up an entrepreneurial mindset?
The aim of this report is to provide some insights into the minds of today’s most successful entrepreneurial leaders and discern what makes them successful. We conclude with a model that we feel describes the core of an entrepreneurial leader, which represents both the intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics of their mindset and abilities.
As the founders of the World Entrepreneur Of The Year Program, Ernst & Young is uniquely positioned to share these insights. The report features perspective from a survey of 685 entrepreneurial business leaders from around the world and is informed by a series of in-depth interviews with Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Award winners.
Point by Point
Entrepreneurs are made, not born
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60% have worked in a corporate environment
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33% of those say this was key to their success
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45% of entrepreneurs start their first business after age 30
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10% of entrepreneurs started ten or more companies
the most important source of learning?
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33% experience as an employee
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30% continued education
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26% mentors
How many business ventures?
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60% - started three or more companies
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20% - six or more
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10% - founded more than ten companies
Biggest barriers to entrepreneurial success
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lack of funding or finance (little to no sales)
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recruiting the right people (missing or poor team)
Entrepreneurs share common traits
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↑ 75% ‘having a vision’ (great idea)
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↑ 73% ‘passion’ (paying the price)
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↑ 64% ‘drive’ (putting in the hours)
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↓33% ‘flexibility’ (adaptability)
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↓ 18% ‘quality’
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↓14% ‘loyalty‘
“These findings highlight that most successful entrepreneurs share a unique combination of seeing opportunity where others see only risk. And they tend to be optimists and believe they can succeed despite the fact that everyone else is telling them they cannot.”
Monte Carlo and London, 2 June 2011 – An Ernst & Young report