Atlanta Career Transition Blog
Is Entrepreneurship In Your DNA?
According to Scott Shane, economics professor at Case Western University, entepreneurial characteristics such as higher than average extroversion, openess to experience and even the capacity to be disagreeable(useful in negotiation) are inherited.
In 2010 I have seen half of my clients embrace the entrpreneurial route, after discovering their passion and being disgusted with the current employment marketplace.
From the standpoint of my own family, my brother and I became successful entrepreneurs despite having very conservative, cautious parents. In our case we were rebelling against traditional ways. Maybe there is such a thing as DNA rebellion.
Do you think that entrepreneurs are born or developed? What characteristics have you seen in those successfully self-employed?
GG
Gail Geary is a baby boomer and Renaissance woman whose career path is an inspiration for anyone considering transitioning from one career to another. She is a former senior sales executive and a corporate attorney. Gail is the owner of Atlanta Career Transition, an international career transition firm that has been in business for 16 years. She assists individuals and corporations and is well know throughout the industry for helping her clients achieve career search success. Her hobbies are yoga, hiking, and her book club.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010 at 11:58 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Interesting question Gail. From my experience, entrepreneurship can be developed, but those that are able to sustain success over the long-term share several common innate characteristics. Whether those traits are inborn or just cultivated early in one’s career is debatable; however, it seems that that an emotional awareness of these characteristics, and the will to use and develop them, differentiate true risk-taking entrepreneurs in practice.
My short list of core traits includes a driving energy for managing uncertainty and risk, resourcefulness, flexibility and adaptability, and an uncompromising focus, determination and will to succeed. Of course, innovation , “out of the box” thinking, service orientation and a consistent anticipation of customer behavior and demand preferences doesn’t hurt either!!
Rob, I couldn’t agree with you more on your list of entrepreneurial traits. In my book, Your Next Career, Do What You Always Wanted to Do, I have created an Entrepreneurial Characteristics Assessment of 12 questions. These questions are based on my working with successful entrepreneurial clients. If you can answer generally or yes to at least 10 of these questions and can compensate for the other 2 you are on the right track to be an entrepreneur. Don’t be hard on yourself in answering these questions. Cultivate an attitude of optimism toward yourself.
Gail
my thoughts…
I am extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your weblog. Is this a paid theme or did you modify it yourself? Anyway keep up the excellent quality writing, it’s rare to see a great blog like this one nowadays…..
Thank you.
Gail