THE 10 I’S OF EFFECTIVE GROWTH ENTREPRENEURS (5)

What people are really referring to when they speak of leadership
is an entrepreneur’s uncanny ability to influence others. Most successful entrepreneurs I know are the “lead by example” type. Usually, leadership is not something entrepreneurs actively pursue. Instead, people just seem to follow them. I’ve heard this magnetism called everything from a cult of personality to a high-speed train that everyone wants to jump on. For the successful entrepreneur, this attraction is a natural by-product of the person’s vision, enthusiasm, and proven track record. When I have observed entrepreneurs who are struggling, they are often charging just as fervently up a hill but often look over their shoulder too late to find that few, if any, have followed.

6. Ingenious
Ingenuity may be one of the most difficult qualities to describe
but one of the most important for the successful growth entrepreneur to possess. Successful business owners are able to see patterns in data and events that most people cannot see. As a result, they recognize both clear opportunities and probable pitfalls long before the average businessperson. To them, growth opportunities look obvious. When they describe it to others, it sounds ingenious. You can also describe this trait as being clever, inspired, or imaginative. Either way, nearly every growth leader has it to some extent.

7. Innovative
Ingenious and innovative might sound very similar, and I guess they are to a certain extent. Both rely on that creative spark that eludes so many others.However, there is a clear difference between the two: Ingenuity speaks to seeing opportunities, while innovative means acting on an opportunity in a wholly original way. In other words, for Ted Turner to see that a 24-hour news channel’s time had come was ingenious.

Turner’s decision to announce his intentions at a cable television convention in front of thousands before telling his staff was innovative. Having veteran newsman Daniel Schorr at his side was innovative. Hiring 100 recent journalism school graduates and bringing them to Atlanta for a crash course in TV news production was innovative. See the difference?

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THE 10 I’S OF EFFECTIVE GROWTH ENTREPRENEURS (4)

To entrepreneurs, rules, systems, and policies are simply suggestions. It’s not that they think they are above the rules.
They really don’t. But they honestly assume that if there is a line, something is seriously wrong and thank goodness they are there to fix it for everybody. When there are only one or two entrepreneurs, that attitude can be quite helpful. When there are 300, it’s mayhem. I recently attended an event in Las Vegas.When the dinner hour arrived, no fewer than 50 wellintentioned business owners were actively engaged in various attempts to completely redesign the for-hire transportation system of Las Vegas. It wasn’t impatience or hunger that activated their problem-solving juices. It was simply the fact that they saw something that didn’t work very well and honestly
thought they had a better solution, given the 10 or 15 minutes they had studied the situation.

That’s what I mean by irreverent. Think of entrepreneurs as pleasant nonconformists. To them, rules aren’t made to be broken, but they are negotiable. Most business founders have a long history of questioning those in authority. If the entrepreneurs like the answers, respect will follow. Give what they perceive to be an inappropriate response, and continued challenges will ensue. If the truth be known, the title of this very book plays into this widespread entrepreneurial tendency. By telling a bunch of entrepreneurs something is irrefutable, I’m banking on the assumption that most of them will spend $20 just so they can refute it! Does this sound like you?

5. Influential
People often describe entrepreneurs as exhibiting high levels of leadership, but leadership means lots of different things to lots of different people.

My grandfather Stirling was one of the most outstanding leaders you could ever hope to meet. The son of a Scottish coal miner, he began working in the coal mines himself at the age of 10. As a young adult, he found himself living in the time of the Great Depression, in rural America, with little more than his superior intellect and his dreams. Over the course of the next 40 years, Thomas Stirling went on to become a respected high school football coach and later principal of a large high school in Indianapolis, Indiana. At his funeral, hundreds of
former players and students came to pay their respects. For so many of these people, the word leader meant Thomas Stirling.
However, I can assure you that my grandfather would have made a terrible entrepreneur.

My grandfather Stirling was one of the most outstanding leaders you could ever hope to meet. The son of a Scottish coal miner, he began working in the coal mines himself at the age of 10. As a young adult, he found himself living in the time of the Great Depression, in rural America, with little more than his superior intellect and his dreams. Over the course of the next 40 years, Thomas Stirling went on to become a respected high school football coach and later principal of a large high school in Indianapolis, Indiana. At his funeral, hundreds of
former players and students came to pay their respects. For so many of these people, the word leader meant Thomas Stirling. However, I can assure you that my grandfather would have made a terrible entrepreneur.

Taken From:The 7 Irrefutable rules of Small Businnes Growth

THE 10 I’S OF EFFECTIVE GROWTH ENTREPRENEURS (3)

3. Intrepid
Historically, entrepreneurs have been seen as big risk-takers. Even today, I see and hear people describe a successful entrepreneur as having “rolled the dice” or “bet the ranch.” Frankly, the characterization simply isn’t true. Entrepreneurs may take more financial risk than other occupations, but business owners really don’t dwell on that. For them, the risk is a calculated one.Most view their efforts as highly logical, not whimsical. They have experience, knowledge, and confidence on their side, not Lady Luck.

However, I can describe entrepreneurs as being intrepid, that is to say, daring and bold. They know there is risk and uncertainty in any economic endeavor, but they aren’t paralyzed by the thoughts of the downside. They see the risk as a challenge with a worthwhile reward. During a crisis, most successful entrepreneurs I know rise to a new level of courageousness.

4. Irreverent
As a professional speaker, I spend an inordinate amount of time at conferences, conventions, and business meetings. Invariably, that means lines—lines to get your badge, lines to check in at the hotel, lines to get your rubber chicken. But the worst line of all is the one for the taxi, especially when every attendee is trying to go to the same place at the same time. Taxi queues at hotels, airports, and convention centers can be a nightmare.

When I am speaking at an event where the majority of the attendees aren’t entrepreneurs, people line up like well-behaved grade schoolers. They hate standing in line as much as anybody, but they assume that someone must have a system and that eventually they’ll get a cab. When the meeting is dominated by entrepreneurs, however, everything changes.

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THE 10 I’S OF EFFECTIVE GROWTH ENTREPRENEURS (2)

2. Interconnected
If you want to grow a business today, you can’t go it alone. The
complexity of managing a rapidly growing firm has simply become too potentially overwhelming for an individual. Business owners need access to experts and problem solvers. By necessity, entrepreneurs are great networkers.Many entrepreneurs are introverts (shy, energized by ideas and impressions, preferring to work alone). However, the majority come across as extraverts (outgoing, energized by people and action, preferring to work in teams) to the outside world.

Regardless of an entrepreneur’s predisposition, he or she is able to balance introversion and extraversion to further the cause of the business. In this sense, entrepreneurs are like chameleons, able to change their color in varying environments. It has been my experience that they are not acting, but rather understand in their gut that to push the business forward, they have to press the flesh and be out there, visible and talkative. They do it because it has to be done.

Most growth leaders don’t mind being alone, which is good because it can be lonely at the top. However, they genuinely like people and are able to get along with a wide variety of other personality types. As a result, they, too, are well liked by employees, partners, and the community at large. Are there exceptions? Sure, lots of them. But, generally, people gravitate toward a successful entrepreneur.

Interconnected also refers to entrepreneurs’ tendency to flock together like birds of a feather. Organizations such as Young Entrepreneurs’ Organization (YEO), Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), The Executive Committee (TEC), local and regional chambers of commerce, and industry trade groups and associations are just a few of the ways business owners share everything from best practices to life lessons.

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THE 10 I’S OF EFFECTIVE GROWTH ENTREPRENEURS (1)

Over the past couple of decades, I have met with, worked with, worked for, and studied literally thousands of business owners who have achieved sustained periods of growth. To try to characterize them as all the same would be both irresponsible and inaccurate. Obviously, just as no two people or two businesses are alike, all growth entrepreneurs are unique. However, I have noticed uncanny similarities between those that flourish and those that flounder. Sometimes these similarities are seemingly small and insignificant. In
other cases, the common trait gets to the very core of what brings their success.

I have distilled what I consider to be the essential attributes that you need to know. By no means am I suggesting that you need to exhibit all of these characteristics to be a success. In fact, there is no such thing as the perfect entrepreneur embodying all 10 of these qualities. Understand that each of the 10 I’s listed is both prevalent and important. Only you can determine how important and how prevalent they are for you and your business.

1. Industrious
I have yet to meet a successful growth entrepreneur who is afraid of hard work. That’s not to say that these same business all-stars are workaholics. In fact, the best growth leaders normally have very balanced lives. But when circumstances dictate, they have the intestinal fortitude to keep going as long as it takes.

The word industrious means hard working, but it also connotes getting something accomplished. I know many business owners who seem to be running in place. No one doubts their effort, but the results are in question. To me, industrious also means being diligent, vigorous, and committed. Entrepreneurs are task oriented, and they pursue their desired result with steely determination.

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ARE YOU REALLY THE ENREPRENEURIAL TYPE (3)

American entrepreneurs have been categorized to fit a stereotypical profile. Ben Franklin imagined an entire country made up of shopkeepers and craftsmen, small business owners he called the “middling people.” An image of the highly independent, financially motivated, winner-take-all entrepreneur came in with the Industrial Age and was reflected in movies and literature throughout the first half of the twentieth century. From The Great Gatsby to Citizen Kane, the idea of the driven, but tragically flawed, entrepreneur was enduring.

By the 1950s, some research and plenty of observational evidence led many to characterize entrepreneurs as high risktakers and gamblers. With American corporations booming and high-paying jobs plentiful, it was seen as almost foolhardy to risk one’s own money, when financial security seemed relatively ensured through lifetime employment. Remember, coming out ofWorld War II, the United States represented over half of the world’s output of goods and services.

Since the 1960s, attempts to quantify and qualify the quintessential
personality type of the entrepreneur have played an important role in small business research. Like much of the academic work on small business, the results are less than conclusive but interesting and potentially telling nonetheless. But while we wait on the researchers to make up their minds, I’ve taken this opportunity to outline for you what I consider to be the most important traits a growth entrepreneur needs in today’s increasingly complex economy.

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ARE YOU REALLY THE ENTREPRENEURIAL TYPE? (2)

Admittedly, these scholarly findings about entrepreneurial personality can be somewhat dry.With that in mind, I’ve placed a synopsis of the ongoing academic debate in the appendix found in the back of this book. If you are like me and find this stuff of interest, I encourage you to read through it.

For the rest of you, here is a more concrete profile of the growth entrepreneur. It is based less on research and more on observation. In other words, despite the lack of consensus among academicians, I believe there truly are important characteristics that define the difference between entrepreneurs and growth entrepreneurs, between business owner and business builder.

Because the bulk of these characteristics come from my own observations, they are, by necessity, more subjective. However, I am confident that they will also be helpful and meaningful to readers like you.

Given the current status of entrepreneurs as rock stars in our public consciousness, it may be difficult for many to imagine that entrepreneurs have not always been held in such high regard. Aristotle and other Greek writers saw the merchant class as beneficiaries of a zero-sum environment—if an individual gained, it was at the expense of another. Indeed, even successful merchants were denied citizenship during the Greek empire’s heyday. Throughout the Middle Ages, religious institutions and monarchies were disdainful toward entrepreneurs, which makes sense considering that the businesspeople created competition. Wealth creation was often viewed as an evil thing.

It wasn’t until the French and English economists in the mid-eighteenth century that the economic activity of the entrepreneur was given much respect at all. The old attitudes were difficult to shake, however. Dickens’s Ebenezer Scrooge character is indicative of how the successful small business owner was often portrayed.

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ARE YOU REALLY THE ENTREPRENEURIAL TYPE? (1)

For years now, researchers have been trying to find an “entrepreneurial”
type. Can success as a business owner be predicted based on personality? How do successful business owners differ from business owners who are not successful? How do business owners differ from corporate managers? Are successful growth entrepreneurs born or developed? In many ways, this all harkens back to the whole “nature versus nurture” argument, fiercely debated by philosophers and scientists alike for a few hundred years now.

It has been my experience that independent business owners like you, when presented with information regarding anything having to do with psychological testing, fall into two distinct camps:
1. Those who find this stuff of great interest
2. Those who think it’s all a bunch of BS

There are usually not too many of you who straddle the fence on this. Business owners either find psychological profiling a tremendous tool for understanding themselves and their employees, or they see it as useless quackery, analogous to horoscopes and palm readings.

In the interest of full disclosure, I think it’s important to get one fact out right away: I fall into the former category. That is to say, on the whole, I think this stuff is pretty interesting and may even be useful for the business owner to know more about. However, I can’t say anything for sure on the subject. I’m not enough of an expert to discern good psychological research from bad. I couldn’t tell you the difference between Freudians and Jungians. I’m a “business growth” expert, not a
“business personality” expert. But that didn’t stop me from diving headfirst into the seemingly bottomless pit of historical perspective and academic research on the subject.

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THE FOUR MOST ENCOURAGING SIGNS FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS INTERESTED IN GROWTH (6)

Huge companies used to enjoy the advantages inherent in economies of scale. They produced and sold such a large number of items that they could effectively dissuade upstart competition. Now many consumer product companies are not even making their own products; start-ups can book business with the same contract manufacturers the big boys areusing. In addition, consumers are demanding a more customized
experience, whether buying a product or a service. A nimble company can sometimes keep up with trends more easily and react faster to demand.

Giant marketing budgets also created a huge advantage, and this still keeps consumer product companies such as Anheuser-Busch and Procter & Gamble on top. However, the 30-second TV spot does not have the impact it used to (partly thanks to a start-up named TiVo), and many smaller players have grabbed market share by using their limited marketing and sales promotion budgets in a more direct fashion. In some cases, good public relations, viral Web campaigns, and search engine ads have vaulted no-name companies and brands into the mainstream seemingly overnight.

Technology has also leveled the playing field for small business. As we see in Chapter 7, software, hardware, and telecommunication solutions now give small business much of the same firepower as big business. In 1990, as president of a small but growing manufacturing company, I looked into buying salesforce automation software. The price of this mid-range solution was $30,000 before training and annual support costs. Today, you and I can buy a far superior package at the local office supply retailer for around $300 (before rebate).

OUR WORLD IS CHANGING; CHANGE CREATES OPPORTUNITY
This is but the first chapter of this book. In the last chapter (Chapter 9), I go into far greater detail about the role that change will play in our future. But here’s a quick preview of what I think about change. Change always represents both opportunities and threats to the status quo. Of the 500 companies making up the S&P 500 in 1957, only 74 were still on
the list in 1997. That means that more than 400 companies grew and took their place. Creation and destruction are inevitable results of our economic system.

Allow me to end this chapter on this note: despite my lessthan- rosy depiction of the state of small business in the first half of this chapter, I want to clearly state for the record that I am a net optimist. I believe that despite all the potential obstacles, small business will be healthier, wealthier, and larger 20 years from now than it is today. Just as the power of the individual continues to rise in our society, so, too, will the power of the businesses individuals create. I don’t see anything stopping
that relentless momentum.

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THE FOUR MOST ENCOURAGING SIGNS FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS INTERESTED IN GROWTH (5)

The NFIB is the largest advocacy organization representing small and independent businesses in Washington, DC, and all50 state capitals. The NFIB is not funded by the government but instead wields powerful influence over decisions the government makes at every level. There are also literally thousands of trade associations, from all areas and industries, that
lobby government on behalf of small business.

Besides all of these groups working to help business owners, many state and local governments have their own economic development group. Sometimes it’s the chamber of commerce, an economic development agency, or something else entirely. For example, I’ve spoken at three events for Senator
Bob Bennett of Utah, who led time management products company Franklin International Institute Inc. (now known as FranklinCovey) into the Inc. 500. He holds annual education conferences for small businesses in Utah and sits on the U.S. Senate’s small business committee. The Council for Economic Development (CED), in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina, claims toIn many cases, local governments cooperate with state governments in trying to incubate organic growth in a specific industry. The St. Louis Chamber Regional Growth Center set up the BioBelt organization to market the area as an agricultural biotech center and attract start-ups to the region. The
agency estimates that 390 plant and life sciences enterprises now call this area home and collectively employ 22,000 people. The Biotech Council of New Jersey has similar goals for its state but is focused on leveraging its existing foundation within the pharmaceutical industry. be “the largest entrepreneurial support organization in the nation.”While the council is primarily funded by private sources, it does receive some grants from state development coffers and coordinates programs with the state.

Government increasingly loves small business, and I don’t see that changing any time soon. The trend certainly isn’t going to be hurt by the fact that business owners are becomingmore active in politics. As I write this, for the first time in history, the leader of our nation (George W. Bush), the leader of
the most populated state (Arnold Schwarzenegger), and the leader of the most populated city (Michael Bloomberg) have all been successful business owners. Before being elected to their current offices, they all spent far more time running their own enterprises than they did in politics.

Encouraging Sign4: ThePlaying Field IsMoreLevel Earlier in this chapter I said that big business is not completely vulnerable and that the strength of big companies should be respected. However, the classic business school terms such as sustainable competitive advantage and barriers to entry are becoming more and more antiquated. As our economy moves away from a manufacturing base to being more service and information based, the traditional advantages inherent in big business have lessened. Due in part to both technology and changing business practices, it is increasingly easier for a new company to enter an industry and easier for companies to hop across previously well-drawn territory lines. Just look at what has happened in the telecom world. Nearly every major player is struggling to make a profit, while upstarts are stealing market share with prepaid cell phones or voice-over-IP services. The airline industry faces similar struggles. The traditional legacy airlines such as United and USAir are getting hammered by the likes of recent entries JetBlue and Frontier.

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