Урок №36. Seven Traits Of The Most Successful Entrepreneurs
by Bhrigu Pankaj Prashar, contributor of the Forbes, adapted
В чем заключается предпринимательский дух? Чем отличаются предприниматели? Наш урок расскажет о семи чертах тех, о ком говорят, что «они с предпринимательской жилкой».
Do the doable and, then push it
Entrepreneurs are action oriented. They are always working on version 1 point something. They also know if they do not do anything, nothing will happen. Don’t sit on the idea; do something about it. In his book The New Alchemists, Charles Handy pointed at two abilities of successful entrepreneurs: Dedication and Doggedness. Recent high profile example of this is the team behind Instagram led by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger.
Have a World View
Entrepreneurs have worlds eye view: they see the role for a world view. They believe what they do matters, and can make a difference. This is also a big reason they are misunderstood and sometimes stand out as an oddity. Most successful entrepreneurs in the past and present times fall in this category. Future will not be any different. Embrace your views, respect them and have the persistence to take them to the next level. Recent high profile examples include Facebook, Google, Mozilla, Skype and GoDaddy.
Look at odds oddly
Entrepreneurs know that what they do will make a difference to the odds. They do not try to calculate all the odds first. Successful early stage entrepreneurs see the immediate. For example «an economist can see the big picture and sequence of events. But entrepreneurs take one thing head-on and develop it to the next stage.» Then after next stage they move to the subsequent stage. And this series of sequence continues until they reach «Tipping Point» (by Malcolm Gladwell). Recent examples include Foursquare and Slideshare.
See few things, but see them very clearly
They see very few things, but they see them very clearly. Jim Collins, in his book Good to Great explains this under Hedge-Hog concept. This brings focus, simplicity and agility to quickly adapt and reconfigure. This ability enables them to deal with uncertainty. Recent examples include Instagram, TED, Flickr, Wikipedia and Julian Assange.
Fixate on looking for fixable problems
They see a little problem that is fixable and they see how best to fix it. Then they ask, if this is fixable at a small scale why isn’t it fixed at a bigger level? That opens up new avenues. They do the doable; push it; and believe that the push is going to have an impact, even though there is no guarantee it will make a difference. A classic example of this is Sir Richard Branson, Chairman of Virgin Group. Recent examples include Craigslist, 1800Flowers, FedEx and Southwest Airlines.
Believe in making a difference
The basis of entrepreneurial view is the belief that what they do makes a difference, and that they can push to make things happen. They keep doing the doable and keep pushing. On the way they rally a whole bunch of people to work together with in interesting and creative ways. All kinds of good things follow. But there is no guarantee. An entrepreneur accepts that uncertainty. Recent examples include Arab Spring protestors and on-the-ground journalists covering these events.
Make Brilliant Mistakes
Entrepreneurs make «brilliant mistakes and find success on the far side of failures», as Paul J.H Shoemaker writes. Entrepreneurs develop a tough skin. As Shoemaker covers in his book, an entrepreneur will commit a brilliant mistake and then ask herself, why did I have a distorted view of how I will add value? How can I better it? Classic examples include Sir Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Facebook and Pandora. Entrepreneurs view mistakes differently. They are able to differentiate between dumb and sensible mistakes. They value the lessons from mistakes. They are not scared of making mistakes and wise-up early in the follow-through to that mistake. They understand the wisdom of deliberate mistakes. Shoemaker writes, «Although organizations need to make mistakes in order to improve, they go to great lengths to avoid anything resembling an error. That’s because most companies are designed for optimum performance rather than learning, and mistakes are seen as defects that need to be minimized.»
Vocabulary
doggedness [‘dɔgɪdnes] — упрямство
high profile [haɪ ‘prəufaɪl] — значимый, выдающийся
eye view — точка зрения
to make a difference — изменить мир к лучшему, положительно повлиять на что-либо, изменить что-либо
oddity [‘ɔdɪtɪ] — чудак, оригинал, странный человек
(the) odds — 1. шанс, возможность, 2. сложности, неприятности, проблемы
oddly — странно
hedge-hog [‘heʤhɔg] — еж
agility [ə’ʤɪlətɪ] — живость
on—the—ground journalist — работающий на месте события журналист
Exercise
Translate from Russian into English