Top 10 Leadership/Entrepreneurial Qualities (Part 1)
“Managing the Entrepreneurial Gap,” the latest in the Catapult Groups Webinar series, takes place on Wednesday, February 27, at 10:00 a.m. PST. Led by expert speaker Bill Wagner, this webinar discusses the pitfalls and potential landmines that go hand-in-hand with various entrepreneurial personalities and offers insights for solving these challenges.
Here is Part 1 of Bill Wagner’s insights into the top 10 leadership/entrepreneurial qualities.
What are qualities that one needs to be an entrepreneur who succeeds and endures?
Initially, it is a higher-than-average degree of self-confidence and drive, combined with a focused vision that leads to entrepreneurial success. Ultimately, it is the softer side, the people side and the influential side that enables the entrepreneur to achieve and maintain success.
1. Patience: One of the greatest challenges that entrepreneurs face is the lack of understanding and appreciation as to why others don’t think and act the way they do. They simply don’t have patience when others think and act differently. But the work of others is critical to their enduring success. Chill. Display patience. Adjust expectations. Reward efforts as well as results.
2. Trust: Entrepreneurs have tremendous belief, faith and trust in their own abilities. It is essential, however, that they trust, sincerely and whole-heartedly in their people. Entrepreneurs must be willing to let others perform at their level, with their own style. If the right people are selected and are provided the right training and direction, it is necessary to trust that they will get the job done.
3. Influence: When it comes to management style, people either manage by power, authority or influence. Power and authority result in short-term wins, but it is the ability to influence (motivate, inspire, lead by example) that provides long-term results.
4. Self-awareness: The most successful entrepreneurs have a heightened understanding of self-awareness which manifests on two levels. The first is of themselves (who they are). The second, and perhaps more important, is the understanding of the behavioral requirements of their position (who they need to be to get the job done). It is this understanding that allows entrepreneurs to truly manage the gap that exists between who they are and who they need to be.
5. Strategic Vision: Having a strategic vision is largely a gift of personality. People typically come in two flavors. Some have more of a “generalist” personality (big picture, visionary, strategic). Others are more of a “specialist” (expert, detail-oriented and tactical). The Specialist typically flourishes when able to deal within their areas of expertise. The Generalist must provide the framework of tactical structure for the Specialist. The Generalist has to turn off the vision long enough to focus on the tactical.
More of Bill Wagner’s top 10 qualities to come. You can register for the February 27th webinar here.
