#TRAITS TALENTS AND TOADIES HOW TO#
#TRAITS TALENTS AND TOADIES FULL#

Regardless how you think you rate on any of these talents, no such list will reveal if you have the skills and personality to succeed at starting and running a small business, says Lynda Applegate, professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School who has spent three decades mentoring entrepreneurs.

вЂњYou got to figure out which one of those 10 that you're good at, and make yourself great at them,вЂќ Lall told CO.

Delegator: Realizing you donвЂ™t have all these skills, nor the time to do everything, especially as the business grows.

#TRAITS TALENTS AND TOADIES HOW TO#

Or, simply put: Knowing how to make money.

Profit focus: Sharpness in business and finance.

Relationship builder: Recognizing the value of others inside and outside the company and engaging them for the companyвЂ™s benefit.

Determination: Tenacious work ethic, especially during rough periods, to accomplish what youвЂ™ve set out to do.

Independence: Able and willing to do whateverвЂ™s needed, even outside your strong suits.

Promotor: Creating excitement and confidence internally and externally by being persuasive and communicating clearly.

Disruptor: Always looking ahead, iterating on old ideas and experimenting with products or services and new ways of doing things.

Knowledge seeker: Constantly absorbing new information and applying it to the business.

Risk-taker: Comfortable with ambiguity, eager to embrace challenges, capable of managing high-risk situations.

Confidence: Strong self-belief, especially in your ability to convince others theyвЂ™ll get what youвЂ™ve promised.

These natural traits, in no particular order, are the basis for entrepreneurial decision-making-but again, nobody has all of them. Within these broad types are 10 specific talents found to be critical in the successful creation and management of a new or growing business. GallupвЂ™s analysis finds there are, broadly speaking, three types of entrepreneurs- rainmakers, experts and conductors-and no person embodies all three qualities, yet each is crucial in any organization. Consider the extremes, for example: Launching and growing a high-tech company that aims to garner outside investors and grow revenue into the tens of millions requires a level of creativity, innovation and persuasive skills not required to launch a local family-run service or retail business. The number of skills you need, and the level of proficiency at each, depend in part on the type of business. вЂњIt does live in everyone to some degree. 'Entrepreneurship is talent that can really live within anyone,вЂќ said Justin Lall, who, as director of strategic partnerships at Gallup, helps organizations find and develop entrepreneurs. The polling and consulting firm Gallup has conducted multiple studies on the topic and sought to identify and cultivate talent around the world, and the research finds no significant differences in entrepreneurial promise by location, gender, age or socioeconomic status. The key is to identify your talents, proactively develop them and surround yourself with a team that possesses the skills you lack.

#TRAITS TALENTS AND TOADIES FULL#

Nobody has the full range of abilities to guarantee success in small business, research shows, yet just about everyone has enough of the right entrepreneurial stuff to pursue their small-business dreams.

Successful entrepreneurs possess a diverse range of talents and traits that might seem to put them in a league of their own, but the reality is quite different. From confidence and risk-taking to delegation and relationship-building, there are 10 key traits involved in entrepreneurship - but not everyone has them all.

Traits talents and toadies