by: Denitsa Simeonova
…What are the similarities to entrepreneurship and which are the
key skills to have in order to be successful.
Are leaders born or made
What are the similarities between leadership and entrepreneurship, and what are the key skills to have in order to be successful? A highly debated question in startup circles is whether being an entrepreneur is a matter of nature or nurture, and this same debate also arises when it comes to leadership and leaders. In my opinion, the two concepts are linked in numerous ways,
therefore, I decided to look at the interrelations between the two and share my findings through my position as a former ESTIEM leader and the current executive director of the Association of the Bulgarian Leaders and Entrepreneurs.
Characteristics needed for success
Individuals who are considered as leaders and/or entrepreneurs do share similar characteristics, that is the case at least when we talk about those who were successful. Being a natural leader or entrepreneur does not mean you would necessarily excel in the project you are undertaking. In order to be successful, you need to develop certain skills: leadership is a combination of them, not a trait itself. The same applies to being entrepreneurial.
We can point out way many skills that would help you be a good leader or entrepreneur, for example, creative thinking, responsibility, and communication, but I would like to highlight one of them which may not come to your mind at first. I heard it in the speech of the famous Simon Sinek [1] who describes the importance of first listening to the opinion of others before making your own, arguing that the best leaders are the ones who learn to be the last to speak [2].
“Listen to others’ opinions before making your own — the
best leaders are the ones who learn to be the last to speak.”Simon Sinek
From my own experience, I have also realized how important it is for a leader to understand and empower their team, to provide members with a safe environment where everyone’s opinion is heard and taken into consideration. In addition to that, a much-needed skill for the entrepreneur is that they would bring vision and guidance to a strong team of sectoral experts, even when sometimes he or she may not be fully aware of the sector or the technology behind the product being developed. Being a good listener is also empowering the entrepreneur in their research on customers’ needs since only when they really know the desires of their potential clients, can they create a good product-market fit.
Finally, investors always look firstly at the team rather than the business idea itself when investing, therefore if you would like to raise money for your venture you would need to build a strong team and prove yourself to be a good leader.
Practice makes perfect
All that was discussed above is linked to experience since to be a successful leader, you need to have experience in leading. It is similar to the idea that in order to create a successful venture you are likely to have failed in a few others and learned crucial lessons from that.
A study from Stanford Graduate School of Business professor Kathryn Shaw in 2014 looked at data from 2.8 million small businesses to determine rates of success based on previous experience. It does not come as a surprise that success rates were many times higher for entrepreneurs who had previous experience running a business.
“To be a successful leader you need to have the experience in leading.”
This may seem like an obvious observation, but it is important to consider in the discussion on whether entrepreneurs are born or made. The study leads us to conclude that regardless of your tendency to start a business, the real determining factor for success is how much experience you get in an entrepreneurial role. Everyone can become a successful entrepreneur if they spend enough time developing certain skills, gaining entrepreneurial experience and committing themselves to self-improvement. I am sure that this applies to leaders as well.
Two generations of ESTIEM Grants Committee Leaders during a Committee Meeting in Enschede, the Netherlands
It is not easy to derive neither the formula for leadership nor for entrepreneurship. It is also not easy to answer if leaders are born or self-made. There are, as we have all seen, hundreds of articles on these topics. Therefore, I would like that the takeaway from this short piece I wrote be the following: view ESTIEM as a playground to practice leadership and create your own initiatives within the network, listen to the fellow ESTIEMers with an
open mind and do not be afraid to fail a few times before finally succeeding. This may take you a step closer to be among the leaders of tomorrow.
[1] British-American author, motivational speaker and organizational consultant.
[2] In his talk Sinek is referring to the leadership lessons of the South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader, and philanthropist Nelson Mandela.
Credit: 56th issue of The ESTIEM Magazine (2019).
You can now read the whole 56th issue on the ISSUU platform!
