Stewart Thornhill says entrepreneurs must go back to basics
and concentrate on delivering something of value.
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Stewart Thornhill is a professor in strategy and entrepreneurship
at Richard Ivey School of Business. Based on Ontario, he is
a regular visitor to Asia, running lectures and seminars on
entrepreneurship at the Richard Ivey School in Hong Kong.
What character traits do successful entrepreneurs tend
to display?
The basic characteristics you would always expect to find are
good people skills, a lot of self-confidence and high levels
of energy. But the two factors that really distinguish entrepreneurs
are perseverance and orientation to action. Perseverance, because
no one ever just comes up with a plan, develops the plan, puts
it into action and watches everything go according to plan.
It・s the people who give up who are never successful. The ones
who take a hit and keep getting back up are most likely to succeed.
And orientation to action because entrepreneurs tend to be the
ones who have the mindset of: ．I・ve got the idea and I・m going
to go out and make it happen.・ They don・t sit around and wait
for things to happen to them.
Can you teach entrepreneurship?
We can teach skills that help people succeed as entrepreneurs.
What we can・t do is teach someone to want to be an entrepreneur.
Perhaps our most important role is to help instill confidence
in potential business leaders. We help them to see that the
success stories are just people like them who took their chance,
took control of their destiny and went for it. That surge of
confidence is a remarkable thing when you see it.
People tend to associate entrepreneurship with new
business start-up. Is it important for managers and executives
in established organizations to have an entrepreneurial flair?
In practices starting a new business from within the structure
of an existing organization tends to work best when it・s kept
at arm・s length from the parent. Because processes, procedure
and bureaucracy have a way of creeping in and strangling the
roots of the new organization, and there are existing players
competing for the same limited resources within the company.
Only a handful of companies have been successful at that type
of corporate entrepreneurship. And if your entrepreneurial spirit
doesn・t fit, be prepared to accept that your mindset may not
be in synch and you・re probably just making everyone around
you miserable, not just you. Maybe you should look for a smaller
structure or a younger company. Start-ups are a lot looser and
more fun for people like that.
What are the most common mistakes made by start-up
entrepreneurs?
Overconfidence that they have all the answers. The ones who
tend to be most successful are the ones who have the humility
to genuinely ask for help from people with experience and to
take all the help hat comes their way. The ones who go in with
arrogance and an attitude that they can do anything they set
their mind to are in for a pretty rude awakening.
Can anyone learn to be an entrepreneur?
Anything you choose to do in your life is going to be a combination
of natual aptitude and acquired skill. I could probably learn
to play the piano competently, but it・s likely to take me a
lot of time and effort to acquire basic skills. There are folks
who take to business like a duck to water, feel perfectly at
home with cash flow, human resources, margins, etc. others find
it very difficult to grasp, but if they really want it, they・ll
be just like a short basketball player: they have to work a
bit harder.
What role should the entrepreneur play in society today?
Over the past year in the financial community we have seen
that there have been some very poor decisions made by some ostensibly
very smart people. What we・re going to see now is a return to
the basic of business, and this is where entrepreneurs have
a lot to offer- by not getting caught up in the smoke and mirrors
of elegant financial structures, but concentrating on delivering
something of value, because that・s what・s going to decide ultimately
if a business is going to succeed of fail
SCMP
13th May, 2009
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