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BERNIE MADOFF
EXPLAINS HIMSELF
31 OCT 2016 RESEARCH & IDEAS
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QUANTITATIVE EASING
DIDNT EASE THE
HOUSING CRISIS FOR THE
NEEDIEST
13 JUL 2016 HBS CASE
WHAT IS THE
GOVERNMENTS ROLE IN
US HEALTH CARE?
03 OCT 2016 BOOK
CLAYTON CHRISTENSEN:
THE THEORY OF JOBS TO
BE DONE
FEATURED FACULTY
LYNDA M. APPLEGATE
Sarofim-Rock Professor of
Business Administration
Chair, OPM
CONTACT
Along the way the data is also allowing scholars to study attributes of
entrepreneurs by gender, as well compare serial entrepreneurs versus firsttime founders.
Weve always had a hard time being able to identify the skills and
behaviors of entrepreneurial leaders, says HBS Professor Lynda Applegate,
who has spent 20 years studying leadership approaches and behaviors of
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TIMOTHY BUTLER
Senior Fellow
Director of Career
Development Programs,
MBA Program
Administration
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Although some of the factorslike comfort with uncertainty and the ability
to identify opportunitiesseemed like obvious markers for entrepreneurial
success, the study built a statistically reliable and valid tool that can be
used to deepen understanding, not only of founders versus non-founders,
but also of differences and similarities among founders who start and grow
different types of businesses, between male and female founders, serial
founders and first-time founders and founders from different countries.
In addition, a deeper examination of the individual questions that make up
each factor provides richer descriptions of specific behaviors and skills that
account for the differences in the profile of entrepreneurs who are
launching different types of ventures and from many different backgrounds.
Take vision and influence, for example. Although it is a long-standing belief
that great leaders have vision and influence, the researchers found that
entrepreneurial leaders have more confidence of their abilities than the
average leader on this dimensionand that leaders working within
established firms actually rated themselves much lower.
Financial management and governance turned out to be another nonobvious differentiator.
Financial management is a skill that all of our HBS alumni should feel
confident in applying, Kraus says. Yet among the alumni surveyed in the
pilot, those who had chosen to be founders rated themselves as much more
confident in their financial management skillsespecially those related to
managing cash flow, raising capital, and board governancethan did nonfounder alumni.
Self-confidence in financial management and raising capital was especially
strong for male entrepreneurs, she says. Our future research will broaden
our sample beyond HBS alumni to enable us to differentiate between those
who graduated with and without an MBA, and to assess confidence in
raising capital and financial management and a wide variety of other skills
by different types of founders and non-founders.
Efficient management of operations was another crucial, yet less obvious,
factor. While we often think that employees within established
organizations would be more confident in their ability to efficiently manage
These differences rang true for Kraus, herself a serial entrepreneur who
founded and grew three successful entrepreneurial ventures.
Successful women entrepreneurs that I know have lots of great ideas, and
are super skilled at creating a compelling vision that moves people to
action, she says. They are also extremely capable of getting lots done
with very little resources so are great at efficient management of operations.
That said, these same women are often more conservative when forecasting
financial goals and with raising significant rounds of capital. And, even if
they have a big vision, they are less confident in declaring at the outset that
their goal is to become a billion-dollar business.
Indeed, research confirms observations that women start more companies
than men, but rarely grow them as large.
Based on his earlier research, these results also resonated with Tim Butler:
When it comes to self-rating on finance skills, women are more likely than
men to rate themselves lower than ratings given them by objective
observers. There are definitely implications for educators when lower selfconfidence in skills associated with entrepreneurial careers becomes a
significant obstacle for talented would-be entrepreneurs.
While the data are not yet robust enough to say so with certainty, Kraus
believes that serial entrepreneurs often enjoy launching businesses where
the risk is highest because of confidence in their ability to manage
uncertainty, and perhaps because they enjoy the process of creating clarity
from uncertainty.
Other factors that set serial entrepreneurs apart from one-timers include
confidence in their skills at building networks, securing financing and
financial management, and generating creative ways to identify and meet
market opportunities.
FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES
As more people take the assessment and HBS develops a richer data set,
scholars, educators, entrepreneurs and those who support them will be able
to develop insights that will have a number of payoffs.
The entrepreneurial leaders we know are constantly searching for tools that
can help them become more self-aware so they can be more effective,
Kraus explains. This tool is going to be uniquely useful in that it was
Related Reading:
Social Networks, Ethnicity, and Entrepreneurship
Governments Positive Role in Kick-Starting Entrepreneurship
Dont Just SurviveThrive: Leading Innovation in Good Times and Bad
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Samuel Babatunji Adedeji
55daysago
Very much educated by the outcome of this effort, however, I would want to see a situation
whereby this can be replicated in less developed nations where subjects involved are not of
the high class as we have it here. Anyway, this was a good attempt at appraising
entrepreneurial skills and behaviour.
Like Reply
Lawrence
144daysago
Interesting article though. But I doubt its universal applicability given that entrepreneurs
are largely shaped by their environments.
Like Reply
amandakrantz
146daysago
BlueIgnacio
147daysago
I suggest that future research also focus on non educatedentrepreneurs. Itd be great to
see how compares a post graduatedentrepreneur with a school drop out entrepreneur.
Maybe, they are identical, different flavor though...
Nice job guys!
Like Reply
Prasad Kaipa
147daysago
Great article. I did a TEDx talk a couple of years ago on characteristics of successful
entrepreneurs and I wish I had this information. Thank you!
Like Reply
Phillip Garza
148daysago
SanjivKarani
149daysago
The essence of any leadership is to inspire action. With that notion, there is a strong
overlap in what it takes to be a great entrepreneurial leader or a great leader in general.
The following postsums up the essence of great leadership from McKinsey, Center for
Creative Leadership, Pew Research Center and Dr. Sunnie Giles.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/essence-great-leadership-inspire-action-sanjiv-karani
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