What Kind of Entrepreneur Are You?
Entrepreneurs are the backbone of every company ever created, and according to Chris Kuenne and John Danner, entrepreneurship professors at Princeton University, the personality those business starters have is the most important factor in determining their success.
Together, they studied the motivation and self-identity of 450 entrepreneurs whose companies made at least $3 million in annual revenue and had been around for at least 3 years. Through their work, they discovered that these entrepreneurs all had one of four personalities:
- Driver
Drivers are relentless, commercially-focused and confident. They are good at identifying needs in the marketplace and coming up with a way to fill those voids. According to Kuenne and Danner, Drivers are confident, intuitive decision makers, and “have a management approach that is very hands-on and intense.” They expect their employees to mirror their work ethic and tend to be control freaks with a low tolerance for failure.
- Explorer
Explorers are curious, systems-centric and dispassionate. They enjoy solving difficult problems and exude confidence, vision and focus, which attracts other problem-solvers to them. However, they believe that they can do everything better themselves, which can come across as intimidating and even more controlling than Drivers.
- Crusader
Crusaders are audacious, mission-inspired and compassionate. Their goal is to change the world for the better, so they start companies to do just that. Unlike the Explorer, Crusaders are empathetic and trust their teams, so they tend to build creative, autonomous company cultures in which their employees can thrive. However, according to Kuenne and Danner, their problems may linger because they avoid conflict and their hands-off approach leaves them “vulnerable to hiring on vision enthusiasm versus competency.”
- Captain
Captains are pragmatic, team-enabling and direct. They are NOT your cheerleaders, but rather the honest, empowering, consensus-driven business people who rely on “methodical, fact-based” approaches to decisions. However, this also means that they may take their time when making a decision and might miss out on new opportunities.
So, what kind of entrepreneur are you? Comment below and let us know!