I don’t have to list any of the famous business people who often started with very little to amass their empires and fortunes. Here are innovators, people who typically took risks and had the foresight to build, in many cases, something substantial out of nothing.
Entrepreneurship is often linked to innovation and governments are well aware of the need to provide assistance to start-ups because they know how vital they are vital to job creation and national income. Admittedly many fail but the ones that do make it tend to be hugely successful and the benefits to economic prosperity are significant.
I think there’s a part in all of us that harbours ambitions of working for ourselves, building something that we can call our own, and as one chap recently told me, “being your own boss and not taking orders from anyone any more”. While this has great appeal, the reality is that only the select few have the ideas, the determination and drive to make it happen and see it through – a picnic it certainly isn’t.
Coping with failure
As we’re not all cut out for it, then what makes these individuals special? To help me out, and the idea behind this article, has been the work of best-selling author and New Yorker staff writer, +Malcolm Gladwell, in David & Goliath – Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants (I would also recommend you watch his interview on Inc.com in which he discusses the main themes of the book).
One extremely interesting finding is the link between dyslexia and entrepreneurship. Gladwell argues that this disadvantage – a ‘disability’ in society’s eyes – can actually be a ‘desirable difficulty’. The point he makes is that, despite the hard time dyslexics go through during their formative years, they learn to adapt from an early age and develop other skills, which sets them in good stead and gives them that entrepreneurial edge.
Notably, they are not as affected by failure. Yes, that’s right. What differentiates these mavericks is that determination to succeed, no matter what. As well we know, all success stories are fraught with failure, you need to fail (often many times), before success comes your way. Dyslexia has made them comfortable with failure from an early age.
Care to disagree
This leads nicely on to another trait that these innovators have, according to Gladwell, and that is being ‘disagreeable’. In other words they are more likely to take risks and not be affected by what others think. They are more likely to scorn conventional wisdom.
There is more to entrepreneurs than meets the eye. Although, as I’ve already said, we can all strive and dream of becoming one, the evidence would point to certain life patterns and characteristics that seemingly facilitate the path to entrepreneurship. Call it upbringing, call it genetic makeup, call it circumstances, entrepreneurs don’t just suddenly wake up, and ‘hey presto’, here’s the next winning business idea. It takes years in the making.
These people have actually spent a lot of time, often grappling with adversity and forming the attributes from an early age that are needed to ‘entreprendre’ or undertake.
This is certainly no small undertaking.
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