Earlier I put out a poll about nature versus nurture when it comes to entrepreneurship, and I didn't put out my own answer. In general, I think we all have our natural inclinations that we can work to improve upon. I will use the Guiding Principle of Principled Entrepreneurship™ to motivate my more detailed answer:
Principled Entrepreneurship™
Demonstrate the sense of urgency, discipline, accountability, judgment, initiative, economic and critical thinking skills, and the risk-taking mentality necessary to generate the greatest contribution to the company and
society.
***Warning: This is Ann's take and not representative of research or any official view. I'm putting out specifics in hopes of starting a conversation.***
So, off the cuff, here's my two second take on each attribute.
Sense of Urgency: This can be cultivated. However, my personal experience has been that there has to be some baseline of nature that is close to the appropriate amount you need for your job. A sense of urgency is not panic, but it's also not a lack of urgency.
Discipline: I think that discipline is mostly a learned skill, but some of us are more naturally inclined to it than others.
Accountability: This is a tough one to think about. I keep getting wrapped up on if this is a internal accountability or an external accountability. Does anyone have any thoughts about accountability?
Judgment: This might be a cop-out, but I put this 50% nurture and 50% nature. I've encountered people who just seem to have good judgement despite little experience. I've know people who've gained judgement over time, and others that despite great learning opportunities, never seem to develop judgement.
Initiative: I think this follows a basic model of some baseline that we can improve upon.
Economic and critical thinking skills: I firmly believe that if someone is sufficiently intelligent, they can be taught these skills. I don't know exactly what "sufficiently" is, but people are economists every day and can work hard to consciously apply their thinking deliberately.
Risk-taking mentality: We all have some natural level of risk we are willing to take. When it comes to risk-taking mentality at work, I think it's about attuning our risk-taking to what is appropriate for our team, workplace and job. In this sense, I do think this is a learned skill. Those of us who are naturally inclined to take more risks have to learn how to tone it down. Those of us that tend to be very risk adverse may have to learn to take more risks.
As I wrote this, it was amazing how interrelated they are. Without discipline, how can one systematically apply their economic thinking? Without initiative, how can people take time to learn economic thinking skills? Can one have a sense of urgency without initiative? Moreover, I'm glad that I have co-workers to help me to be a principled entrepreneur! Let me know what you think in comments.
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