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Entrepreneurship is an Attitude
By Matthew Kwan
Principal Consultant of Adams (www.adamshk.com)
Copyright © 2010.
[Originally published on AAT Express - Hong Kong Institute of Accredited Accounting Technicians : June 2010]
You do not need to start up your own company to gain entrepreneurship, and in fact, you need to be an entrepreneur to be successful in business. Entrepreneurship is an attitude, a mindset, a way of thinking and something you need to internalize. So, are you an entrepreneur? Here are some questions you may ask yourself?
1. Do you enjoy in solving problems and seeing the (desirable/undesirable) results at the end?
2. Do you enjoy hearing new ideas?
3. Do you enjoy building new business processes?
4. Do you enjoy learning how other organizations work?
5. Do you enjoy thinking win-win proposals?
6. Do you enjoy working with other (internal & external) parties (departments/companies)?
7. Do you think negotiation is a way to achieve win-win?
8. Do you think calculated risk is bearable?
9. Do you think performance improvement is mandatory?
10. Do you think alternative route is an answer to a dead end?
If you get mostly “YES” to the above questions, then the chance is that you are already possessing qualities of entrepreneurship. There are a number of qualities you would look for if you are determined to pursuit entrepreneurship:
1. Problem Solving Capability – It is a process which you need to go through before you can see desirable results. You need to be discipline enough to follow the right procedure of thinking if you want to solve problems. The way to solve big problem is to break your problem into little problems. Your job is just to solve the little problems one by one and you will solve the big problem at the end! Problems may evolve but you can always apply the same treatment.
2. Explorative – We are too easy to get used to the best practices and formal procedures. New ideas always sound strange at first but if we are open minded enough to compare thoughts, there are always insights from new ideas that we can adopt to make better ideas!
3. Organization – Operational excellence is built on effective business processes. However, clear definition of business processes takes thoughtful planning and flawless execution. The only success factor to this is continuous review and refinement.
4. Continuous Learning – You can always learn from the successful and disastrous organizations stories to shorten your path of success and help yourself in falling into the same traps. It is both motivational and gauging to your own business endeavor.
5. Think Win-Win – Business world is a network of ecosystem, there is no absolute winner in this world. The way to be successful in your ecosystem is to collaborate. One very wonderful word is Co-opetition! (Cooperation + Competition)
6. Teamwork – Working in team(s) is an art! Not only you need to be fully aware the politics behind of each internal or external team members, you also need to appreciate the strength and weakness of each player before you can built a successful team. Teamwork is always built on trust but trust will never build in short time!
7. Objective Driven – How well and clear do you know your objectives? Without knowing your priorities, you will never know how to trade off. Return-On-Investment is just a matter of trade off!
8. Risk Taking – In order to advance, you need to take risk. Taking calculated risks is a very mature business act. Without taking risks, organizations will never advance to new heights.
9. Pursue of Excellence – Complacency is a poison to any growing organization. Measuring performance and finding ways to improve should always be a responsibility of a professional.
10. Never Give Up! – You will hit dead ends for sure on your road of success. Though it may look like running in a maze, by systematical back tracking and learning by mistakes, dawn will always come! |