No one will have the courage to disagree that entrepreneurship and innovation are the major triggers of both short-term and long-term growth and success of any company. However, these two fields have been treated differently over the past years. A company or a business organization’s competitive advantage strongly depends and relies on the innovativeness of the global frontier. However, entrepreneurs experience the challenge of managing both entrepreneurship and innovation from the beginning to the lasting realization. Hence, this essay will look into the character of an entrepreneur and consider the limitations and strengths in respect of innovation and entrepreneurship.
Personal aspects of behavior that exhibit strong innovation and entrepreneurial characteristics
Entrepreneurs are leaders.
This implies that entrepreneurs should influence society positively by making the life of people better. Entrepreneurship is not just an adventure of making money. Thus, entrepreneurs should, therefore, have the ability or skills that can enable him or her to create harmony among the employees as well as people from the community or society (Ao & Yin, 2014). It is always a challenge for a leader in creating and sustaining spiritual life among the employees as well as the community. As an entrepreneur, this a challenge that needs to be faced and solved in order to ensure harmony and unity among the employee as well as society (Ao & Yin, 2014). Although entrepreneurs can provide the basic commodity that people need, there is also the need as an entrepreneur to nourish people’s souls either by creating a harmonious shopping environment or working environment.
Attaining A Meaningful Life
During my childhood, my life was centered on many things like building a house when I grow up as well as buying a car. But as I grew up, I come to realize that in life, there is more than just buying a car or owning a big house and living a luxurious life. To attain a meaningful life, an entrepreneur, there is a need to share with others what we have. For entrepreneurs or innovators, their success lies in the part where they become part of other lives by sharing or extending their hands to others who have the same dream of making a positive difference in life (Hadi & Abdullah, 2018). Entrepreneurs or innovators are therefore considered to be a vessel of aspiring and encouraging others.
Been in business in business for many years and making a positive impact on people’s lives is what matters more as an entrepreneur or an innovator. Entrepreneurs or innovators who make it life or succeed in life acknowledge the impact of others who helped him or her to reach or attain his goals in life. Its is true as an entrepreneur we need to find appropriate ways or methods to support the needs of our families as well as the entire society. There are situations that unfold when an entrepreneur or an innovator has helped other people and expect nothing in return. This, therefore, becomes the role or the responsibility of an innovator or an entrepreneur to extend their hands to others to help them become successful in the future as well (Hines, 2014). After learning the personal characteristics of an entrepreneur and an innovator, I have come to realize that helping other people to achieve or attain their dreams is a fulfilling experience.
An Instrument of Hope
Despite the struggles that an entrepreneur can experience or face, in the end, they end up creating or building a lucrative business. This, however, is not common to every entrepreneur, but most probably have strong faith that enables them to attain or reach their dreams. Many people have tried to start and manage their own business, but they have failed (Hines, 2014). An entrepreneur or an innovator may have great ideas or concepts in mind, have the required resources or capital to start the business, but we may lack the necessary skills then end up wasting money and time.
What I have learned is that success in any business venture can not be created or build overnight. It takes perseverance and patients before an entrepreneur or an innovator becomes successful or sees the fruits of our hard work. Therefore, becoming an entrepreneur or an innovator needs to create the appropriate and the right mindset that will enable you to go beyond benefits but also seek others to help as well. Normally no business or an organization can succeed or grow with only one person who is focused or determined to make lots of money alone (Holland & Glauser, 2016). Therefore, intrapreneurs or innovators need to acknowledge the benefits of other people working with them. When an entrepreneur or an innovator shares what he or she has with employees, then there is a high probability of others getting or attain more than they could have imagined hence an instrument of hope.
Behavior or character that can inhibit potential innovator or entrepreneur
Failure in business is not something that many entrepreneurs and innovators consider at the beginning of their endeavors. Most of the innovators and entrepreneurs do follow the golden rule of becoming successful. Nevertheless, there are many personal characteristics as well as personal behavior that lead to entrepreneurs and innovators’ failure (Holland & Glauser, 2016). Here I will only reflect on a few personal characteristics or behavior that inhibits inhibit a person from becoming a potential entrepreneur or an innovator.
Not been smart enough
Here, it is not about individual IQ, but it all consists of the level of creativity. Many entrepreneurs and innovators might have excellent and effective ideas but lack the ability to understand the kind of business or market that will not go in hand with their ideas. As an intrapreneur, it is essential to understand all aspects that can result in either success or failure of the business. Innovators might have the best innovative skills, but due to lack of enough creativity, he or she might not understand how uncontrollable, accidental, and unscheduled innovations actually works or who are competitive in the business venture he or she wants to venture in (Holland & Glauser, 2016). Often innovators and entrepreneurs talk about a good idea, but they have little domain depth, that there has little knowledge on what they want to venture in.
Many innovators and entrepreneurs fail due to or because they lack enough creativity to become real entrepreneurs or innovators, but because they have smoke aspects of creativity in them. Even entrepreneurial failure can come as a result of believing that you are more terrible or terrific at some activities that other people believe, they are also poor or horrible in doing (Shepherd & Wiklund, 2016). In addition, if an entrepreneur or an innovation is incapable of recognizing or seeing what any other individual is capable of seeing, then such an entrepreneur or an innovator is blind to succeed.
From the knowledge that I have gained about creativity as a personal trait of an innovator and an entrepreneur, it is essential as an intrapreneur or an innovator to consider the kind of business that perfectly or appropriately fits with your business ideas or level of your creativity. Also, a creative intrapreneur or an innovator should incorporate the ability to recognize unforeseen risks with his or her creativity (Shepherd & Wiklund, 2016). Lastly, an entrepreneur should also eliminate the belief that he or she is also horrible or terrific in activities other people are terrible or terrific at.
Not knowing who is who
Despite the fact that entrepreneurs or innovators are risk-takers, their business fails as a result of failing to understand who are enemies or friends. That is, they are unable to identify their enemies. Also, entrepreneurs and innovators can fail as a result of lacking the skills of acquiring the right or skilled employees as well as lacking ideas on how to get or assess the experience and skills of a legal counsel. In addition, they can also fail in their business since they cannot find or recognize loyal employees, co-founders, or how they can optimize business contributions. Further, entrepreneurs and investors fail because they lack the ability to recognize disciplined investors form dumb or bad investors (Hines, 2014). Despite the character of being a risk-taker as an intrapreneur, there is a need for them to be aware of the level of risking taking.
From my own opinion on risking taking entrepreneurs should also have the ability to recognize their enemies, have the appropriate skills in selecting skilled and right employees for specific positions, and also have the ability to recognize loyal co-founders (Hines, 2014). Not recognizing such behavioral traits as an entrepreneur or an innovator will then lead to failure at some point. Such personal attributes should be incorporate with risk-taking.
Grandiose expectations
Persistent are core characteristics of an entrepreneur and innovator. Successful innovators and entrepreneurs are persistent in nature. However, it is not always good to believe in luck. Innovators and entrepreneurs fail because they have the belief that they can change the world with luck, and if failure comes on their way, then it is not their fault (Hines, 2014). In addition, their failure can be a result of greedy or self-delusions that they are just a step towards their success.
In my opinion and knowledge, persistence is good in business, but believing in lack as an entrepreneur or an innovator, then as an entrepreneur, you will definitely fail (Holland & Glauser, 2016). In addition, self-delusions and greedy as not fruits of hard work that’s is just a mare myth in innovation and entrepreneurship.
Conclusion
Successful innovators and entrepreneurs have common characteristics. Becoming a successful therefore requires an individual to exhibit such traits. Thus, for any individual to become a successful entrepreneur or innovator, he or she inhibits more than such traits and has the ability to recognize enemies, loyal customers, and co-founders as well as knowing the risk of persistence and dependence on luck. Incorporating additional personal traits with the characteristic of both entrepreneurs implies that business failure will be minimal, and many entrepreneurs will become successful in the future. Therefore, I will be necessary for the upcoming and new entrepreneurs to have full knowledge of what they want to invest in and who will be a competitor in the market.