The right question:  Can YOU be an entrepreneur?

There’s been a lot of debate in the last month or so about whether entrepreneurial skill is a function of nature or nurture.  Fred Wilson, Jason Calacanis (speaking to a group of seniors at my undergraduate college, Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State) and Vivek Wadha covered the topic directly.  Between them, the vote comes down 2-1 in favor of nature.  Fred Wilson and Jason Calacanis, both of whom I respect quite a bit said that it doesn’t feel like entrepreneurship is something that can be learned.  Vivek, whom I’m not familiar with yet, offered a well researched and much debated article arguing that entrepreneurial inclinations were rarely learned.  Vivek’s main point was that well trained people (people with Ivy league educations) do better on average then the high school dropout, Bill Gates, “born with it” types.

Mark Suster and Seth Godin also touched on the subject, though more tangentially.  Mark offered a list of characteristics of the “DNA of an entrepreneur” in a great 12 part post.  The 11 traits he identified were, tenacity, street smarts, ability to pivot, resiliency, inspiration, perspiration, willingness to accept risk, attention to detail, competitiveness, decisiveness, domain experience and integrity.  Most of the traits are the kinds of things that are ingrained in people; the kinds of traits you either have or you don’t, but I don’t think there isn’t a single one of those things that can’t be learned with a concerted effort.  Decisiveness for example is something that comes naturally to most people, but also something that can be practiced and adopted (see the Four Hour Work Week).  Seth Godin’s post had more to do with the brain washing that occurs in our society.  The tendency to at some point, accept the cookie cutter life that’s thrown on us.

So what do I think?  I firmly believe that we’re born with a set of tools at our disposal. However, those tools are primitive ones and how we develop them is a combination of how we’re raised and how we direct our own lives. I believe that intelligence, coordination, height/build, appearance, an artistic eye, gender and musical ability are about the only things that one can be born with.  Since a few of those can certainly help an entrepreneur (arguably they all could to a certain degree), I suppose there is some nature involved in an entrepreneur.  However, since none of those are “entrepreneurial ability”, I clearly believe that nurture is the prevalent n-word when it comes to being an entrepreneur.  That’s all I’m going to say about the nature vs. nurture question holistically, because I do honestly believe it is the wrong question.  I’m going to assume that the reason we’re asking the question in the first place is that you want to know if you (or perhaps someone you know or are considering investing in) could develop in to an entrepreneur. Unless you’re a parent, the person in question, the one you want to know whether can develop entrepreneurial skills, is probably too old to discuss “nurture”. His/her development is likely to be self directed.  I think the better question is, can you become an entrepreneur?

Here are the core personality traits I think you need to have to become an entrepreneur.  None of them “born” characteristics, but none of them are easily picked up either.  If you don’t have any of them, I wouldn’t recommend trying your had at being an entrepreneur.  If you have all but one, I think you should look at your current job and find ways that you can practice that skill in your current job:

• I’m going to cop out and just link to Mark Suster’s list for the most basic 11 characteristics.  I think these can be grouped as one core personality trait and called a “skill tool set”.  Things like risk taking, domain experience, perspiration go without saying and aren’t the focus of this post.  If you want to be an entrepreneur, pick a couple of these that you’re weak on and find ways to work on them.
• A dissatisfaction with the cookie cutter lifestyle.  Some people are born with this or have it instilled in them by their parents.  Others pick it up much later in life, but if the idea of working for the same company for 30 years and retiring with a pension has any appeal to you, you better search for some motivation.
• An ability to think introspectively.  I do agree with Jason and Fred that there are some “born entrepreneurs” but I don’t think it happens very often.  If you’re going to develop in to an entrepreneur you’re going to need to be able to identify your strengths and weaknesses and adress the latter.

In Conclusion, do I think you can develop in to an entrepreneur if you want to?  Absolutely, but it’s not as simple as holding your breath and jumping in the deep end.  Watch the swimmers, learn from them, and jump in when you know you can do it.  It’s a process that can take years of concerted self-direction.