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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
The successful entrepreneur’s guide to accelerating growth
Daring to Compete offers real-world strategies to accelerate the growth of your business and secure your place as a market leader. This expert guide is the result of years of comprehensive research and experience from global professional services organization EY, originator of the celebrated “Entrepreneur Of The Year” program. Employing its worldwide reach and extensive network of successful entrepreneurs, EY has developed a model of sustainable business development—“The 7 Drivers of GrowthTM.” This innovative and highly effective approach to strategic growth is an invaluable resource for high-growth businesses, entrepreneurs, and start-ups. Favoring practical strategies over abstract theories, this book provides clear guidance on the Customer; Funding and Finance; Transactions and Alliances; Risk; People, Behaviors, and Culture; Digital Technology and Analytics; and Operations. This book brings the application of these drivers to life by featuring insights from Entrepreneur Of The Year award-winning entrepreneurs from a wide range of industries and geographic locations. These entrepreneurs share how each driver functions in actual business situations and present first-hand advice on their application and implementation.
Planned and sustainable growth is a challenge faced by businesses every day, from developing ventures to leading enterprises. Effective entrepreneurs embrace the drivers of growth and recognize what areas require sharper focus. This book allows you to identify and apply these elements in your own business—facilitating optimal outcomes and accelerating growth. This indispensable guide enables you to:
- Implement a proven business model to compete more effectively and achieve market leadership
- Gain the knowledge and confidence to face challenges, anticipate, and overcome obstacles
- Access research, tools, and services to accelerate growth and compete on a global scale
- Learn invaluable market leadership strategies from a team of highly successful entrepreneurs
Developed from the real-life stories of EY Entrepreneur Of The Year winners, this book is an inspirational and informative must-read guide to business growth and market leadership. Daring to Compete is an invaluable resourcefor both aspiring and experienced entrepreneurs and established business leaders seeking to become more entrepreneurial.
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Seitenzahl: 281
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019
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How did the best in the world become the best, and learn to battle adversity along the way in reaching their goals? Daring to Compete is a handbook for anyone seeking to learn the techniques and thinking behind the world’s most successful entrepreneurs.
Jack Cowin, Founder and Executive Chairman,Competitive Foods Australia
Daring to Compete is a great book for any reader interested in understanding the entrepreneurial mindset around the world. With in-depth and personal interviews of EY Entrepreneur of the Year Country winners, the book identifies the traits of successful entrepreneurs and describes the EY 7 Drivers of Growth™. It’s a must read for any one who aspires to be an entrepreneur!
Judy Chan, CEO, Grace Wine Holdings Ltd., China
How exciting to finally have a book about daring entrepreneurs from different parts of the globe. Their stories, dreams and challenges will be inspiration for future generations of entrepreneurs.
Rebecca MacDonald, Founder and Executive Chair,Just Energy Group Inc., Canada
Daring to Compete captures the essence of what it takes to be a truly successful entrepreneur in a rapidly evolving global economy. The authors not only break down what it takes to become an entrepreneur, they also share first hand insights from some of today’s greatest entrepreneurial success stories.
Michael “Dr. Woody” Woodward, PhD,Organizational psychologist and author of The YOU Planand business media commentator
The world needs more entrepreneurs and people with an entrepreneurial mindset. Daring to Compete provides insights into the drivers of growth that successful entrepreneurs must continually develop at every stage of their journey. At Babson, we are educating entrepreneurial leaders who likewise develop an appreciation of what it takes to create great businesses that drive innovation and impact.
Susan G. Duffy, PhD, Executive Director,The Center for Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership,Babson College
Accelerate Your Business to Market Leadership with EY’s 7 Drivers of Growth™
DARING TO COMPETE
Featuring Insights from Winners of the
DIANE FOREMAN | BRYAN PEARCE | GEOFFREY GODDING
Cover design: WileyCover image: © lortie/Getty Images
Copyright © 2019 by EGYS, LLP. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.Published simultaneously in Canada.No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Foreman, Diane, 1960- author. | Pearce , Bryan, 1959- author. | Godding, Geoffrey, 1959- author.Title: Daring to compete : Accelerate Your Business to Market Leadership with EY’s 7 Drivers of GrowthTM/Diane Foreman, Bryan Pearce, Geoffrey Godding.Description: First Edition. | Hoboken : Wiley, 2019. | Includes index. | Identifiers: LCCN 2018046265 (print) | LCCN 2019002637 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119546818 (ePub) | ISBN 9781119546795 (Adobe PDF) | ISBN 9781119546764 (hardback) | ISBN 9781119546795 (ePDF)Subjects: LCSH: Entrepreneurship. | Leadership. | BISAC: BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Entrepreneurship. | BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / General. | BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Leadership.Classification: LCC HB615 (ebook) | LCC HB615 .F6747 2019 (print) | DDC 338/.04--dc23LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018046265
Dedication
Diane Foreman
For my late husband Bill Foreman, the finest entrepreneur I ever knew.
Bryan Pearce
I dedicate my work on Daring to Compete to my family — my wife Karen and children Jenny, Scott, and Ali — who have moved around the world with me, and endured the long hours and many nights away on business travel for nearly 40 years. Their flexibility has enabled me to have an exciting career, build relationships with so many great entrepreneurs, and understand so much about what makes these entrepreneurs successful and able to drive exceptional innovation and growth. Thank you!
I also want to dedicate this book to the thousands of EY Entrepreneur Of The Year participants — innovators, creators, and purposeful leaders who have helped EY to build this important program over 30 years. As coauthors we are the voice to so many colleagues at EY who have guided, advised, and recognized many of the world’s greatest entrepreneurs. It is the willingness of entrepreneurs and EY colleagues to share your experiences and insights that make the collective wisdom contained in the EY 7 Drivers of Growth™ possible.
Geoffrey Godding
For my family — my wife Madeline and children Henry, Emily, Oliver, and Annabel — who have endured the consequences of my passion for what I do. For the incredibly talented and loyal colleagues with whom I have had the great privilege to work, and for the wonderful clients I have met and served, many of whom I count as friends, and without whom I would never have learned anything of real value.
Audere, augere, vincere [ To dare, to strive, to conquer]
CONTENTS
Cover
Acknowledgments
Preface
Part 1. Daring to compete — understanding the DNA of entrepreneurs
Chapter 1. What is the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year?
Chapter 2. What are the EY 7 Drivers of Growth™?
Chapter 3. Do you have the E-gene?
Passion
Drive
Agility
Inspirational leadership
Vision and focus
A hunger for learning
Resilience
Values focused
Part 2. What success looks like: 15 stories from the “Winner’s Circle”
Chapter 4. Entrepreneurs based in the Americas
Chapter 5. Entrepreneurs based in Asia Pacific
Chapter 6. Entrepreneurs based in the United Kingdom, Europe
Part 3. Understanding EY’s 7 Drivers of Growth
Chapter 7. Driver #1: Customer “No customers, no business”
Products, markets, and channels
Marketing
Sales and Pricing
Chapter 8. Driver #2: People, Behaviors, and Culture “Cutting stone or building a cathedral?”
Capability
Leadership
Performance management and rewards
Innovation
Chapter 9. Driver #3: Digital Technology and Analytics “The new industrial revolution”
Digital enterprise
Data and analytics
Security and privacy
Chapter 10. Driver #4: Operations “From surviving to thriving”
Operations strategy
Operational excellence and continuous improvement
Operational resilience and sustainability
Purpose and social responsibility
Chapter 11. Driver #5: Funding and Finance
“Failing to plan is planning to fail”
Funding growth
Growth story
Finance processes and controls for an effective finance function
Stakeholder management
Chapter 12. Driver #6: Transactions and Alliances
“Right transaction, right price, right time”
Transaction strategy and planning
International expansion
Partnerships and alliances
Transaction effectiveness
Integrating the business and extracting intended value
Chapter 13. Driver #7: Risk
“Threat or opportunity”
Stakeholder management
Policies, procedures, and compliance
Governance
EY 7 Drivers of Growth: many success stories
Part 4. Traits, skills, and the importance of intuition
Chapter 14. World-class Entrepreneurs and building sustainable market-leading companies
No excuses!
Intuition
Appendix
About the authors
About EY
Index
Wiley End User License Agreement
List of Illustrations
Part 1
Figure P1.1 The environment in which entrepreneurs operate
Chapter 1
Figure 1.1 Key statistics on the entrepreneurs who competed at the EY World Entrepreneur o...
Chapter 2
Figure 2.1 The EY 7 Drivers of Growth
Chapter 3
Figure 3.1 Summary: “Traits of successful entrepreneurs”
Part 3
Figure P3.1 The EY 7 Drivers of Growth
Chapter 7
Figure 7.1 EY 7 Drivers of Growth – Customer
Chapter 8
Figure 8.1 EY 7 Drivers of Growth – People, behaviors, and culture
Chapter 9
Figure 9.1 EY 7 Drivers of Growth – Digital technology and analytics
Chapter 10
Figure 10.1 EY 7 Drivers of Growth – Operations
Chapter 11
Figure 11.1 EY 7 Drivers of Growth – Funding and finance
Figure 11.2 Funding growth – key steps
Chapter 12
Figure 12.1 EY 7 Drivers of Growth – Transactions and alliances
Figure 12.2 Growth options
Figure 12.3 Key steps for successful market expansion
Chapter 13
Figure 13.1 EY 7 Drivers of Growth – Risk
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
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E1
Acknowledgments
Diane Foreman
To EY, thank you for creating and supporting the WEOY program which has allowed tens of thousands of entrepreneurs from every corner of the globe to come together and share their passion and be inspired by each other. You have shown true corporate commitment to “Building a Better Working World.”
To Bryan and Geoffrey, thank you for putting your intellectual rigor, good humor, and disciplined debate into this book. Thank you also for spending your working lives supporting entrepreneurs, but most especially thank you for having faith in my intuition. It's been a privilege to work with you.
Bryan Pearce
Daring to Compete would not have been possible without the collaboration of many valued friends and colleagues.
First, we are so grateful to the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year winners from around the world who participated in interviews – opening up and freely sharing their insights and learnings from their amazing entrepreneurial journeys.
Second, to my coauthors Geoffrey Godding – who has provided great leadership around the development and continual refinement of our EY 7 Drivers of GrowthTM – and of course to Diane Foreman, an exceptional serial entrepreneur, ardent alumna and supporter of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year program around the world, and a great friend. Having the perspective of an incredibly successful business builder like Diane has been irreplaceable in developing this book.
To our tireless project manager for this book, Rebekah Craig (Ernst & Young LLP – United States), thanks for all of your dedication and hard work, and to Liz Bolshaw (Ernst & Young – United Kingdom) and Jenni McManus (Ernst & Young – New Zealand) for your editing support.
Geoffrey Godding
Thank you to the teams who helped research, develop, and deploy the EY 7 Drivers of GrowthTM. The learning from working with them and the many thousands of client interactions that have flowed from these wonderful initiatives have been the fuel for this book.
Thanks also to my coauthors Bryan Pearce, whose knowledge and experience of entrepreneurs is second to none and who epitomizes the spirit of partnership at EY, and to Diane Foreman, who is an unstoppable force of nature, overflowing with insights into the life of an entrepreneur, and is a joy to work with.
Preface
The world needs more entrepreneurs and people with a strong entrepreneurial mind-set, as numerous academic studies have shown.1 The world needs people who wake up every day, dreaming of building better – better products and services, better companies, better communities, and a better working world.
For more than 30 years, EY has been advising, guiding, and recognizing many of the world’s greatest entrepreneurs. Through our work with these entrepreneurs, and hosting the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year program, we have honored and come to understand the stories of thousands of entrepreneurs. At EY, we believe that great businesses of all sizes, including those run by the 15 Entrepreneurs featured in this book, have a strong sense of purpose and are committed to doing their part to build a better working world. Through our commitment to entrepreneurs, and shining the light on their contributions and accomplishments over 30 years, we are proud of our role in helping them to build better.
EY Entrepreneur Of The Year finalists and winners are among the “best of the best” in the world of successful company building. Each year, EY receives nearly 10,000 nominations for great entrepreneurs to be recognized in nearly 145 city or regional programs in more than 50 countries. These nominations are submitted by entrepreneurs, their peers, employees, customers, and suppliers. Nominees don’t have to be EY clients: in fact in 2017, less than 20% of nominated companies were our clients. Once nominated, entrepreneurs go through a series of judging rounds – each conducted by independent judges who are typically EY Entrepreneur Of The Year alumni and other entrepreneurs. We believe it takes one to know one, and the selection of award winners by their peers is one of the most meaningful aspects of the program for participants.
For decades, people have asked, “Are entrepreneurs born or made?” Through our interactions with generations of EY Entrepreneur Of The Year contestants and our work with many high-growth entrepreneurs as clients, we have gained exceptional insight into the knowledge and skills it takes to succeed. Through comprehensive research, we have distilled this insight into a framework or toolkit that we call the EY 7 Drivers of GrowthTM.
We have also seen certain character traits common to the highest-achieving entrepreneurs honored through our program.
In this book we want to share with you both the insights underpinning the EY 7 Drivers of Growth and some exceptional stories that show how builders of market-leading businesses came to create multibillion-dollar companies.
How did the eighth child of a Glasgow butcher, leaving school without qualifications at 16, build a multinational specialist oil and gas equipment manufacturer, now part of one of the largest of its kind in the world?
How did a young New Zealander manage to borrow NZ$1 million to found his company, secured as it was on a leisure park that did not exist, on land he didn’t own? And then how did he go on to build that company at an average annual growth rate of 364%?
What was it that propelled a baby girl in Malaysia, abandoned then taken in by a caring stranger, to harness her experience of lying awake listening to the torrential rain beating on the corrugated roof of their shack to build one of the world’s premier desalinization companies?
By reading this book, we hope you will be inspired and enlightened to apply entrepreneurial thinking to your business enterprise, wherever you are along your journey toward market leadership.
Diane Foreman, Bryan Pearce, and Geoffrey Godding
Notes
1
Zoltan Acs, “How Is Entrepreneurship Good for Economic Growth?”
Innovations
1 (2006): 97–107, MIT Press Journals.
PART 1Daring to compete — understanding the DNA of entrepreneurs
Dictionary.com defines “dare” as “to have the necessary courage or boldness for something.”1
Let’s face it – being an entrepreneur, founder, and CEO is a lonely job. Your road to market leadership is very difficult to navigate, especially without a reliable road map and the guidance of others who have walked that road and can help you to see around the corners.
Daring to Compete is written to provide entrepreneurs at all stages of their journey – from emerging to market leader – with insights from EY and 15 great business leaders from around the world. These Entrepreneurs (our 15 exemplary EY Entrepreneur Of The Year winners) share their insights on how they develop skills, knowledge, and accelerate their businesses and thrive as entrepreneurial leaders.
The environment in which you operate is changing more rapidly than ever before, and disruption comes at you not only from industry peers but also from new entrants from other sectors that are leveraging innovative technologies and creating new business models. You understand all too well the magnitude of forces that are constantly changing and to which you must respond on a daily basis. These challenges (see Figure P1.1) include:
Customer preferences and buying behaviors
Recruiting and retaining top talent
New competitors, business models, and supply chain implications
Globalization
Increasing regulation and associated risks of noncompliance
Disruptive technologies
Challenges of accessing capital
Changing ecosystem – mergers, acquisitions, strategic alliances
Figure P1.1 The environment in which entrepreneurs operate
What sets you apart as an entrepreneur is that every day you are “daring to compete” in the face of these challenges – in fact, you see them as opportunities for accelerating growth. You are unstoppable!
Note
1
www.dictionary.com
.
CHAPTER 1What is the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year?
Each year EY receives almost 10,000 nominations from our 145 city or regional programs in over 50 countries, to compete for a range of regional, national, and eventually global titles recognizing exceptional entrepreneurship. Nominations come from multiple sources and less than 20% of them are EY clients. Once nominated, entrepreneurs go through a series of judging rounds – each conducted by independent judges who are typically EY Entrepreneur Of The Year alumni and other entrepreneurs. Ultimately each program annually selects a national winner based on a balanced scorecard of key criteria that together reflect the essence of a truly great entrepreneur. These are, in no particular order:
Entrepreneurial spirit
Value creation
Strategic direction
National and global impact
Innovation
Personal integrity / purpose-driven leadership
Each June, national winners representing more than 50 nations come to Monaco to represent their country at the world’s premier event that recognizes and celebrates entrepreneurial achievement. While there, they participate in a final round of independent judging. Ultimately, one is named the EY World Entrepreneur Of The YearTM – a highly coveted honor. The prize isn’t monetary: it is the recognition of exceptional achievement by a group of respected peers. Together the entrepreneurs participating in the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year 2018 competition in Monaco had the characteristics shown in Figure 1.1.
Figure 1.1 Key statistics on the entrepreneurs who competed at the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year 2018
Over the history of the competition, winners have included individuals such as Guy Laliberté of Cirque du Soleil in Canada, Wayne Huizenga (who created multiple companies including Blockbuster Video and Waste Management, Inc.) in the United States, Mohed Altrad of the Altrad Group in France, and Olivia Lum of Hyflux in Singapore. We hope you are inspired to join them by applying to your local EY Entrepreneur Of The Year program (details are contained in the Appendix).
CHAPTER 2What are the EY 7 Drivers of GrowthTM?
EY’s 7 Drivers of Growth is a powerful management framework that enables business leaders to benchmark themselves against global, cross-industry leading practices,” says Ryan Burke, EY Global Leader, Growth Markets. “Importantly, it also helps them build their growth plan to deliver against their strategic objectives.”
Through our interactions with these great EY Entrepreneur Of The Year contestants, observing the selection process carried out by our judges (all of whom are independent of EY), and our work with many high-growth entrepreneurs as clients, we have obtained deep insight into the knowledge and skills these women and men use to drive sustainable growth. Through comprehensive research, we have distilled this insight into what we refer to as the EY 7 Drivers of GrowthTM (see Figure 2.1).
Figure 2.1 The EY 7 Drivers of Growth
First and foremost, successful entrepreneurs who achieve sustainable high growth have an unrelenting focus on the Customer. They put customers at the center of everything they do. To achieve optimal customer satisfaction, these entrepreneurs also invest time and capital on six additional areas: People, behaviors, and culture; Digital technology and analytics; Operations; Funding and finance; Transactions and alliances; and Risk.
These world-class entrepreneurs also understand the importance of maintaining balance between these drivers as they grow sustainable companies. For example, a leader who focuses only on current sales to customers without building a great team and culture and putting in place adequate funding and finance to support the growth will quickly find his or her company unable to deliver on its promises.
Our research also shows that as successful entrepreneurial companies move toward market leadership, they generally progress through three stages: Developing, Established, and ultimately Leading. They may move through these stages with varying speed, but will follow a similar pathway. While the specific activities that successful entrepreneurial businesses must focus on within each of the 7 Drivers of Growth will vary somewhat in each of these stages, many are common across the board.
This research that led to the EY 7 Drivers of Growth validated our firsthand understanding, obtained through thousands of interactions and face-to-face sessions with entrepreneurs and business leaders around the world.
These entrepreneurs have spent their lives continually daring to compete. For them, there is no finish line – their days are spent looking for ways to compete more effectively, innovate, diversify, and seize on the exciting opportunities that present themselves as a result of industry convergence and new technologies. Through our interviews, in addition to sharing their inspiring, transformational stories, they have explained ways that they have adopted these 7 Drivers of Growth in guiding their companies to success. As the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2016 winner for the United States, J.W. Marriott Jr. notes, “Success is never final.”
We hope that the EY 7 Drivers of Growth model becomes an indispensable road map you will use on your journey to market leadership.
CHAPTER 3Do you have the E-gene?
What is an entrepreneur? The dictionary definition is “a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.”1
But that’s far from the whole story!
Entrepreneurs don’t just run businesses – they create, expand, and redesign them. They risk the unproven to realize and constantly evolve the future.
Entrepreneurs don’t just make and supply products and services – they imagine them and constantly adapt them to meet existing and anticipated customer needs.
Entrepreneurs don’t just meet the demands of markets and existing customers – they adapt markets and they create new customers. They expand, diversify, and evolve.
Entrepreneurs don’t sleep – they dream. And they take risks to see their dreams become reality.
An entrepreneur’s business is never a “done deal” – like entrepreneurs themselves, it’s always a work in progress.
For decades, people have asked, “Are entrepreneurs made or born?” Unquestionably, they are born with a “spark.” Successful entrepreneurs fan that spark and continually strengthen their entrepreneurial “muscle.”
Through the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year program, we have the privilege of getting to know many of the world’s finest entrepreneurs.
“Those who have been independently selected as EY Entrepreneur Of The Year winners and finalists from their peers over the more than 30 years our program has been in existence are truly exemplary,” says Ryan Burke, EY Global Leader, Growth Markets. “These CEOs, owners, and founders typify not only business-building at its best, but they do so with a clear sense of purpose and commitment to building a better working world. I have met many of these winners personally and see firsthand their qualities as world-class leaders. In addition – many have become my own mentors and friends.”
To showcase entrepreneurship at its best, we have selected a cross section of 15 entrepreneurial superstars who do everything from fast food delivery to curing cancer. We selected them because they have been recognized by their peers for their outstanding achievements. Six of the 15 were named EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year: the very pinnacle of the competition. We also selected them to portray a diverse group in every sense – gender, ethnicity, religious beliefs, industry sector, and geography. This is by design – great entrepreneurs come in all shapes and sizes.
The Entrepreneurs we interviewed are:
Rubens Menin, MRV Engenharia, Brazil, EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year 2018
Murad Al-Katib, AGT Food and Ingredients, Canada, EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year 2017
Manny Stul, Moose Toys, Australia, EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year 2016
Mohed Altrad, The Altrad Group, France, EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year 2015
Ilkka Paananen, Supercell, EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2015 Finland
Rosario Bazán, DanPer, EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2014 Peru
Linda Hasenfratz, Linamar Corporation, EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2014 Canada
Craig Heatley, Founder, Rainbow Corporation and SKY TV, EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2012 New Zealand
Dr. Mary Lynne Hedley and Lonnie Moulder, TESARO, Inc., EY Entrepreneur Of The Year
®
2017 United States
Uday Kotak, Kotak Mahindra Bank, India, EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year 2014
Michael Wu, Maxim Group, EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2012 Hong Kong
Olivia Lum, Hyflux Ltd., Singapore, EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year 2011
Jim Nixon, Nixon Energy Investments, EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2010 United States – Manufacturing and Distribution winner Southwest Region, and EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year Judge (2016–2018, the latter two years as Chair)
Dame Rosemary Squire, Trafalgar Entertainment Group Ltd. and co-founder of Ambassador Theatre Group (“ATG”), EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2014 United Kingdom
In the course of the past year we traveled the world, spending time with each of these remarkable winners. We asked questions and most importantly, we listened.
What did we learn?
Entrepreneurs see the world differently from how others see it. They dream about and look for opportunities.
Entrepreneurs have an urge to live life to the full – with passion, focus, confidence, hard work, courage, guts, and the ability to learn from failure. They are unstoppable.
For the Entrepreneurs that we interviewed for this book, it isn’t about making money – in fact, their primary motivation is the thrill and challenge of growing an idea into a thriving business. They might make a lot of money, but that’s not in itself the endgame; it’s just the scorecard by which others may judge them. The real endgame is that money buys the freedom to control their own lives and allows them to fulfill their passion for societal impact. Every entrepreneur we met is committed to creating a better working world and improving the lives and communities of people in need.
We noted many similarities in the traits and characteristics of the Entrepreneurs, something that is in their collective DNA. Perhaps it is the “entrepreneurial gene” – the “E-gene” – that gives them their competitive advantage. As Uday Kotak says, “I think entrepreneurship is in my DNA and my natural entrepreneurial instinct is deep within me.” Olivia Lum puts it another way: “I feel that you can’t develop into an entrepreneur. I know that even at a young age I would develop an idea, sleep on it, and dream about it. Somehow, it’s already part of your DNA. As an entrepreneur your eyes are always open. Every day as a small child I had my antenna up looking for free food and being an entrepreneur is the same . . . I don’t think you can develop entrepreneurship – it must be in you. You always have to ask yourself whether you are an entrepreneur, or simply a good manager? I sometimes look at younger entrepreneurs and they have good ideas, but is a good idea enough to make someone passionate?”
This book is a compilation of the collective wisdom of some of the best entrepreneurs in the world. Natural-born entrepreneurs reading this will be further inspired and will learn to strengthen their entrepreneurial muscle. As golf legend Jack Nicklaus is quoted as saying, “Confidence is the most important single factor in this game, and no matter how great your natural talent, there is only one way to obtain and sustain it: work.” Professional managers, who perhaps are not natural-born entrepreneurs and who, like the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz, are missing the heart (of an entrepreneur), can read this book to learn how to develop a strong entrepreneurial mind-set.
This entrepreneurial mind-set comprises key traits or attributes that we see in all our high-achieving Entrepreneurs. While some of these traits can be found in the best corporate leaders, rarely do professional managers possess them to the extent commonly found in entrepreneurs.
Passion
“To succeed you must have dedicated commitment, discipline, and above all passion,” says Alfred Pisani, founder and chairman of the Corinthia Group and Entrepreneur Of The Year 2017 Malta.
Passion is written into the code of the entrepreneurs’ DNA; it empowers them to found new enterprises and drives them along the journey to market leadership. As Jim Nixon says, “Follow your passion and never ever give up, never let go.”
Even when successful entrepreneurs sell their businesses, their passion doesn’t get sold. They simply take it to another aspect of their lives or go right back to starting all over again. Craig Heatley, Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 New Zealand, “retired” for the first time at 29. He had just sold Rainbow Corporation and never needed to work again. He says of retirement, “It sounds great to be able to go and play golf every day but your friends can’t do that – they were out working. . . . So I got bored and within weeks I realized this wasn’t fun anymore.” Heatley directed his energy and resources to create SKY TV, one of the largest companies ever listed on the New Zealand stock exchange. And after retiring from SKY TV, he took his passion for golf and put it to work. He now sits on the board of the Master’s Golf Tournament and chairs its media committee.
