LEADERSHIP


A RECENT STUDYHAS REVEALED THAT SUCCESSFUL IRISH ENTREPRENEURS SHARE PERSONALITY TRAITS.


SORCHA CORCORANFINDS OUTWHAT THISMEANS INTERMS OF FOSTERING GOOD ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADERSHIP


PaulO’Leary PhD, author of The Personality Traits of Ireland’s Most SuccessfulEntrepreneurs, talks about chickens and duckswhen explaining the essence of his research findings. “From the end of the formative years an individual’s funda-


mental personality doesn’t change and when you look at certain roles in business you can say that for every role there’s an ideal skill and character set.Therefore, if you want to achieve maxi- mumperformance, itmakes sense to get the character fit right. “If you have a chicken and a duck and the role that needs to be


filled is largely about swimming, the duck,as the natural swimmer, is in the best position to fill it.Yes, you can put the chicken into the role and invest in coaching and so on, but the chicken will never be as good as the duck,” saysO’Leary,who is an entrepre- neur himself with 25 years’ industry experience, having been involved in a number of start-ups. The most notable thing about the study by PIWorldwide in


association with Ernst&Young andTrinityCollegeDublin is it suggests an ideal character fit for entrepreneurshipmay exist. To illustrate the notion of the ideal character fit for those who


find a role in life in which they can excel and be passionate about by behaving in a way that feels natural to them and that seems effortless,O’Leary cites the following quote fromSebastianCoe: “I never know I’min a race ... I just love to run!” The study surveyed around 240 finalists of theErnst andYoung


Entrepreneur of the Year contest from 1998–2009, using PI Worldwide’s Predictive Index methodology to assess their per- sonality characteristics. “In literature in general there was no consensus on who entre-


preneurs are and what they do.Past studies of personality in the Seventies and Eighties proved to be largely unfruitful and one seemed to contradict another,”O’Leary explains. “This is the first study to focus on a collection of characteristics


to make up a personality profile. Past studies focused on single traits, such as ‘risk-taking propensity’.” This studymeasured personality based on four primary factors: dominance, extraversion,patience and formality.


THE‘TYPICAL’ENTREPRENEURIALPROFILE O’Leary says a person with the ‘typical’ entrepreneurial profile is naturally proactive, assertive,has a sense of urgency for achieving their goals and will communicate directly and to the point. They will openly challenge the world, be independent in put-


ting forth their own ideas, which are often innovative and, if implemented, cause change. They will resourcefully work through anything blocking com-


pletion of what they want to accomplish. Impatient for results, they will put pressure on themselves and others for rapid imple- mentation and are far less productive doing routine work. Task focused, they often notice and are driven to fix technical


problems,cutting through any personal/emotional issues. In areas of interest, they have an aptitude to spot trends in data or figure out how complex systems work. These typical successful entrepreneurs are relatively independ-


ent in thinking and action – often comfortable taking actionwith- out input fromothers – and have an assertive drive to accomplish their personal goals by working around or through roadblocks. O’Leary says he wasn’t surprised at the finding that entrepre-


neurs shared personality traits. “Everyone knows entrepreneurs are different but to date it has been hard to answer how and why. This research provides evidence of something we already knew. “The key difference between entrepreneurial and other leaders


is their high tolerance for ambiguity, their need for flexibilitywith rules and their tendency to be proactive and risk-taking.This type of leadership is needed in the early stages of a firm,but at themore mature stage,you need a leaderwho is into the detail and systems; who is risk avoiding and has a low tolerance for ambiguity.” It’s important to note that the evidence in the study shows that


a small proportion of the entrepreneurs do not have the typical entrepreneurial profile and are not trying to adopt one. “This suggests that an individual doesn’t need to have the typ-


ical entrepreneurial profile in order to be successful. In a number of these cases, however, evidence exists to suggest that some of these individuals partnered with others to build successful entre- preneurial businesses,”notesO’Leary. One of themain thingsO’Leary is taking fromhis research is


itsmessage for the whole area of entrepreneurship education. “To a large degree entrepreneurship education is almost exclu-


sively focused on skills.The courses teach you howtowrite a busi- ness plan and protect an idea but there is nothing on the character side of things. It’s important to recognise that establishing what personality traits you have and where you can excel and thrive is equally as important.” He says the research findings can be used to carry out ‘entrepre-


neurial audits’within organisations.Thismeans he or his colleagues will review a firm and establish if it has entrepreurial potential, where it is and the effect the environment is having on it. “The organisational culture could be either suppressing or fos-


tering people’s natural tendency to be entrepreneurial.The study brings a certain amount of science to the area,which can establish if people’s personalities are being stifled within companies.” Another important area where O’Leary’s research can be ap-


plied is for investors, such as the Halo Business Angel Network, which he recently spoke to on the subject at its annual conference. “The study can help investors to decide how to back the right


entrepreneur. A lot of the time investors go with their gut instinct because they like the product or idea and they get on with the person.But this research would allow themto bemore scientific about it.”


VOL 3 ISSUE 3 2010 OWNER MANAGER 23


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