THE ENTREPRENEURIAL
PERSONALITY
Entrepreneurship is the last refuge of the trouble - making individual.
— Natalie Clifford BarneyINTRODUCTION
Attitudes toward entrepreneurship have undergone major changes since
the Industrial Revolution. Social awareness has replaced individualism
as a virtue, and this has had an impact upon the development of entre-
preneurship. The coveted individualism of the entrepreneur lost some
of its glamor when it started to include exploitation and irresponsibility.
Although the era of the Carnegies, the Krupps, and the Rockefellers has
passed into history, this doesn ’ t mean that entrepreneurs are a thing of
the past, as just a cursory look at the developments in Russia, India, or
China shows. But whatever the era, entrepreneurship is a fascinating
phenomenon. People have always been curious about the personality
make - up and motivations of the entrepreneur.
So what distinguishes entrepreneurs from other business people?
Although it would be diffi cult to defi ne entrepreneurs as a group,
they do have some characteristics in common. Entrepreneurs are
achievement - oriented; they like to take responsibility for decisions, and
dislike repetitive, routine work. Creative entrepreneurs possess high
levels of energy and a great degree of perseverance and imagination,
which, combined with a willingness to take moderate, calculated risks,
enables them to transform what often begins as a very simple, ill - defi ned
CHAPTER 1