Competencies for successful entrepreneurship

It is often said that the most important factor for a business project’s success is the capacity of the entrepreneurial team, even above the idea or the business model. But what does this capacity consist of? What skills and attitudes are needed for successful entrepreneurship? Psychologist David McClelland interviewed hundreds of successful entrepreneurs in different countries and markets with the aim of understanding their motivations, identifying common behaviors, and determining the key competencies that distinguish successful entrepreneurs from the rest. As a result of the research, McClelland identified the 10 key competencies presented below.

1. Initiative and opportunity seeking

A good entrepreneur sees opportunities where others see problems and takes the initiative to turn them into a business. They seek new markets, new customers, new products and services, and new resources before being forced to do so by events.  

2. Persistence

A successful entrepreneur is persistent and does not give up in the face of obstacles: when others quit, they keep going. They persist in their goals, adapt their strategies to the evolution of the environment, and take responsibility for achieving them.  

3. Fulfillment of commitments

A great entrepreneur always does what they say they will do: they keep their word despite having to make extraordinary efforts and personal sacrifices. They are firmly involved in completing tasks, committed to customer satisfaction, and prioritize long-term relationships over immediate gains.  

4. Demand for quality and efficiency

A successful entrepreneur is enthusiastic, has integrity, and takes pride in their work. They are obsessed with finding ways to produce better products and services, faster and cheaper; they do everything possible to meet and exceed criteria of excellence in their work and apply the necessary procedures to finish it on time and with the required level of quality.  

5. Taking calculated risks

One of the distinguishing traits of an entrepreneur is the ability to take risks while evaluating their consequences. The best entrepreneurs place themselves in positions involving moderate risks, calculate them, explore alternatives, and take measures to reduce them and control the results.  

6. Goal setting

A good entrepreneur knows what they want, thinks about the future, and knows where they want to go. They set clear and specific long-term goals, and quantifiable short-term ones, which represent a personal challenge.  

7. Information seeking

The best entrepreneurs personally verify the hypotheses they work with, avoiding assumptions, and spend a lot of time searching for information about customers, competitors, suppliers, opportunities, or technology, seeking expert advice when needed.  

8. Systematic planning and monitoring

A successful entrepreneur decides in advance what they will do, evaluates the feasibility of their plans beforehand, divides large tasks into subtasks with well-defined deadlines and responsibilities, and has indicators that help them adapt plans based on results.  

9. Persuasion and networking

A great entrepreneur uses well-defined strategies to influence the behavior of others, convincing them to do what they want. They establish a good network of contacts and use it to achieve their own goals.  

10. Independence and self-confidence

The best entrepreneurs are optimistic, trust themselves, are confident in their possibilities, set ambitious challenges, and take responsibility for achieving them, regardless of the actions of others. They do not like rules or control and take ownership of their successes and failures without blaming others.   Everyone possesses these competencies to a greater or lesser extent, and what helps in successful entrepreneurship is testing, training, and improving them day by day, consciously and in a planned manner, through training, stepping out of the comfort zone, with perseverance, and evaluating them continuously. Train your entrepreneurial competencies and you will say: I am what I want to be!