What do entrepreneurs need to be successful? This was a question I asked a consummate entrepreneur I met more than a decade ago. His reply? “Michael, if you ask someone to jump off a cliff to receive a valuable prize at the bottom, indicating there is a safety net to cushion the fall, the average person will begin to ask countless questions. ‘How big is the net? Can the net hold my weight? Of what material is the net made? When I land, how can you guarantee that I won’t injure myself? Who else has tried this successfully and lived to tell the story? What is the valuable prize?’ However, Michael, if you ask an entrepreneur to jump off a cliff to receive a valuable prize, the entrepreneur won’t let you finish your sentence. No, immediately following your words ‘valuable prize at the bottom,’ the entrepreneur is already taking a step back from the edge of the cliff to get a running start for a great leap into the air. Freefalling on the way down dreaming of that valuable prize is when an entrepreneur might ask, ‘I wonder if there is a net below?’”
Clearly this person was trying to make a point about the willingness to take risks, and used an absurd example, however, the analogy stuck. Entrepreneurs are full of determination and nearly fearless when it comes to taking risks. In reality entrepreneurs do ask relevant questions, seek guidance and make informed decisions. However, entrepreneurs can be wired differently, which can lead to their successes.
While there isn’t a precise mathematical formula for becoming an entrepreneur, there are many similar traits that successful entrepreneurs have in common, including:
- Passion
- Determination
- Self-motivation
- Strong Vision
- Risk-taking
- Confident
In addition to embodying common entrepreneurial traits, what else can entrepreneurs do to be successful? An EMBAC (EMBA) program is an option that provides a unique environment for leaders to expand and grow. Being immersed in a learning environment where the peer group is on average 37 years old, has 14 years of work experience and more than eight years of management experience, means that the richness of the discussion in solving business problems is at an amazing level. Think about the total equivalent years of work experience in the EMBA classroom and it’s more like leaders teaching leaders. Couple that with the expert (i.e. the faculty member) at the front of the room guiding professionals through the latest theories and helping them work together to think through implementations is something that is hard to duplicate elsewhere.
EMBA programs immerse people in a cohort of peers with diverse business backgrounds; it forces them to study and think about the business enterprise through a much broader and more strategic lens. An EMBA program allows them to benefit not only from the esteemed faculty member at the front of the room, but also the rich real world experiences of other business leaders participating in the program.
Oftentimes entrepreneurs may have a great idea, and may even be the subject matter expert to create and drive that new idea. They may have the hard technical skills to bring the dream to reality. However, sometimes taking the dream to the next level requires a mastery of soft skills like influencing change and leading people. Additionally, there is no replacement for confidence in one’s business acumen when seeking loans, talking to investors or recruiting that next superstar to join the team. EMBA programs help with increasing business acumen and as a result, confidence rises.
Interestingly enough, as entrepreneurs gravitate to EMBA programs, there are also examples of more traditional executives and leaders employed by a company who are drawn to EMBA programs for many of the same reasons. The reality is, business acumen is needed by all enterprises. Ironically, when a person is sure their trajectory is upward within a large company, at times may have an epiphany of sorts, and decide after completing an EMBA program to branch out on their own and become an entrepreneur. Is this the norm? Perhaps not, but there are real examples of these unique transitions.
This is the beauty of the EMBA program, it serves the needs of a wide variety of constituents. An EMBA program cannot guarantee that an entrepreneur will be successful nor that a business executive within a Fortune 500 company will see new found successes. But what an EMBA program can offer is a transformative experience that provides more tools in the proverbial toolbox, while simultaneously sharpening those skills entrepreneurs and leaders may already have at their disposal.
As entrepreneurs and other business executives consider investing time and energy into the product or services they plan to offer, they should strongly consider investing in the biggest asset, which is themselves.
