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What makes a successful entrepreneur? I was recently asked this question on a leadership podcast. A number of bullet-point answers came to mind, and I shared what I see as ideal qualities for someone who wants to start or keep a business.
Reflecting on my answers, I was also reminded that entrepreneurial success isn't determined by a singular set of traits or a founder's profile. Compare, for example, Jeff Bezos' drive for innovation and transformation with Oprah Winfrey's relatability and community-mindedness. These entrepreneurs-turned-global magnates have vastly different qualities, informed by unique life trajectories and worldviews. Yours will be unique to you, too.
So, to successfully lead your business, it matters less what precisely those signature qualities are. What matters is that your values — essentially, your moral principles — take shape in your virtues — essentially, your best practices. When those two frameworks align, you get buy-in from your colleagues and your customers, leading to growth and goodwill.
Self-belief
One of my core values is self-belief. This translates to assuming that no matter what I face, I will figure out a way to come out on the other side, whether in my professional or personal life. This value was instilled early in me.
When I was five years old, my family and I were expelled from the Congo (then Zaire) for being of East Indian descent. With only the clothes on our backs, we went to Toronto. But just a couple of months later, my father died, leaving my mother to work for the first time in her life and single-handedly raise my two sisters and me. Getting acculturated to a new continent while providing for a grieving family was not easy, but in these hardships, I witnessed how far belief in herself took my mother — and, ultimately, could take me.
Related: What to Do When Personal Values Clash With Business Decisions
Self-preservation
Fast-forward to today, self-belief as a value shows up as the virtue of protecting my energy. This is crucial because running a business can be exhausting. Besides feeling overstretched by competing demands for your time, skills, and approval, there is the risk of self-doubt and, thus, self-sabotage. As a recent HBR article acknowledges: "Even seasoned leaders question themselves. Past experiences or criticisms from authority figures hijack our inner voices from time to time, resulting in rumination and limiting beliefs."
I am proactive about conserving my physical and psychological energy to counter such threats. At work, I take breaks that allow me to truly disconnect. Sometimes, I go for a brisk walk in nature or do an intensive workout; whatever I do, I leave my phone behind. I have a personalized de-stressing routine at home that entails reading and journaling. These habits enable me to take care of my body and top off my emotional tank, both of which protect the energy I have to believe in myself.
Related: 4 Reasons Values Matter So Much in Business
Right people, right seats
Key to self-belief is self-knowledge. But because my business is no longer a solo venture, I need to really know the people around me. This brings me to another core value, which can be hard to put into practice when other people — and specifically, their careers — are involved. It's honesty.
Early in my entrepreneurial journey, I sometimes picked employees just because they were available, ambitious, or simply around. But when my software company transitioned from a bootstrapped dotcom to a SaaS provider servicing thousands of customers globally, I learned that having the wrong people is very costly and that getting the right people is hard and rare. I witnessed how there are makers and managers in every organization. Some folks thrive when told what to do; others must keep challenging the status quo. Sometimes, hires for a certain role no longer (or maybe never did) match your core values, so they must be let go.
Related: The 4 Types of People to Surround Yourself With for Success
Telling it like it is
To recognize this reality, you need to be honest with yourself and your colleagues about who should be doing what and for how long. A frequent comment from operations executives "is that they wish they had acted sooner to assemble the right team," notes a McKinsey article from earlier this year. As a younger entrepreneur, I felt this regret regularly, so agree with the article's point: having the right people in place enables "the mindsets, behaviors, and capabilities changes required to successfully execute the business strategy."
Nowadays, achieving this balance can be very difficult. But I can usually get there by being honest about what a role demands and what the individual who is supposed to fulfill it can deliver – including when I am that individual! Outside work, I surround myself with those who not only understand my field but will tell me like it is. In fact, I count on this support system, which includes members of the Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) and other local entrepreneurship and tech networks, to hold a mirror up to my virtues and ensure they stay reflective of my values.
