Focus : I have seen the case of more than one excellent entrepreneur who tends to take his eye off the ball. Too often, there is another opportunity that comes along that for the right reasons, looks far more lucrative. Can you imagine a Sachin Tendulkar switching to football because he has achieved everything in sight ? Can you imagine Tiger Woods playing anything but golf even 20 years from now ?
Typical distractions are real estate, restaurants, schools etc. that also give you an added social tag. The focussed ones refuse to take the bait and instead improvise/innovate on their core business. The others inevitably regret it. The ones that successfully juggle different businesses are not the ones that micro manage, but find the right people to delegate to and manage by reviews and numbers.
Finesse: This is probably the most under rated quality that the most successful entrepreneurs possess. Too often, the ego, the past successes weigh heavily in the minds of entrepreneurs and force him/her to take a decision that may not necessarily be the best for everyone in the eco system. For eg., " I have dealt with unions before - let us shut this factory", "We need to do this acquisition at any cost " etc. The good ones know where to draw the line. They know how to treat their customers and employees well. That creates a virtuous cycle . More importantly, they know how to self-promote their company by touching the right wires in the eco system - case in point being Infosys whose PR machinery is always working overtime without necessarily giving that impression to the outside world. These become even more so important during critical occasions like an IPO, acquisition, investors' exit etc.
Flexibility: There is a thin line that differentiates Flexibility from Focus and the good ones seem to know it by magic. If the demand for your product is not as great as you would expect it to be, would you find the markets that can give you the demand ? Or would you tailor a new product that has a larger demand in the existing market ? Needless to say, there are no easy answers. The good ones take a periodic check on the business (both internally and externally) and often take calculated, mid - course corrections. For eg., who would have thought Steve Jobs would make success of iPod when it was released in 2001 ? A standalone music player in an era of convergence ? From a company known for its computers ?
Fast & Decisive: Someone famously said "A half executed idea is better than a paper vision". The good entrepreneurs move fast and decisively. Too often, I have seen issue like " We recruited him. He is not performing upto expectations. What do we do ? " persisting for a long time, board meeting after board meeting. Either you augment his skill sets with other people (sub-ordinates or peers) or get a better guy or help him to upgrade his skills.
Any thoughts, anyone ? Is there more to it ?
~Varadha
varadha.r1@gmail.com
+91 9940670064
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