Lessons learned from great entrepreneurs, as well as leaders in a range of fields, can prove invaluable in keeping a business on track to success.
If you’ve watched successful entrepreneurs in your own experience, or on the national and global stage, you probably recognize some common traits that are part of their approach to business and life.
Entrepreneurs are pioneers who change lives, communities and the world. When we think about entrepreneurship, we often focus on the giants who transformed an industry, or started an entirely new one. Steve Jobs, Sam Walton, Jack Ma, Thomas Edison, Walt Disney, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Richard Branson are just a few who readily come to mind.
Real estate developers are entrepreneurs too. Robert Moses indelibly shaped New York. Harry Chandler created modern Los Angeles. Pierre L’Enfant imagined Washington, DC.
These entrepreneurs had unique goals and motivations. And each shared some common characteristics. One author summarized these winning variables as: creativity, dedication, determination, flexibility, leadership, passion, self-confidence and emotional intelligence, which includes intuition, cleverness, courage and what is often referred to as “street smarts.”
Successful entrepreneurs don’t always change the world, of course. Most entrepreneurs simply improve their corner of the world, and provide security for their families.
To succeed as an entrepreneur, you need more than compelling ideas. You also need the ability to assemble a team that will want to follow you. Some of the best leadership lessons are succinctly summarized in quotes from great leaders of the past. Here are a few of my favorites:
“A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: We did it ourselves.”
— Lao Tzu
“No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it.”
— American industrialist Andrew Carnegie
“A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit.”
— Author John Maxwell
The lesson here: Share the credit.
“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.”
— Jack Welch, former General Electric CEO
“Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.”
— Sam Walton, founder of Walmart
The lesson here: Cultivate others.
“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.”
— Theodore Roosevelt
The lesson here: Trust and delegate.
“A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.”
— American author Max Lucado
“Not the cry, but the flight of a wild duck, leads the flock to fly and follow.”
— Ancient Chinese proverb
The lesson here: Chart a resolute course.