Two mantras of the successful entrepreneur
- The power to take responsibility for failure.
In the age of the ‘creed of greed’ philosophy, where money, power and position are almost everything, few leaders today still believe in the concept of ‘Serve to lead’. Yes, believe me, such leaders exist. They are classified as great leaders who willingly make personal sacrifices and accept responsibility for organizational failures. They put the interest of the common good first: their stakeholders, which include employees, government, customers, creditors, directors, suppliers, unions and the community at large. A good leader possesses qualities like self-confidence, commitment, passion, good communication, and leadership skills, but a great leader focuses beyond all of these. They take a ‘make no excuses and accept error’ approach to successfully transition a group of collective individuals to a team of successful professionals. They lead by example!
By challenging adverse business situations when things are going wrong, instead of playing the blame game, gossiping, bad-mouthing the government/economy/employees/creditors/misfortune, avoiding, rejecting or delaying the problem, great leaders take 100% of personal responsibility by accepting that all mistakes are mine and I choose to address the situation and take sole responsibility (including financial) for solving the dilemma. Trust me, only after that were they able to find solutions, solve the problem, and in a few years they can take their business to new heights.” Great leaders accept there is a problem, take ownership of the problem, try to find multiple solutions but select the most suitable one, implement it and make sure they don’t repeat the same mistake twice.
- The biggest risk is not taking one!
There is one important skill that distinguishes dynamic leaders from average ones: it is their assertive ability to Take risks. There is a direct positive relationship between risk taking and entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurial success is about identifying your passion, taking rational risk, and exploring opportunities others miss. Risk taking pushes you to think and act outside of your comfort zone without which you become lethargic, conventional and content.”
Fear of change, failure, not being good enough, inadequacy, uncertainty, rejection, being judged are some of the reasons why people avoid taking risks, but not taking risks is the biggest risk of everyone in life. Risk takers are not random gamblers. Taking a calculated risk that is reasonable, sensible, and rational is extremely vital to achieving your desired goals. Good decisions are made based on data and smart institutions. It is necessary to explore all the options/alternatives before making any decision. They are well aware of the fact that sometimes risk may not pay off financially, but it offers a tremendous opportunity to learn, grow and improve their skills. In addition to this, risk taking helps us discover unknown areas inside and outside the organization, inspiring ingenious thinking, finding innovative solutions to an existing problem, and even overcoming the fear of failure. Risk-taking is scary, as it was said, “If it’s not scary, it’s not worth doing.”
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