Many people dream of becoming a professional football player, musician, doctor, or entrepreneur, but many of us do not think we have the perceived special skills required to become greatly successful.  Even worse, many aspiring entrepreneurs mistakenly believe those special skills are mandatory versus other skill sets we devalue.  A 2010 article in Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, authored by Baron and Henry, carefully examined what attributes most great entrepreneurs possess.  Many great strategists began as great entrepreneurs, including Michael Dell, Steve Jobs, Milton Hershey, Walt Disney, Henry Ford, and Bill Gates.  The article by Baron and Henry is the most downloaded article in this journal in 2011.  A synopsis, paraphrasing of this seminal article is provided here.

Surprising to most, many years of experience or “God given natural ability” were not the top attributes that explained the success of most entrepreneurs.  The authors (Baron and Henry) are clear that there does indeed need to be some level of natural “special” competence however, they explain that most of us are competent enough to become surprisingly successful at any endeavor we choose.  Experience was also devalued, as the authors argued that most aspiring entrepreneurs can gain, or already have, the necessary experience in a particular area, and additional experience yields only incremental improvements.  The authors argue that experience can, in fact, possibly become an inhibiting factor if continuing education is not participated on a regular basis. This finding may be quite surprising to many as experience is extremely valued by most in all professions, especially those who are making hiring decisions.  Many students for example when applying for jobs are told “you don’t have enough work experience.”  So, if innate talent and experience are NOT overriding keys to entrepreneurial success, what is?

The dominating, overriding factor accounting for the success of most great entrepreneurs is that most all of them possess a high level of “deliberate practice.”  Deliberate practice is best described as an intense focusing on all aspects related a to subject matter or business idea.  The notion of deliberate practice goes well beyond hard work or routine practice, so much so that even the most successful entrepreneurs cannot engage in deliberate practice for more than a few hours each day.  Examining yourself as a person, your competition, case studies, and a wide array of factors related to the entrepreneurial endeavor at hand are included in the “deliberate practice process.” Several antecedents of deliberate practice include:  strong motivation, self-efficacy, self-discipline, delay of gratification, and self-control.  Other factors are determination, strong work ethic, goal-oriented, dedication, time management, and “being on a mission.”  The article also conveys that there is a strong carryover effect of “deliberate practice” from one entrepreneurial endeavor to another for any person.  Success of an individual’s subsequent entrepreneurial endeavor(s) therefore depends more on that person’s deliberate practice mentality and work ethic, than on their innate talent or experience related to those endeavors.  Deliberate practice entails working “hard and smart” simultaneously; it is all about developing and utilizing a strategic mental approach to the endeavor at hand – rather than having a special innate talent or gaining twenty years of experience.  Mr. Disney, Ford, Dell, Gates, and Jobs likely all utilized “deliberate practice” right out of the gate, rather than relying simply on innate talent or acquiring work experience.

A positive and motivational lesson of this excellent article is to stop placing unnecessary weight (or wasted energy) on whether or not you possess innate talent, or have obtained years of experience.  Rather, devote efforts to the “deliberate practice” method the article explains in detail.  If done successfully, many entrepreneurs, strategists, and managers can achieve levels of performance they never thought were possible.

Baron, Robert A. and Rebecca Henry, (2010), “How Entrepreneurs Acquire the Capacity ot Excel: Insights from Research on Expert Performance.” Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal,  4: 49-65.