Dominate the competition
When you think of an “entrepreneur,” which personality traits do you think of?
For many, the idea of an entrepreneur conjures the image of someone who has risked it all to pursue their passion. Someone who quits their day job, sleeps on friends’ couches, works out of a garage and eats ramen for breakfast, lunch and dinner, sacrificing comfort, security and even stability all in the name of dedication and commitment. There is no safety net, no backup plan; they are literally all-in, because, after all, pressure breeds efficiency and ingenuity, right?
Not exactly.
The notion of the risk-loving entrepreneur who gives it all up to take a giant leap of faith into the unknown is further from the truth that you may think. And that’s a good thing, especially when you consider the hard, bleak truth that 9 out of every 10 startups will fail. In actuality, the evidence suggests entrepreneurs may lean the other way when it comes to risk. This is good news for those of you who get an anxiety attack when you think you need to quit your day job to make your dream a reality.
In his book, Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World, organizational psychologist Adam Grant argues that successful entrepreneurs are not the extreme risk-takers we often imagine them to be, but rather the more conservative individuals who are more apt to hedge their bets.
Grant’s theory is supported by a 2013 study that suggests entrepreneurs may be best served by easing into the process. The study, published in the Academy of Management Journal, tracked a nationally representative group of about 5,000 American entrepreneurs over 14 years.
Researchers found that those who kept their day job while starting a company were 33% less likely to fail than the ones who went all in.
The researchers also conducted personality surveys, which found that those who did quit their day jobs tended to be “risk takers with spades of confidence,” whereas those who kept their day jobs “were far more risk averse and unsure of themselves.”
