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To be an entrepreneur, it is not enough just to have a good business idea. It is essential to be able to carry it out and know how to transmit that vision to your team and colleagues. An entrepreneurial leader surrounds himself with talented professionals who can help bring the project to life and takes effective ownership of it to ensure that it succeeds.
Entrepreneurial leadership is the ability to direct other people and positively influence their behaviour by creating an ideal work environment that facilitates the achievement of business objectives. It also implies the ability to innovate at the enterprise level and adapt quickly to complex and changing environments, so that the business emerges stronger.
In this section we’ll look at the key characteristics and some entrepreneurial leadership examples:
A good leader must have clear ideas for the future. He must be able to set measurable, realistic and achievable objectives that set the course of the company. In that sense, Henry Ford is an excellent example of an entrepreneurial leader.
In 1914, when he decreased the demand for his cars and increased the turnover of his employees, he made a counterintuitive decision that ended up saving the company: he doubled the salary of his employees. As a result, productivity nearly doubled, and demand for Ford cars grew because their own workers could buy them. Ford was clear about his objectives and devised a strategy to achieve them.
Entrepreneurial leaders are characterised by their excellent communication skills, which allow them to convey their vision to the team and explain the way to achieve it. They are people who have a clear, direct and convincing communication style, but they also keep the channels of dialogue open by being receptive to all kinds of comments and opinions.
David Abney, former CEO of UPS, is an example of an entrepreneurial leader who knows how to listen. When he took over the helm of the world's largest parcel delivery company in 2014, he undertook a tour of all locations to listen to the needs and ideas of his employees and customers. He claimed that part of his success is because he is always willing to listen.
Good leaders are assertive. Not only do they practice active listening, but they assume a conciliatory, kind and empathetic attitude that allows them to put themselves in the place of others. They are charismatic and inspiring people who show a genuine interest in the problems of their workers and strive to solve them, thus generating a great sense of belonging and commitment to the organization.
Another example of an entrepreneurial leader concerned about his people was Walt Disney, who once stated: "You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world... but you need people to make that dream come true." Disney was aware that staff satisfaction was key to customer satisfaction, something essential in his business model.
Problem solving skills are critical to running a business. An entrepreneurial leader must face difficulties and obstacles without losing calm, resorting to reflection and rationality. They must look for creative and strategic solutions that allow him to move forward with his project and learn from his mistakes.
Glenn Kelman, founder of Redfin, faced a very hostile environment when he wanted to change the game in the real estate market. Far from being intimidated, he responded to the attacks from the big companies in the sector with a blog in which he advocated transparency. His strategy paid off and since then his business has grown dramatically.
Entrepreneurial leadership demands visionaries, people capable of detecting emerging trends and promoting new ones. That kind of entrepreneurial leadership stays ahead of the curve and continually seeks to innovate, fueled by insatiable curiosity and creativity, but never losing sight of market signals.
Elon Musk is a good example of a visionary entrepreneurial leader. At the age of 28, he founded X.com, the digital financial services company that would give life to PayPal, and has continued to promote technological projects that will change the world, such as SpaceX, a company dedicated to developing and producing space shuttles, Starlink, focused on creating a constellation of Internet satellites to provide low-cost global coverage, and the flagship Tesla Motors.
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