Your Comments - Part 7 - "Born or Made"

We promised to provide you with some of the feedback being received on our Linkedin Poll, where we asked the question: Are Entrepreneurs Born, or are they Made?

Our Linkedin Poll was launched on December 18, 2011 and your response has been overwhelming!  Thank you to all who contributed to the debate or voted in our poll.

Below are just a few of the comments that were provided. We have generally not edited what you see below. We trust that it being place on this BLOG will allow opportunity for other to join in the discussion.  Enjoy and please ADD your COMMENTS to this POST!

William Warwick • I think Entrepreneurs are made rather than born. Everyone has the dreams and ideas but the entrepreneur is the one with the self belief in their capabilities and he/she knows who to ask for what help is required to bring it to fruition without succumbing to the idea of failure.  

David Cole • The entrepreneurial spirit is something you either have or do not have. This is therefore part of your personality and you are therefore with born an entrepreneur or not. However, to become a successful entrepreneur is something an individual must work hard to achieve and therefore a successful entrepreneur is made. It is down to the individual if they choose to take a risk and follow their entrepreneurial spirit… 

Ehidiamen Ebhomielen • Have to give this one to Nurture as opposed to Nature, personal experiences environment and background all contribute to the entrepreneurship spirit.However it might not be mutually exclusive, the fact that in the people who take the entrepreneurial plunge in respect to the total population is extremely low.  

Shanell Parris • In my opinion, we are all, whether entrepreneurs or not, made. We as human beings are products of our environment. 

Tony Robinson • A Little bit of both - Risk taking/innovation/etc while you may have the assets and mind set at birth they must be cultivated....  

Traci Davis • You are born with certain personality traits that will suit an entrepreneurial path in life. However, it is the experiences in ones life and exposure to circumstances (and being in the right place at the right time) which all have an impact on those that will take take the entrepreneurial plunge. 

Jeffrey W. (Jeff) Jones, A Business Problem Solver • I think people are inspired to want to own a business. That inspiration can sometimes be misinterpreted in the phrase "born for this". Then the person has to learn how to be a good profitable business owner. That learning and training is then construed as "made" 

Your Comments - Part 6 - "Born or Made"

We promised to provide you with some of the feedback being received on our Linkedin Poll, where we asked the question: Are Entrepreneurs Born, or are they Made?

Our Linkedin Poll was launched on December 18, 2011 and your response has been overwhelming!  Thank you to all who contributed to the debate or voted in our poll.

Below are just a few of the comments that were provided. We have generally not edited what you see below. We trust that it being place on this BLOG will allow opportunity for other to join in the discussion.  Enjoy and please ADD your COMMENTS to this POST!

Catherine Armstrong  • I don’t know if entrepreneurs are born or made, however I think that it helps to have family or mentors who are entrepreneurs. That sets the idea that employment is not the only alternative. Entrepreneurs need drive, courage, independence, confidence and most of these qualities are developed over time. Successful entrepreneurs also need to build relationships, which takes some humility and a willingness to learn.


Linda Maul, CEC • Great question Jim, and I'm loving the responses to date. I'm also of the belief entrerpreneurs are made and over the holidays I've had the opportunity to read Jim Collin's new book 'Great by Choice'. His research shows successful organizational leaders have a fanatic discipline,empirical creativity,productive paranoia ....all fueled by ambition. The most successful entrepreneurs I know also demonstrate those characteristics. 

Randal Adcock, MA • Its this way. There is a business for everybody, whatever traits you inherit genetically, but you have to figure out what business model to adopt and tailor to meet your natural talents. That is, you have to make that up. You have to know yourself and what role in business is going to align with your natural born strengths. In some cases, you can have someone who looks like the quintessential rogue entrepreneur but hasn't found the right business model, and therefore fails. You can have someone who looks like a regular square bureaucrat but gets into a good franchise and succeeds. Since you can't change your genes, its best to focus on finding and creating a business model that works for you. That, of course, is often easier to say than to do. And you have to want to succeed in business. Is that desire acquired by birth or experience? 


Yvonne Fizer • It helps to have been exposed to role models - parents or respected 'grownups'. But, following on Randall's comments, the sustainable, successful venture is determined by the talent that comes to the table. And NO ONE can do it all. Successful entrepreneurs do what they love and build a team of people who love to do what they hate! 

Rory Tekanoff • I think a lot entrepreneurs encounter lucky breaks, to add to any success they may have. Right place, right time.  


Elisa Miranda • It's the school of hard knocks and support from family, friends, or colleagues that makes an entrepreneur. 

P Le Rudulier • Made, of course, the other option would imply no chance for anybody who would fancy becoming an entrepreneur.  

What is an Entrepreneur?

A friend of mine Dan Ohler, ACC, Relationship Specialist & Coach asked an interesting question while we were conducting our recent Linkedin Poll on whether, "Entrepreneurs were Born or Made." 

Dan, I thought it would be good to 'throw' that question out to the contacts we have in our social media networks, and see what responses we get to your question!

The question is: What is an entrepreneur? 

Dan added that he read a definition quite some time ago that said: "Anyone can be an entrepreneur who wants to experience the deep, dark canyons of uncertainty and ambiguity; and who wants to walk the breathtaking highlands of success. But I caution, do not plan to walk the latter, until you have experienced the former."

Thanks for the question Dan.  Please feel free to add your comments and also invite those within your circle of contacts to provide us all with your feedback.

30-SECOND MENTOR - Video Clips ...

Got 30 seconds to improve your business success? 

Thirty seconds is not a long time within which to communicate your message.  None-the-less, these Canadian 'champions of change' provide stimulating food for thought as they respond to a variety of business questions and issues in only 30 seconds!

The Financial Post, together with the firm of Ernst & Young provide us access to many interesting insights and perspectives through the "30-Second Mentor" series. Before viewing some of the video clips, take a few moments to think about how you would respond to the types of questions addressed in the series. In fact, why not add your comments to this POST and let our audience know your thoughts on the following questions that we thought were interesting:

How would you respond to some of the questions:

• How are you prepared for the next downturn?
• What is the scariest part about being an entrepreneur?
• Who is the better hire? Under 30 or over 50?
• If your business plan isn't current, why not?
• How do you handle rude, aggressive customers?

These "Mentors" offer their insights, which at the very least provide us with the opportunity to consider these questions in more detail, and how we can apply creative solutions to the challenges faced in business today. 

Click here to view the "30-Second Mentor" video clips.

Your Comments - Part 5 - "Born or Made"

We promised to provide you with some of the feedback being received on our Linkedin Poll, where we asked the question: Are Entrepreneurs Born, or are they Made?

Our Linkedin Poll was launched on December 18, 2011 and your response has been overwhelming!  Thank you to all who contributed to the debate or voted in our poll.

Below are just a few of the comments that were provided. We have generally not edited what you see below. We trust that it being place on this BLOG will allow opportunity for other to join in the discussion.  Enjoy and please ADD your COMMENTS to this POST!

Ian Hope • We are what we make of ourselves. We have the power to reach as high in life as we want, even though most people aren't concsious of that fact. We're not born to be just this, or just that... I've seen the toughest circumstances which resulted in an alcoholic mother raising 7 alcoholic children- were they born to be alcoholics, or were they to a great extent shaped and perhaps limited by their circumstances and what they learned or didn't learn early on? I've seen families with children born into wealth who became remarkable 'underachievers' and kids from the wrong side of the tracks that now own the railroad... I think for the most part we have the opportunity to make our own fate, and are not born into it.  


John Kuypers • Entrepreneurs have an extraordinary need to achieve. The ones I know often get that way because of childhood circumstances. I think all of them want to prove something to someone. It's an ego-based drive that creates many good things for society but not always good things for family and marriages. As a therapist I respect once said to me, there are only two questions in life: What do you want? and, What price are you prepared to pay to get it? Entrepreneurs are prepared to pay a major price. I say, God bless them! 

Tuulikki Juusela • Women everywhere in the world are interested in entrepreneurship and becoming entrepreneurs. According to the statistics of OECD 35 % of all enterprises in the world are headed by women. Entrepreneurs, both male and female, play a significant role in creating wealth and jobs. Firms with less than twenty employees provide a quarter of jobs. A growing number of these small new companies are led by women. Women`s Enterprise Agency in Finland is giving entrepreneurial training courses. They have been designed to help women entrepreneurs acquire useful business know-how and create networking opportunities. These courses cover all areas of a business plan. You can read more http://nyek.fi/doc/Becoming_an_Entrepreneur_GUIDE.pdf

Arlee C Hoecherl • Jim Good Question. Everyone else excellent Response. In my opinion, this is from doing estate files, and Audits, and business coaching.. Seeing the real life self employed. All the education in the world, with out application.. does not provide success. And then on the other hand what is success ? We tend to use a narrow view of success... Sales growth and Physical accumulation of wealth normally networth statements or dollars. I would submit that there are several OTHER measurements of success. For example going out business Or megers, or sales of business to employees , say closing a businesss, that could be successfull, if the owner prevented further bleeding of capital.. The reason I Said made.. is it reflects a Cognitive process and those who exercise judgement, knowledge, in the process of decision making.. On the other hand Yes there are those who are BORN,, I.e. Kids of Millionaires.. But under further examination, the failure rate is fairly high.. (example the Eaton Family in Retail ) . Often those that are born add to thier birth right, some period of apprenticeship. Look at the Donald Trump family... Do you agree, that the trump children had to Apprentice "CUT thier Teeth" ? Very seldom is it only by birth. Automatic success. "Made" to me is learn by doing. As evidanced by what we are told on the Donald Trump Family, Re family members children Apprenticing under the father.  

Your Comments - Part 4 - "Born or Made"

We promised to provide you with some of the feedback being received on our Linkedin Poll, where we asked the question: Are Entrepreneurs Born, or are they Made?

Our Linkedin Poll was launched on December 18, 2011 and your response has been overwhelming!  Thank you to all who contributed to the debate or voted in our poll.

Below are just a few of the comments that were provided. We have generally not edited what you see below. We trust that it being place on this BLOG will allow opportunity for other to join in the discussion.  Enjoy and please ADD your COMMENTS to this POST!

Karen Carleton (LION) • Usually I hear this question with regards to teachers, managers or other occupations - made or born? It boils down to Nature vs. Nurture, yet of course the two factors are inextricable so it becomes a chicken and egg argument. Things are not that black and white for me. Nature: intrinsic motivation, cognitive/physical/emotional capacity, personality (shaped by experience, and genetics to a lesser degree). Nurture: having guides/mentors, necessary resources, valued colleagues, gaining needed knowledge/skills, and learning by doing with environmental reinforcers (rewards/incentives) for entrepreneurial behavior. Given the right motivation, conditions, resources/supports and reinforcers, an entrepreneur can be made but it's not without a lot of effort. From what I've seen, entrepreneurial spirit tends to be more common among children of entrepreneurs, an idea that supports Bandura's social learning theory. 

Pierre Cormier • I agree with David's comments regarding all the factors that come into play in the making of an entrepreneur. The better entrepreneurs do need help along the way "to learn" on how to be an entrepreneur via growth/learning, pain, failure and success. 

Brian Wrightson • One cannot separate the born and made" elements entirely. Two children from the same family will be different at birth before environment conditions take their toll. One must possess certain intrinsic attributes to succeed in any field be it athletic or academic. I might have all the attributes to by a star cricket player (read entrepreneur) but I have never seen a game so we will never know because my environment never "allowed" this development. Or another question - is a latent entrepreneur still an entrepreneur?  


Stever Robbins • Just to be a bit provocative, might I suggest that the question is irrelevant. If someone is unemployed and can't find a job, they may be forced to start their own business regardless of whether they are an 'innate' or 'made' entrepreneur. Likewise, offered a $1mm/year salary at an established investment bank being a spreadsheet monkey may seduce the most 'innate' entrepreneur into a life of complacency. Furthermore, if we take a non-innate entrepreneur and train them in the basics of business and put them through an experiential boot camp of getting out there and actually starting something, they may well find they love it. So other than giving people an excuse not to go for it ("I'm not an innate entrepreneur and therefore shouldn't bother trying"), I'm not sure the question serves any useful purpose.

"Picture the Results" of our Born OR Made Poll

If a picture is worth a thousand words, we'll let the image speak for itself.  Thank you to all who participated in our Linkedin Poll.  We'll be adding some of the comments that were provided over the next few weeks. 

Please feel free to continue the discussion by adding your thoughts to any of the posts that you see in our Business Success BLOG. That's exactly what we plan to do as we review the feedback and remarks that are provided.  Thank you once again for your participation!

The original Linkedin Poll can be found by clicking on the URL embedded in this line.