Fire starter or non-starter? What kind of entrepreneur are you?

Fire-starter or non-starter?

Where do you fit on this
entrepreneurial scale?

www.leaderzone.org www.omnicor.eu

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We’ve been working to assess and coach
entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial leaders for 25
years…

this model describes our understanding of the range
of entrepreneurial talent


You are free to share this slideshow but please acknowledge ownership by Leaderzone Omnicor

First things first:

entrepreneur does not mean successful!
another word for entrepreneur is change-maker
everyone is a change-maker to some degree



ask 10 of your friends to name an
entrepreneur:

4 will say Bill Gates;
3 will say Richard Branson;
2 will say Steve Jobs and
1 will look confused

thank goodness for role models like Bill Gates and
Richard Branson because they help ordinary people
set extraordinary goals.

but little of what they are known for is
fundamentally entrepreneurial



Branson and Gates, Sugar, Trump, Ramaphosa,
Abramovitch and the late Steve Jobs are recognised
entrepreneurs but most of their lives were or are spent
managing cash flow, revenue targets, people,
suppliers and property

They should be known as managers
But managing isn’t glamorous



We know them as entrepreneurs because they inspire
with their occasional ability to make the world
change!

a little or a lot, where they’ve trodden, the world is
different.



• making change rather than owning a company or
being rich is at the core of entrepreneurialism

• by this standard, many ordinary people leading
conventional lives are entrepreneurs.

• every one who has a dream (big or small) and makes
part of it come true is entrepreneurial

• everyone who imagines how something can be
different, and who makes it so… is an entrepreneur



but some are more entrepreneurial than others.

over the years we’ve assessed, coached and
interviewed thousands of entrepreneurs from all
walks of life; the model that I’ll share with you has
been built up as a result of careful observation, testing
and re-working



Omnicor LeaderZone’s
scale of entrepreneurialism



Withdrawn From Play…
Originally as we developed this model in a BRICS economy we
didn’t have this category but now, social welfare has changed the
game.

As we work more and more in developed states with social welfare
systems paying people to stay unemployed, (people whose entire
families including parents and grandparents may have lived on
benefits), it seems an unfortunately appropriate starting place for
our entrepreneurial scale.

People in this category seem able but not willing to work, their
entrepreneurialism might be applied to queueing for a new type of
benefit or changing their brand of toothpaste, but it doesn’t fit our
notion of change-maker.



The Bureaucrat Seatwarmer
The bureaucrat has a defence for protecting against working too hard.
Rules!

For some people, working hours, reporting lines and service standards
describe the bare minimum that they expect of themselves. For the seat
warmer, the same rules become a mantra, a target.

Sorry if you arrive at the front of the queue at 4:31!
The bureaucrat will shut the service window without a smile. It’s the rule!

The key motivation for the seat warmer seems to be job stability and a
deep-seated sense of “my job is my right!”

But they are entrepreneurs, seat-warmers do at least one change-making
thing in their lives, they get a job!



The Corporate Exister
Not the talent bedrock of an organisation but certainly belonging to
the largest category of employees

A solid worker who may rise up into dead man’s shoes; he or she
generally flies under the radar, but may be known for a few
incidents of special competence

Often know as a holder of knowledge of business process and
history however, the Exister might struggle to show economic value
after years of CPI salary increases. He or she usually does enough
to avoid a poor performance rating

Part of the furniture, in teams he or she may be said to be the
“cultural hearth” never though, the heartbeat!



The Corporate Thriver
Sometimes referred to as an ‘intrapreneur’, an entrepreneur who
chooses to work for a boss

Energetic, runs his or her function like a business taking risk, being
creative and driven and often hard to manage unless the manager is
also a change-maker

Promotable and energetic, working within the structures and an
eager brand ambassador; his or her enthusiasm is infectious and the
Thriver tends to lead through inspiration

Unless he or she rubs people the wrong way the Thriver will be seen
as high talent showing sound thinking and judgment and at least
reasonably good ability to work with people



Single Venture Franchisee
This entrepreneur might or might not run a formal franchise business,
that’s not the main issue. The main issue is his or her orientation
towards being an independent entrepreneur within a prescribed structure.

The SU Franchisee likes to be free of a boss, can live with the risks that
come from being free of a pay-cheque but knows he or she lives best
without the loneliness or the risk of complete independence.

The fundamental promise that a franchisor makes to a franchisee is “take
this business, run it according to the structures I provide and you will
have a business!”. The Single Unit franchisee likes this

Don’t get confused by thinking that all franchisees fit this category, it’s
not about what you do for a living. It’s about what you are best suited to
and in truth many franchisees are really corporate refugees, unable to be
employed by an organisation. If, when offered the chance to become a
corporate employee your answer would be to take a ‘proper’ job, you
don’t belong in this category!


Multi Venture Franchisee
There is a significant difference between the desire to make a single
business that offers the owner independence and an income and the
instinct to create a complex business. It’s not about the money but
it is about the experience of working in a complex entity over which
you hold influence but not operational control.

The multi-venture franchisee owns several often similar or
complementary franchise businesses and leads them by influencing
employed managers in their efforts to stick to the rules.

For this person, the owner-operator model is not an option,
somehow he or she must make peace with the knowledge that
others are in daily control. The excitement is about creating an
enterprise rather than a shop, a practice or a factory.



Single Venture Independent
The single venture independent business owner is driven, like the
SU Franchisee to build or own a business he or she can be in
control of, one that brings an income and that offers a limited range
of complexity.

Unlike the SU Franchisee, the single venture business owner thrives
on the freedom of starting, succeeding or failing without a guiding
or a prescriptive business model.

When you think of the difference between Single Venture and Multi
Venture franchisees or independents don’t be seduced by the scale
of the operation, think about the complexity of it. A plumbing
business with three small branches run by the founder is probably a
Single Venture independent business because its simple model is
defined by the founder’s control.


Multi Venture Independent
The essential difference between single and multi venture entrepreneurs is
not the number of outlets they run but the complexity of the business.

A similar plumbing business, this time with three outlets united by a
common purchasing and distribution system, with sophisticated branding
and IT POS systems, with managers supported by advertising, leading
edge technologies and perhaps a set of compelling values, this is a business
run by a Multi Venture Independent entrepreneur.

The risks are large, the complexity costs money and the owner must make
peace with not having much direct control over the operations. But for
him or her, it’s better than being a solo-plumber!

Many of the inspirational business people we read about and look up to,
epitomise this category of entrepreneurialism, it has the potential to take
place on a grand scale.



The Wild-Eyed Entrepreneur
The poster boy example must be Thomas Edison who filed around 2778
patents (US and foreign, successful or not) during his lifetime

Driven by driving! An inventor of processes or things or organisations, the
wild-eyed entrepreneur is not well balanced! This type of energy and
extremism is rare, often obsessive and certainly difficult to manage!

Risk becomes incidental, the need is to invent, to move forward, stasis is
anathema to the wild-eyed entrepreneur.

Edison did well because some of his inventions such as the light-bulb
caught on and he had a fairly unique capacity to invent and to create
structures around his inventions, structures that became a series of
successful organisations. This management ability is a useful addition to
wild-eyed entrepreneurialism but it is not common



So there’s the scale…

The variables increasing from Withdrawn to
Wild-Eyed Entrepreneur include characteristics like
appetite for risk; action orientation; creativity;
courage and boldness; independence and energy



Where do you fit?

Try answering not in terms of what you aspire to be
but instead look at at your life in terms of what
you’ve done, what are the best examples of your own
change-making?

Now weigh them against the scale.



This is a working model, not a scientific truth
so use the ideas to guide your thinking but don’t take the
results to be written in stone!

At Omnicor and LeaderZone we’re always working to
understand how to help leaders improve their organisations.

Please mail us if you liked this slideshow and if it made you
think. We would love to hear your response

James Ashton
james@leaderzone.org


About Leaderzone and Omnicor
Omnicor is a team of organisation development experts working through Africa,
Europe and soon, the Middle East bringing psychological science to bear on
business decision makers. Select better, interview with intent, develop leaders and
know who your talented people are, why they stay and why they leave.

www.omnicor.eu

LeaderZone is Omnicor’s online sister company a site for business leaders at all
levels who want to be better at guiding and leading their teams. Accelerating
leader development. James Ashton is LeaderZone’s principal author and coach,
subscribe for free to receive weekly newsbriefs and subscriber opportunities

www.leaderzone.org

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