Insites from Jenny Kahn on Michelle Duval’s Research

Hi Geoff, Ivan , Emma and Sam

Congrats on an excellent Gala Event this morning.

Michelle Duval was an informative and inspiring keynote speaker and left the attendees with much to think about regarding the research she has conducted about Entrepreneurs.

A few take-home insights: 

Michelle distinguished between Entrepreneurs and Business Builders and their respective attitudes
-Entrepreneurs : those leaders who start businesses with a view to exiting within 5 yrs
-Business Builders: those leaders who start businesses with view to growing it for 10-15 years

Entrepreneurs’ focus:

24% less on detail
33% more on power
28% less on Procedures
21% more indifferent to rules
34% more on gut feel
41% less on external inputs (except in technology)
40% more initiate to start (critical for early stage success)
44% less structured planning
44% more on $ (love of commercial side of business)

Business Builders’ focus

37% more on structured planning
31% more on procedures

Major differentiator is focus for 1st group on the “Big Picture” . 30% greater focus on this - allowing them to move faster, see opportunities, more rounds of investment, higher revenue, bigger companies. 

Also of note was that it is predicted that 1 billion people plan to start businesses in the next 3 years. 
98% of these will fails and 60% of these will have failed within 3 years. 

44% will be due to poor entrepreneurial leadership and management.

It is clear that one needs different leadership attributes - and attitudes for different phases.

I have attached an article in Harvard Business Review by Rosabeth Moss Kanter which I have used in the past and found helpful for leaders which also focuses on the merits of both big picture and operational thinking.  She refers to “Zooming out” (big picture) and “Zooming in” (operational/ planning/ procedural). These lenses through which leaders view the world can help or hinder their ability to make good strategic decisions. Hope you find it helpful - as I did.

Kind regards,
Jenny Kahn.

(For those readers who want a copy of the article - put your name down in the comments below and I will send you the link)