E
Entrepreneurial Mind, The
Francesca Flood
Hope Verdad, LLC, Lake Frederick, VA, USA
Definitions
Bootstrap: Get (oneself or something) into or out
of a situation using existing resources.
Offshoot industries: Markets, products, and ser-
vices that have developed from the study and
promotion of entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurial spirit: A mindset that embraces
curiosity through continuous and critical
questioning and seeks innovation by product,
service, or operational improvement with a
willingness to accept risks.
Personality constellation: A set of ideas, condi-
tions, symptoms, or traits that fall into or
appear to fall into a pattern affecting personal-
ity and behavior.
Locus of control: A psychological concept that
refers to how strongly people believe they have
or lack control over the situations and experi-
ences that affect their lives.
Emotional Intelligence: The ability to under-
stand, use, and manage one’s own emotions
in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate
effectively, empathize with others, overcome
challenges, and defuse conflict.
Neuroticism: Propensity toward anxiety, depres-
sion, self-doubt, and other negative feelings.
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
A. Farazmand (ed.), Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_4200-1
One of the Big-5 macrotraits on personality
testing.
Introduction
The subject of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship
has created much examination, debate, and many
unresolved questions. Are entrepreneurs born
with a certain “gene,” that fosters this spirit, or
are entrepreneurs made from an amalgamation of
life experiences? Does being self-employed or a
business owner mean the person is an entrepre-
neur? The topic of the entrepreneurial mind also
raises many questions. What personality traits do
entrepreneurs possess? Are these personality traits
required to become an entrepreneur? Can a person
be successful without them? Are entrepreneurs
risk takers, happy, anxious, resilient, and so
forth? Indeed, research on entrepreneurial person-
ality traits is replete in the literature and empha-
sized as a contributing factor. Yet beyond
personality traits, the entrepreneurial mind
requires further examination. Gender, relationship
with family, leadership skills, circumstance, and
other contextual factors play a role and can influ-
ence the entrepreneurial mind. While this entry
will discuss some of the personality traits associ-
ated with entrepreneurs, it will also expose and
explore other influencing facets. What defines an
entrepreneur is not a tidy subject with one, defin-
itive, and universally agreed upon understanding.
Misconceptions on the subject persist and
2 Entrepreneurial Mind, The
entrepreneurship have darker challenges that are
not as vastly explored as personality traits. In this
entry, the reader will be exposed to an array of
variables that influence and shape entrepreneurs
and their experiences with an aim to provoke
thought for current entrepreneurs and those who
dream of becoming one.
Background
Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? This
age-old question is a causality dilemma that sug-
gests it is impossible to decide which of two
things caused the other one. A similar question
holds true for entrepreneurs. Are they born or are
they made? It is a subject that industry specialist,
psychologists, academicians, thought leaders,
capitalists, and a whole host of others debate.
The answer to this question will depend on who
you are asking, and there will be no clear-cut
answer. Depending on one’s theory, some believe
nature, some nurture, and others believe it may be
both that contribute to an entrepreneur’s creation.
Yet whether a person is born an entrepreneur or
becomes one through life experiences, there is a
general consensus that they possess certain per-
sonality constellations or traits that enable and
foster an entrepreneurial spirit.
Personality traits are the single most unique
thing about an individual. According to Allport
(1937), traits are organized into a three-level hier-
archy. Cardinal traits are rare because few people
have personalities dominated by one trait. These
traits are pervasive characteristics that strongly
determine one’s behavior and become the individ-
ual’s identity (e.g., Scrooge was greedy. Hitler
was ruthless. Mother Teresa was compassionate).
Central traits influence but do not determine an
individual’s behavior. They are general character-
istics that form basic personality foundations pre-
sent in varying degrees in all individuals such as
“moody,” “warm,” or “intelligent.” Secondary
traits are strongly dependent upon immediate con-
text and can influence but do not determine an
individual’s behavior (a person who is usually
confident gets stage fright). Regarded as dynamic
forces, traits combine and interact with each other
and the environment forming a personality that is
unique to each person (Allport 1937).
Personality Traits in Entrepreneurs
Personality tests are in abundance. When we test
personalities, we are attempting the best way to
inventory, summarize, and understand an individ-
ual. Though there seems to be countless person-
ality variables, five traits appear to distinguish
themselves in terms of explaining someone’s
answers to personality questions. These five traits,
or the “Big-5,” are macrotraits including open-
ness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeable-
ness, and neuroticism. The Big-5 personality traits
are the best accepted and most used model of
personality in academic psychology and have
been found to affect career choice and work per-
formance (Personality Traits and Entrepreneurs
2020). When examining for entrepreneurial intent
or orientation, several additional traits have been
merged with the Big-5 including self-efficacy,
innovativeness, locus of control, and risk attitudes
(Kerr et al. 2018).
Though the study of entrepreneurs’ personality
traits has been extensive in the last several
decades, few would claim it is an unambiguous
topic or precise science. There are many reasons
for the individual’s choice to become an entrepre-
neur. While there is a heavy emphasis on risk-
taking or risk tolerance, when two entrepreneurs
are compared, one must consider their back story.
One entrepreneur may have zero risk aversion
because he/she comes from wealth, while another
has financially bootstrapped him/herself taking
major risks. Which of the two entrepreneurs
would be defined as truly a risk taker? As a
heterogenous group, there many confounding
socio-demographic variables such as stage of
life, culture, and geographic location to name a
few that can influence entrepreneurial personality
and behavior. Gartner (1988) warned against test-
ing for the ideal traits as they do not exist.
“Research on the entrepreneur should focus on
what the entrepreneur does and not who the entre-
preneur is” (p. 21). Many do not share this view
and would argue that being an entrepreneur is all
Entrepreneurial Mind, The
about personality traits. It is these noncognitive
skills, such as personality traits that predict entre-
preneurial behavior in creating and managing a
business venture (Sorgner 2015).
Beyond the “Big-5,” when it comes to discus-
sion about an entrepreneur’s personality traits,
there is no shortage of descriptive terms.
Researchers, bloggers, academics, and entrepre-
neurs themselves have ascribed a multitude of
traits to the entrepreneur. Following is a cursory
description of some of these traits.
1. Achievement Motivation is an individual’s
need to meet goals, receive feedback, and
experience a sense of accomplishment. It usu-
ally refers to a level of an individual’s motiva-
tion to engage in behaviors with the
expectancy of success and its commensurate
reward (Stewart and Roth 2007). This need for
achievement is causally related to entrepre-
neurial persistence (Wu et al. 2007).
2. Locus of Control (Internal and External).
According to Mirowsky (1995), the sense of
control has two loci, internal and external.
Those who possess an external locus of control
tend to believe that having good luck plays a
role for the good things that happen in life.
They feel little control over their lives because
external influences such as chance, fate, or
environmental elements are at work. Those
with an internal locus of control such as entre-
preneurs believe they are in control of out-
comes and that they are responsible for their
own successes and failures. Their future is
determined by their choices. They view that
their decisions alone control their fate. Seren-
dipity or luck is influenceable by their actions
(Dew 2009).
3. Resilience. The three dimensions of resilience
are hardiness, resourcefulness, and optimism,
and resilience could be a key factor in the
explanation of entrepreneurial success (Ayala
and Manzano 2014). Based on the number of
businesses that fail in the first five years, it is a
small wonder how many entrepreneurs will
begin again and start another venture. Success-
ful entrepreneurs have endurance. Despite the
number of rejections from banks or investors,
3
they will figure out a workaround, problem
solving through resourcefulness while
maintaining optimism in their idea.
4. Risk Taker. Risk taking has become synony-
mous with entrepreneurship and that one must
not be risk adverse, or immune to uncertainty
to become an entrepreneur. Most entrepreneurs
spend their own capital, forego paychecks,
place their reputation on the line, and invest
an abundance of time to make their dream
happen, or not. All risks are not equal. Some
are ambiguous risks with knowns and
unknowns. Some risks are fraught only
unknowns. Risk taking is often misconstrued
as blind faith when in fact, most entrepreneurs
attempt to minimize their risk through careful
analysis. They examine the downside versus
reward and whether the risk is merited. The
ability to calculate risk is a valuable tool for
both success and lessons learned from failures.
Given that humans are inherently risk adverse,
risk taking can differentiate the entrepreneur
from others unwilling to take the risk. How-
ever, according to Cheng (2019), while person-
ality traits do influence one’s ability to take
risk, the propensity for risk taking does not
always translate to business success.
5. Creativity has increasingly been recognized as
a driver of competitiveness, innovation, and
major contributor to economic development.
Artistic creativity is associated with imagina-
tion, idea generation, and an ability to see and
interpret things differently (Del Monte and
Pennacchio 2020). An entrepreneur’s mind
revolves around innovation, generating ideas,
seeing patterns, developing novel approaches,
and recognizing when a niche market opportu-
nity is present. Entrepreneurs create things, are
doers, and like the challenge of discovering
new solutions. In entrepreneurship, creativity
refers to the source of inventiveness, develop-
ing new products, services, and new
operational ways.
6. Curiosity is “defined as a cognitive process of
self-stimulation by divergent or contrarian
thinking, in the absence of any external cues
like a market need—is both necessary and
sufficient to motivate entrepreneurs to begin
4 Entrepreneurial Mind, The
the creation process” (Berlyne 1960). Curios-
ity drives innovation by thoughtful explora-
tion, solution seeking, and thinking outside
predefined parameters. It enables entrepre-
neurs to be engaged in the world, observing
how things work, how they might be
improved, and possessing an openness to new
possibilities. Such openness does not approach
possibilities with preconceived assumptions,
historical references, bias, or prejudice. It emu-
lates the perfect state of a child’s mind exuding
inquisitiveness.
7. Self-Awareness is our conscious knowledge of
our strengths, weaknesses, feelings, motiva-
tions, desires, and character. In a longitudinal
study, Eurich (2020) queried thousands of peo-
ple over several years about self-awareness.
While 95 percent believed they were self-
aware, Eurich posited that only 10–15 percent
are. Self-awareness involves the ability to com-
municate effectively, to influence, to possess
emotional intelligence, and to foster collabora-
tion. When one is in possession of self-
awareness, it will contribute significantly to
an entrepreneurial endeavor. A self-aware
leader is willing to share recognition, listens
to perceptions of others, and is open to change
(Jastzabski 2020). Entrepreneurs who under-
stand their own strengths and limitations are
better equipped to leverage this knowledge.
They apply what they know and delegate
work that requires the skills they lack. When
one is self-aware, he/she is in a better position
to give feedback, open to receive it, and have
meaningful communication.
There are many other descriptors used for an
entrepreneur’s personality traits. Such words
include dreamer, visionary, decisiveness, doers,
tenacity, determination, passion, dedication, daring,
bold, devotion, discipline, flexibility, empathetic,
open-mindedness, communicative, confident, self-
motivated, process oriented, and charismatic,
among others. Entrepreneurship requires over-
confidence, believing one is better than everyone
else (Wharton University of Pennsylvania 2015).
There is some confusion that introversion connotes
a lack of confidence and many assume that
entrepreneurs must be extroverted to be successful.
This is inaccurate. Introversion and extroversion are
not absolute values of either one or the other, but a
matter of degree on a continuum. There have been
many self-proclaimed introverted entrepreneurs
such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, and
Mark Zuckerberg who have exercised the much-
needed skills of problem solving and confident deci-
sion making (Castrillon 2019).
When an entrepreneur builds a business, it is
typically “their baby” and will acquire many of
the values and characteristics of the builder. As the
business evolves, the entrepreneur’s personality
traits may shift as well. For example, during the
start-up phase, the individual may be more of a
risk-taker believing he/she has nothing to lose. As
the business matures and the entrepreneur ages,
he/she may become more risk averse knowing
there is something (financial, reputation, etc.)
that can be lost. As entrepreneurs scale their busi-
ness, these changes will require them to adapt to a
changing environment. Personalities, priorities,
and values may shift through new social interac-
tions, experiences, and rethinking operations
(Ekinci et al. 2020).
Personality Traits and Gender
Differences
The number of female entrepreneurs has steadily
increased worldwide, but women are still behind
men as entrepreneurs (Business News Daily
2020). With women almost equal in number to
men globally, the question of why there are fewer
women entrepreneurs needs exploration (United
Nations, Department of Economic and Social
Affairs, Population Division 2019). There is a
sense that many women may be disinclined to
becoming entrepreneurs because of its ultra-
masculine image (Personality Traits and
Entrepreneurs 2020). Liquidity constraints, access
to starting capital, and/or gender gap in risk aver-
sion may also play an adverse role in female
entrepreneurship (Sauer and Wilson 2016).
According to Mollick (2015), gender is a strong
predictor of whether one will choose to become an
entrepreneur and women are less likely than men.
Entrepreneurial Mind, The
As the number of women entrepreneurs grow,
understanding the key differences between men
and women and how those differences influence
entry and approach to entrepreneurship will
become increasingly important as a research
subject.
When thinking about entrepreneurial personal-
ity traits, Mollick (2015) describes the “male
hubris, female humility effect” which presents
across all cultures and ages. This effect posits
that women have lower levels of hubris than
men and men are more likely to be overconfident.
Armed with this overconfidence, men are more
likely to make a fundamental attribution error
which ascribes ownership of success to their
genius and failures to bad luck or some other
outside forces.
Females demonstrate a higher level of opti-
mism and internal locus of control than their
male counterpart, but attitudinally shy away
from debt (Vieira et al. 2020). While women
tend to shy away from debt, men are more likely
to borrow and get into more financial trouble. This
may tie into Mollick’s statement about male over-
confidence. Men tend to display more individual-
istic tendencies while women rate considerably
higher on interpersonal relationships. It should
be recognized that these gender differences have
long been assumed as social norms and they may
exacerbate this perception (Personality Trait and
Entrepreneurs 2020).
When compared to men, women have a con-
siderably higher “communal tendency.” This ori-
entation might offer a route into entrepreneurship
which radically differs from the conventional
masculine approach founded on individuality. In
emerging markets, this communal tendency is
demonstrated with women reinvesting 90 percent
of every additional dollar of income into the edu-
cation, health, and nutrition of their families,
whereas men contribute between 30 percent and
40 percent. Such contribution drives the
wellbeing of family, community, and country
and perhaps because of this, women entrepreneurs
tend to be more successful because of their trusted
status in the community (VanderBrug 2013).
In 2014, Bank of America studied (Business
News Daily 2020) male and female entrepreneurs
5
asking them to rate their strengths. Multitasking
was listed by 58 percent of the women and 40 per-
cent of the men. Women were 10 percent more
likely to list creativity and 5 percent more likely to
list empathy as key character traits for their
employees. Men (30%) listed confidence as their
strongest trait, while women (24%) listed it as
such. According to Ayala and Manzano (2014),
a key factor in predicting whether an entrepreneur
will be successful depends on his or her resource-
fulness. The ability to predict this success of those
who have resilience and optimism differed
between men and women. Optimism plays a
much greater role on the success of their business
for women than for men.
The entrepreneurial mind uses a dynamic men-
tal model to assimilate environmental factors and
opportunities to create new products, services,
and business models. Confidence, intuitiveness,
knowledge, and a dose of subjectivity will influ-
ence the process and the decisions made. Men and
women are lured into entrepreneurship with ambi-
tions of wealth, financial freedoms, control over
one’s life and career choice, and creating a legacy
through achievement. There are differences
between the genders. Yet research reveals that
regardless of gender, traits such as ambition and
a propensity for risk are inherent characteristics
(Cheng 2019).
The Entrepreneur and Family
There is a wealth of information on the history of
families and entrepreneurship. Families and entre-
preneurial processes have existed in antiquity
playing an essential role as building blocks that
have developed, maintained, and sustained socie-
ties (Danes and Zachary 2021). Many families
have endeavored to create entrepreneurial enter-
prises achieving enduring success and creating
generations of children who subsequently become
entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurial families have created iconic
giants such as Walmart, Anheuser-Busch, Disney,
and Roche. Research on how entrepreneurial fam-
ilies interact, function, build, and create succes-
sion plans has received an abundance of attention.
6 Entrepreneurial Mind, The
Entrepreneurial family relationships have an
impact on the business and its performance. The
extent of the impact is dependent on the type of
familial relationship. The entrepreneur–child rela-
tionship is the dominant dyad familial relationship
in entrepreneurship (Adjei et al. 2019.
Perhaps a less explored topic is the entrepre-
neur’s relationship to his or her family when they
are not involved in the “family” business and how
family members respond, adapt, and cope in being
along for the journey. When the entrepreneur is
effectively operating the entrepreneurial endeavor
as an individual, are there implications for the
family of the entrepreneur? According to Business
News Daily (2020), when entrepreneurs were
questioned about how being an entrepreneur
might affect their family, women respondents
reported they were more likely to sacrifice time
for themselves and their social lives for the sake
of the business. Men reported that they were more
likely to sacrifice time with the spouse/partner and
children. Women were more likely to find work for
their children and hire them within the company.
Men thought it best that their children did not work
at the company. A common lament from both men
and women was that they did not spend enough
time with their loved ones, and this was recognized
as the top regret. Participants took solace in know-
ing they oversaw their career, were passionate
about their work, and were producing a livelihood
to support their families. Yet despite how entrepre-
neurs feel about their relationship (or lack thereof)
with their family, those in the orbit of the entrepre-
neur (whether spouse, partner, parent, or child),
who are not directly involved in the day-to-day
operations, are still part of the entrepreneurial jour-
ney and have their own thoughts and feelings.
Later in this entry, there is mention of impres-
sion management, where to the outside world, the
entrepreneur smiles and radiates a sense that all is
right with the world because he/she is winning.
Yet behind what is sometimes a mask, all is not all
right, and the entrepreneur is suffering through
personal struggles. Though he/she might try to
conceal this underbelly from his/her family, the
reality is that the family is intimately aware of the
chaos, fear, and rollercoaster ride that is entrepre-
neurship (Hirshberg 2012). Without being in the
business of entrepreneurship, families are still
affected. The uncertainty of finances, emotional
lability, highest highs, and lowest lows trickle
down through family members. The entrepreneur
turns the engine, and the family is along for the
ride. Sometimes they are providing insight, com-
fort, and reassurance, and often serving as cheer-
leader. They can become mutual dream chasers or
dream destroyers.
When homes are mortgaged, credit lines taken
to their limits, and the victory dance seems a far-
off reality, many marriages fail. Divorce lawyers
estimate that entrepreneur divorce rate is five or
ten percent higher than nonentrepreneurs (Smith
2017). If the only passion an entrepreneur has is
for his/her business, then that business may get in
the way of marriage. Many spouses or partners
who join the entrepreneur for the adventure do not
appreciate what they signed on to, nor do their
children have any choice. For each billion-dollar
entrepreneurial success story, there are millions of
endeavors that have failed. Without care, the
entrepreneur’s ambitions become the central char-
acter of the story, perhaps sidelining the hopes and
dreams of other family members. From the family
member’s perspective, the despair, stress, anxiety,
emotional neglect, and anger make it incompre-
hensible to understand the entrepreneur’s opti-
mism that success is on the way (Hirshberg 2012).
There are many cautionary tales that advise
those who undertake the entrepreneurial lifestyle
to create a plan with their family. This means
including family as a priority in the plan. Making
time that cannot be broken or rescheduled, ensure
communication is open, honest, and real. To
assuage financial upheaval and uncertainty, place
money for family goals such as education, vaca-
tion, or other priorities that cannot be accessed no
matter how dire the company’s needs. Being an
entrepreneur may not be for the faint of heart.
Being part of his/her family may not be for the
timid as well.
Leaders, Managers, and Entrepreneurs
When we hear or read about successful entrepre-
neurial startups, often people think that the
Entrepreneurial Mind, The
entrepreneur is young, single, or perhaps dropped
out of college. The founders of such companies as
Microsoft (Bill Gates, 23), Facebook (Mark
Zuckerberg, 19), and Apple (Steve Jobs, 21) met
this description. Some might deem these founders
as outliers and indeed, their accomplishments
given their age and experience level make them
exceptional. Their stories are daring and bold, per-
petuating the misperception model of true entre-
preneurs. The reality is that most founders garner
work experience before starting their own com-
pany. According to Azoulay et al. (2018), the aver-
age age for high growth start-ups was 45 years old.
Through previous employment, entrepreneurs
learn many skills that will be useful when they
launch their own company. In addition to entrepre-
neur, they will serve as leader, manager, and super-
visor. Without this prior experience, it is
challenging to learn these skills as they
go. Possessing business talent, the practical intelli-
gence, and street savvy, one earns in the trenches of
employment can discern successful entrepreneurs
from those who fail. While intelligence is an impor-
tant component, sometimes it is not enough to learn
vital skills on the fly (Sharma 2019).
Many entrepreneurs possess personality traits
such as openness, conscientiousness, vision, extra-
version, and agreeableness that are necessary qual-
ities for leadership. Yet translating these skills into
actionable people management may be fraught
with challenges. Having a vision and creating a
business does not necessarily ensure the entrepre-
neur will be a good manager of people, know how
to run the business, or instinctively be a great
leader. Good managers not only oversee their
own responsibilities, but can set clear priorities,
communicate, and delegate tasks efficiently to
their team. In many start-ups, entrepreneurs wear
many hats and do many jobs. Their hands-on expe-
rience, fast paced mind, and knowing how to “get it
done” drive many entrepreneurs to do it themselves
rather than delegate. There is a degree of frustration
in an employee’s learning curve and inability to
perform at the desired level of satisfaction. Entre-
preneurs have a higher achievement motivation
than managers and this can influence their annoy-
ance with employees (Stewart and Roth 2007).
Because the entrepreneur is willing to do whatever
7
it takes, he/she may overestimate the quantity of
work expected from employees and how many
hours they must commit.
Being an entrepreneur is not necessarily syn-
onymous with inspirational leadership or natural
born leader. Without the appropriate people,
social, and communication skills, the best vision-
ary cannot convert an idea into reality unless
he/she intends to do it alone. Many successful
entrepreneurs learn these soft skills through trial-
and-error lessons while employed elsewhere.
When they are ready to launch their own business,
managing people skills will shorten the learning
curving, lift the burden of doing all the jobs, and
perhaps increase opportunity for success. Good
managers delegate and get out of the way.
Possessing passion and vision, many entrepre-
neurs think each employee must be imbued with
the same beliefs about the company. Believing in
their brilliant idea, entrepreneurs may think
employees will follow them. They confuse their
mind-set and motivations with that of an employee.
Employees may not have the same aspirations. It is
after all, not “their baby.” If employees are not
quite as enamored, entrepreneurs may misinterpret
this lack of enthusiasm for disloyalty or incompe-
tence. Rather than use matched enthusiasm as the
litmus test for employment, leaders are better
served to communicate goals, explain how they
fit into the larger picture, and recognize an
employee’s contribution when it occurs.
Unlike employment where coworkers were
friends and peers, founders are now the boss with
no one to vent to and are often alone. Getting a
company off the ground has many moving parts
and many emotions. Chief among them is fear. Fear
of failure, of being perceived incompetent, of los-
ing credibility and authority (Jalali 2015). When
leaders manage from a place of fear, it usually
results in a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure.
Perhaps one of the greatest challenges
confronted by entrepreneurs is finding qualified
talent to help get the company off the ground.
Without adequate capital to attract and pay expe-
rienced staff, entrepreneurs may bootstrap their
staffing by hiring less skilled employees. Often,
entrepreneurs will bring in family members,
friends, school mates, and others to fill in
8 Entrepreneurial Mind, The
positions for which they are not qualified. As the
company grows and is better positioned to hire
talent, the entrepreneur tends to fear losing friends
and upset family ultimately avoiding the tough
decisions to change out roles and fill the jobs
with qualified candidates. Additionally, if the
entrepreneur is not self-assured, he/she may be
threatened by candidates who are smarter or pos-
sess different skills and avoid hiring top talent.
The Darker Side of Entrepreneurship
The word entrepreneur conjures images of wealth,
success, and self-confidence. Indeed, some syno-
nyms include magnate, mogul, and tycoon. We
admire or idolize figures such as Bezos,
Zuckerberg, Musk, Branson, Ellison, Cuban,
Gates, Jobs, Orpah, and others as iconic heroes
who as entrepreneurs seemingly became billion-
aires overnight. Their stories are inspirational,
prompting many to enter the entrepreneurial fray.
These giants make it look easy. But nothing could
be further from the truth. Without doubt, each of
these figures has put in countless hours, endured
challenges, made sacrifices, and perhaps experi-
enced emotional turmoil. It is the side to entrepre-
neurship to which we turn a blind eye and
perhaps, an unwillingness to accept that our
heroes have vulnerabilities. It is the underbelly
of entrepreneurship we tend to gloss over.
Despite the positivity associated with entrepre-
neurship and entrepreneurs, it is equally important
to examine and understand their cognitive, affec-
tive, and behavioral vulnerabilities. In a 2015
study, Freeman, Johnson, Staudemmajer, and
Zisser reported interesting, yet alarming statistics.
Of the entrepreneur participants, 72 percent self-
reported mental health concerns. “. . .entrepreneurs
were significantly more likely to report a lifetime
history of depression (30%), ADHD (29%), sub-
stance use conditions (12%) and bipolar diagnosis
(11%) than were comparison participants”
(Freeman et al. 2015, p. 3). Societies do an extraor-
dinary marketing job in promoting entrepreneur-
ship. There is a perception that being an
entrepreneur is an exciting, fast-paced, adrenaline
pumping profession, and rewarding. Still, many do
not consider the darker mental and emotional toll
this pressure can take. As exciting and glamorous
as entrepreneurship sounds, there are reasons why
many who might consider becoming an entrepre-
neur, do not. According to Gustafson (2020), the
failure rate for small business is frightening.
Given these statistics and the associated stress,
why would anyone want to adventure into entre-
preneurship? Generally, entrepreneurs overall
have lower long-term earnings, increased stress,
and psychosomatic health issues. Their lifestyle is
dictated by the needs of their company working
longer hours, holidays, and weekends. There is
chronic stress and uncertainty in addition to a
greater investment of psychological, emotional,
and physical resources (Freeman et al. 2015).
For many there is no turning off the company
when the entrepreneur turns off the lights. Work
follows the individual home, dines with him or
her, invades dreams, sits at children’s sporting
events, and needles its way into nearly every
facet of the person’s life because in many ways it
is the entrepreneur’s life.
Most of us take pride in our work, careers, and
the jobs we do. Many of us derive our sense of
worth and/or identity from our jobs and subse-
quently our titles. However, when our name is not
on the building or associated with the creation of
the company, if things go badly, we may take
comfort that we are an employee, not the founder.
For many entrepreneurs, their company is their
identity and if it fails, it is personal. Yes, resiliency
is one of the personality traits that distinguishes
entrepreneurs, but they are not superhuman or bul-
let proof. When companies falter, payrolls cannot
be met, dreams crumble, reputations are shattered,
or there is responsibility for others to lose their
livelihood, it takes an emotional toll. Trying to
maintain a dynamic growth trajectory for one’s
company may become untenable, causing the
entrepreneur to feel trapped. It is in these circum-
stances when some may feel there is no alternative
but to commit suicide (Gourguechon 2018).
There is a paucity of data on the suicide rate of
entrepreneurs. The deaths of famous entrepreneurs
such as Anthony Bourdain, Angad Paul, Kate
Spade, VG Siddhartha, Ilya Zhitomirskiy, Lucky
Gupta Agarwal, and Aaron Swartz put a face on the
Entrepreneurial Mind, The
phenomenon and begin to shed a light on the
struggles even successful people have with depres-
sion, anxiety, and an inability to live up to unreal or
self-imposed expectations. Few can live under a
constant state of stress, uncertainty, and a
rollercoaster of emotions without fissures surfac-
ing. According to Gourguechon (2018), entrepre-
neurs are at greater risk given their convergence
with traits associated with heightened suicide.
These traits include impulsivity, depression, social
isolation, and humiliation, rejection, and failure.
Behind the façade of confidence and success
may be someone suffering in quiet despair hoping
their world, their work does not disintegrate. The
maxim, “Fake it until you make,” perpetuates
impression management, how we control or influ-
ence other’s perceptions of us. Many entrepre-
neurs will attempt to look successful by driving
a luxury car, wearing designer apparel, and/or
picking up the bill for meals, all of which are
beyond their financial means. The perception of
success does not equal reality and maintaining the
impression of success increases the stress.
“. . .common sense says that the high-stress life,
enormous uncertainty, exhaustion and risk of
humiliation that every entrepreneur endures
makes a case for increased caution”
(Gourguechon 2018). The business endeavor and
its creator are inextricable linked and perhaps
psychologically one and the same. If we experi-
ence failure as an employee, though disappointing
it may not be felt at the same personal level of loss
as an entrepreneur. Hard work is often required to
succeed, but it does not assure success, and entre-
preneurship is no exception. Rarely do entrepre-
neurs publicly discuss what is known as
“entrepreneurial terror, an all-encompassing
dread that comes from nowhere and throws its
coils around you like a python ready to feed”
(Rao 2013). While there are numerous benefits
to entrepreneurship, we are also best served to be
mindful to its downside.
Exploring Facets of Entrepreneurship
In about 1800, French economist Jean Baptiste
Say coined the term Entrepreneur – which literally
9
means adventurer (Beattie 2019). According to
Hayes (2020), entrepreneurs are people who cre-
ate new businesses, bear the brunt of risk, and
enjoy the rewards. These individuals are com-
monly seen as innovators, who develop new
ideas for products or services for the market or
introduce new operational procedures. However,
when we try to define who is, and who is not an
entrepreneur, answers become subjective. Some
will say that being an entrepreneur is not an occu-
pation. Still, others would state that being an
entrepreneur should be considered a profession
just like lawyers, doctors, and accountants (Caan
2014). The definition of what constitutes an entre-
preneur is at times quite murky and is often con-
fused with self-employment (Martinez et al.
2007). There are a variety of individuals such as
medical professionals, contractors, consultants
who establish a new business, take risks, are
self-employed but would not be considered entre-
preneurs. Many practicing law, medicine, dental,
or architecture establish practices based on histor-
ical stability, and short of malpractice, have min-
imal downside risks. Gartner (1988), “. . .
disapproved of the varying definitions being
used for entrepreneurship, preferring to focus on
a definition that emphasized the functional crea-
tion of new organizations.” What defines a “new
organization” may be up for debate. Organiza-
tions vary from offering to revenue to number of
employees. Moreover, some begin a company
without intention to grow into a larger organiza-
tion or chain. For example, a local florist or baker.
Their founder would however meet many of the
criteria for entrepreneur.
Entrepreneurs may be born from opportunities,
or from necessity as is evidence in many parts of
the world. Despite all the coverage about entre-
preneurs and their optimism, most fail. Still, many
are willing to join the ranks (Sharma 2019). Per-
haps the study of entrepreneurship becomes less
about the traits of the individual and more focused
on the how he/she built a lasting organization
(Gartner 1988). A nascent body of research is
emerging that suggests more affluence is posi-
tively correlated with entrepreneurship because
if affords greater accessibility to capital and
liquidity. This is not to suggest that only family
10
wealth or inheritance will fuel entrepreneurs.
Many save funds in preparation for his/her entre-
preneurial endeavors (Sauer and Wilson 2016).
Franchising and Entrepreneurship
After a series of diverse jobs, Ray Kroc joined
McDonald’s as a franchise agent. Under his lead-
ership and vision, he built McDonald’s into one of
the most iconic, successful fast-food operations in
the world. Kroc is recognized for making many
innovative changes in the food-service franchise
model. Few would argue that Mr. Kroc was
indeed an entrepreneur in every sense of the
word. Today, for a minimum of $500,000, one
can purchase a McDonald’s franchise
(McDonalds.com 2020). Some would argue that
the franchisee is an entrepreneur while others
would state he/she is a business owner. After all,
aren’t entrepreneurs the ones to have the idea or
innovation around which they build their business
and take all the risks to succeed? This question
demonstrates the ambiguity in the definition.
Disruptive Innovation
Entrepreneurs see openings in the market that are
often overlooked or discarded as nonviable.
Spaces where they plant their ideas and the roots
of business take hold. According to Si and Chen
(2020), the disruptive innovation theory intro-
duced by Christensen twenty years ago and has
since been applied to many incorrect scenarios.
“. . . there is inconsistency between the theory and
the real business practice” (p. 1). Without careful
application and understanding of this theory, it is a
terminology that can quickly become a buzz
word. In its original explanation, “disruptive tech-
nology” mainly referred to types of technology
that while inferior to the main features consumers
valued, alternatively offered some overlooked ele-
ments. Over time, these new technologies eroded
market share to surpass the dominant technologies
in specific markets. “Disruptive Innovation
describes a process by which a product or service
initially takes root in simple applications at the
Entrepreneurial Mind, The
bottom of a market—typically by being less
expensive and more accessible—and then relent-
lessly moves upmarket, eventually displacing
established competitors” (Christensen Institute
2020). Examples of disruptive companies include
TurboTax, Airbnb, Netflix, and Amazon. These
entrepreneurs saw an entry point at the low end of
the market, serving customers that might other-
wise have been deemed nonprofitable by their
respective industry, and over time dominated the
market.
Industry Improvement
In 2013, purchasing a medallion for a yellow
taxicab cost upwards of one million dollars.
Some might consider these cab drivers entrepre-
neurial taking on the risks of self-employment and
debt to make the purchase. Others would say there
was little risk associated with the iconic yellow
cabs of New York. In 2019, these same taxi
medallions could be purchased between
$120,000 and $150,000 (Parra 2019). What hap-
pened? In 2009, Uber founders, Kalanick, and
Camp built a platform that matched empty seats
in cars with customers going in the same direc-
tion. The company evolved into dedicated drivers
taking customers to their desired destination
becoming a large contributor to the gig economy
of contract workers. At face value, many would
think Uber was a disruptive innovation and many
medallion owners would agree. However, Uber
does not meet the criteria. They did not enter the
market at a lower price but targeted the same
customers of the yellow cabs. Their business
model is about sustaining innovation, incremen-
tally improving an existing industry.
Disruptive or not, these entrepreneurs saw
opportunity. Malcom Gladwell (2002) posits that
the successful entrepreneur carefully assesses the
situation, sees an opportunity that most others do
not see, and seizes upon it. If we focus on inno-
vation as a requirement, does setting up a hotdog
stand, qualify the vendor as an entrepreneur, or is
he/she a business owner? Few would argue that
Jon Carder, who as a child set up a hotdog stand,
continued with a series of ideas, and became a
Entrepreneurial Mind, The
millionaire by 27 years old is an entrepreneur
(Cremades 2019). The line of distinction between
business owner and entrepreneur can at times
become blurred. Are food truck owners or fran-
chisees any less of an entrepreneur than a brick-
and-mortar restaurant owner?
Offshoot Industries
Those who teach entrepreneurship, coach entre-
preneurs, and/or write books, blogs, and academic
articles about them may very well be entrepre-
neurs themselves. Recognizing the opportunity,
analyzing its potential, and seizing upon it, many
have created offshoot businesses based on entre-
preneurship. Various universities teach about
entrepreneurship, provide tutorials on how to
become one, and guide budding entrepreneurs
through experiential programs. It is big business
to encourage and educate would-be entrepreneurs.
An entire industry of books, magazines, blogs,
and countless articles have been written on the
subject. Innovative entrepreneurs have created
software tools, coaching sites, and constructed
new personality tests to gauge whether one has
what it takes to be an entrepreneur.
Conclusion
To understand the entrepreneurial mind, we must
recognize that the subject encompasses more than
personality traits and should be examined from a
multifaceted approach. Gender, culture, socio-
demographics, and other elements contribute to
how entrepreneurs think about themselves, others,
the definition of entrepreneurship, and how they set
out to create business from an idea. Along with the
highs of success, there is a darker side that is not
discussed as frequently. There is no clear synthesis
on the subject because no two minds are exactly
alike. Longstanding debates on whether entrepre-
neurs are born or made or whether business owners
are entrepreneurs will continue. Perhaps entrepre-
neurship is like art and as such, has a degree of
subjectivity and opinion. Though this entry cov-
ered a broad variety of elements that might
11
influence the entrepreneurial mind, it will not
resolve many of the outstanding debates on the
subject. Instead, perhaps it will stimulate more
thought for the entrepreneurial mind.
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