There are so many 60-year-old managers who don’t feel like stepping down, sit on the couch and watch TV at home; there are still so many who want to give their all and pass down their know-how, helping companies to solve the most pressing and complex issues. They may be “seasoned” all right, but they are still full of energy and with a large, well checked baggage of skills. Surely, not all of them have…

“Innovation” factor, the element for survival The entrepreneurial leader is faced every day with an ever-changing environment, where changes in the economic, political and social systems happen fast. While facing this challenge, a leader must keep, and possibly improve, their competitive advantage. This combination between the ability to adapt to the changes of the society and the inclination to improve and innovate, is a distinctive feature of entrepreneurial leadership. AS= adaptive skills It’s typical human…

L as Luck, is one more element in our formula of the DNA of an entrepreneurial leader. It’s possibly the most questionable element, given its irrational nature. There have been politicians and great leaders who used to take important decisions after consulting seers and horoscopes. Most people will find this amusing, but we have all crossed our fingers, or touched wood, or performed who knows what other propitiatory gestures at some point, hoping it could…

The entrepreneurial leader possesses unique character traits: a mix of tenacity, eagerness to learn and improve, curiosity and a keen eye for details. TENACIOUS The entrepreneurial leader is a tireless, result-oriented worker. They endure stress and fatigue, and they bear with hardships in difficult times, which are usually the ones that make the difference. Difficulties, aggressive competitors or a tense financial situation can put the entrepreneur to test, and tenacity is called in. A leader…

The ability to sell, which could be considered as the ability to convince all the parties involved in the entrepreneurial project, is the propagating element of an idea. It’s an element that can’t be missing in the set of skills of an entrepreneur, because an idea, a product or a service, have to be bought by someone in order to be successful, that means they must first be “sold”. An entrepreneurial leader usually is a…

The entrepreneurial leader is one who risks, alone. To start up, to manage and to bring an enterprise to success implies risks for one’s career, finance and, quite frankly, one’s health, too. This natural propensity for risk is not to be confused with the propensity to risk for profit, which is typical of speculators, of those who risk buying and selling shares for pure profit. The entrepreneur risks to fulfill their project. They risk to…

Economic synthesis is the main distinguishing element of the entrepreneurial leader. Being able to make an economic synthesis means possessing the ability to combine in an original way the signals coming from the reference market with the reaction abilities of the company, in other words, with the technical-productive abilities with which the company is equipped. Sometimes, the hidden or existing needs of clients can be the spark that kindles a certain business idea in the…

To have a nose for business, an instinct, the skill to understand what direction to give to the business by detecting small signals. A businessman surely possesses such skills, they have a radar that catches each small clue of a change in the market: new necessities, new market trends, technologies that can be deployed, systems of values, choices of the competitors, government actions. The process to elaborate these signals is essentially creative and original. From…

Entrepreneurship lies at the core of an enterprise. It is the trait that characterizes the entrepreneurial leader. Each and every one of us may be an entrepreneurial leader. Entrepreneurial leadership, in today’s world, should permeate the entire organization. It definitely should be a feature of all the executives. I say “should” because the reality is still not quite so. For this reason, here in Contract Manager we decided to elaborate upon the meaning of “Entrepreneurial…

Some days ago, I met with a person who works for a well-known Italian company, and then with another one who works for a much smaller company in a completely different industry. Both these people have hands on the job roles. In both companies, the leader had been replaced. I was struck by their reflections, simple and surprisingly similar. Here is what they told me: “You know, he (the boss) often called on us, we…