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10 Important Leadership Attributes for Entrepreneurs

Being an entrepreneur is defined as a person who makes the decision to start something, whether it is a project, business or action, in order to achieve certain objectives and obtain benefits, both personal and for society.

By this simple definition it is expected that an entrepreneur is someone with leadership attributes, so we will talk about the 10 important leadership attributes for an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurship involves starting something from scratch or with very little basis and taking it to develop and become something bigger and more successful.

Apart from possessing entrepreneurial skills, the entrepreneur needs to have leadership attributes and be able to fulfill or obtain over time the attributes of an entrepreneur.

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Table of Contents

Why should an entrepreneur know how to lead?

As mentioned above, entrepreneurship is an activity that usually starts alone or with a few people, where having clear ideas, objectives and planning the steps to follow, is of utmost importance to achieve a good start and future development.

If we are based on a business venture, the entrepreneur must know how to lead his work group or partners, for the following reasons:

  • The entrepreneur is the one who knows what he/she wants to obtain in the short, medium and long term, therefore he/she will be in charge of guiding the people who accompany him/her in the adventure to achieve what he/she wants.
  • Knowing how to lead will allow the entrepreneur to manage projects correctly and obtain a greater chance of success.
  • An entrepreneur with good leadership will be able to indicate the way in which the project is to be developed, in a polite manner and with good communication.
  • Having leadership attributes ensures the possibility of business development and growth.
  • A leader is the one who guides, therefore the entrepreneur must be the right leader for his work team or group of assistants.

Despite knowing the reasons to be an entrepreneur with leadership, it must be understood that there are types of leadership in which the entrepreneur must place himself and know which type of leadership corresponds best with his venture or with his personality.

These types of leadership are the following:

  • Autocratic or authoritarian leadership: Leaders who have dominion and control over their work group.
  • Democratic or participative leadership: These leaders usually receive the opinion of their work group in a good way and decisions are made on the basis of a participative meeting.
  • Delegative leadership: This leader usually has little guidance in his team and allows a wide freedom in decision making until the end of the project.
  • Visionary leadership: An entrepreneur with this type of leadership has a clear vision of what he/she wants in the future and seeks to inspire and motivate the group to reach that goal.
  • Leadership coaching or trainer: A leader coach is in charge of identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the group and focusing on training them to see long-term improvements. For those interested in developing these skills, free coach training is available to help you become an effective leader coach.
  • Affiliative leadership: An entrepreneur with affiliative leadership will be able to create and maintain harmony in the work group, always seeking to foster good relationships among members.
  • Pacesetting leadership: This type of leadership is usually the most successful in the area of productivity, quality and performance. An entrepreneur with this type of leadership is able to guide his team to meet the goals and do the activities correctly and on time.

The importance of leadership in entrepreneurship lies in the need for a guide to know how, when and where to do things. It is not necessary that only one person is taken as a leader, but all those who are leaders, must unify criteria and have the same action response.

In conclusion, an entrepreneur must know how to lead in order to be able to guide the venture and obtain the benefits and long-term objectives. With all the characteristics of leadership, it can be understood why the qualities of an entrepreneur are important, where leadership will always be included as the main requirement.

Leadership Attributes for an Entrepreneur

Leadership

Being a good leader can make the difference between a fanatic and a professional. It is not necessary to be an expert in business administration, but covering the 10 important leadership attributes for an entrepreneur can be the basis for future success.

Typically these leadership attributes can be reflected in the different types of leadership we discussed above.

The main idea of the following list is that you as an entrepreneur or future entrepreneur can find which ones you identify with and in turn find the type of leadership that best suits your skills.

Remember that among the skills of an entrepreneur, leadership attributes are very important.

These 10 attributes are defined as follows:

  • Empathy: A person's capacity or ability to be able to "put themselves in the other person's shoes", that is, to understand the needs of others and take action to meet them or have them met. A good entrepreneur puts the problems of his team first and looks for solutions.
  • Integrity: A person's ability to always do the right thing, not to use cheating, swindling or the needs of others for his or her own benefit. An entrepreneur with leadership attributes, seeks to do what he/she considers good without affecting the interests of others.
  • Critical thinking: Ability to analyze and evaluate objectively the situations that occur around us. One of the important attributes of leadership for an entrepreneur, it allows to doubt about everything and look for other answers to what is always considered true.
  • Decision making: A leader must have the ability to be able to choose between different options. Within the leadership of an entrepreneur these choices must be with a view to the welfare of the team and the business, always accepting the opinion of others.
  • Open to diversity: Among the attributes of an entrepreneur, it is important that he/she can accept different opinions, try different options and use diversity for the betterment of the company.
  • Communication: For the leadership attributes of an entrepreneur, the ability to be able to communicate with his work group or partners will allow him to obtain the necessary information and provide the data that others need.
  • Responsibility: The ability to prioritize and fulfill the obligations of the company. The good leadership of an entrepreneur must have responsibility as one of the main values of his enterprise.
  • Vision: One of the most important leadership attributes for an entrepreneur is to have a visualized future, to know what is desired in the long term and to plan based on that projection.
  • Ethics: Ability of a leader and entrepreneur to know what is right and what is not, based on morals and actions for a good living and work. An entrepreneur with leadership leads his team to always act in the right way.
  • Inspirational: A person's ability to be seen by others as a support to follow and grow. An entrepreneur with leadership, gets the work group to follow him, respect him and accept his decisions as the right ones for a good future of the venture.

7 Entrepreneurial skills

Just as there are leadership attributes for an entrepreneur, there are the 7 entrepreneurial skills and types of leadership, which are very important to keep in mind to understand what type of leadership is the most correct and how many entrepreneurial skills you possess, before starting a venture.

The types of leadership can be found at the beginning of this article and the 7 entrepreneurial skills are the following:

  • Basic knowledge or ability to make sales. Either of a service or product.
  • It is important to be able to perform in the commercial area.
  • Knowing how to relate, both in person and by other means of communication. This allows to maintain and develop relationships over time.
  • Have leadership and in turn meet the 10 important attributes of leadership for an entrepreneur, as this will allow better development and long-term success.
  • Communication skills. It is important to have the ability to communicate your needs with your team.
  • Good time management. Both as a leader and as an entrepreneur, you must know how to manage your time to achieve the delivery of orders on time.
  • The skill of an entrepreneur is to persevere and never give up, as you may encounter many refusals along the way, but don't let that stop you.
  • Know how to make negotiations that do not make you lose.

Remember that not having these skills does not mean that you cannot be an entrepreneur, but it can facilitate the work as the venture takes shape and develops. It is also important that you know what an entrepreneur is and what is expected throughout their efforts to succeed in their venture and turn it into a business with development and future.

References

The Shed Coworking

RRHH Digital

Ie.Edu

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