Entrepreneurs Are “Incredibly Diverse And Often Misunderstood”
A new report published by Barclays today casts fresh light on the make-up of a modern entrepreneur, dispelling the myth they are all confident, lone wolves with tunnel-vision to success.
The Psychology of Entrepreneurship study examined the views and psychometric profiles of more than 2,000 entrepreneurs and employees in the UK, Germany, Singapore and the US. It found that business creators scored higher on 10 of 13 key character traits identified as being prevalent in business creation, including achievement, motivation and the need for autonomy.
Yet it also revealed striking differences between entrepreneurs themselves, with two distinct types emerging: one set, the 'Type As’, who are artistic, well-organised, highly competitive and emotionally stable; and the other, ‘Type Bs’, who tend to be traditional, conservative, disorganised, spontaneous and focused on team-working.
This diverse picture is in stark contrast to popular identikit images of fearless, independent disruptors in the style of Mark Zuckerberg or James Dyson.
These psychometric results debunk the myth of the CEO superhero. Entrepreneurs do differ from employees but as a group, they are still incredibly diverse and often misunderstood.
Vesselin Popov, Development Strategist at the University of Cambridge’s Psychometrics Centre
Vesselin Popov, Development Strategist at the University of Cambridge’s Psychometrics Centre, led the team overseeing the study on behalf of Barclays. He says: “These psychometric results debunk the myth of the CEO superhero. Entrepreneurs do differ from employees but as a group, they are still incredibly diverse and often misunderstood.”
Greg B Davies PhD, Head of Behavioural and Quantitative Finance at Barclays, adds: “Entrepreneurs have an important role in supporting economic growth and social progress. Yet they are often incorrectly viewed as one homogeneous group. This study directly challenges that misperception with a much more varied picture of success. Indeed, some of the characteristics we found, such as introspection, actively counter society’s popular stereotypes.”
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