Oh No, My Profile Doesn’t Match This Entrepreneurial Mind Map

I found this fun and interesting map of the alleged entrepreneurial mind by the Grasshopper Group (I don’t know them), reproduced here with my thanks and this link back to the original. I can’t resist adding, though, that I’m verifiably entrepreneurial and this doesn’t match my profile.  Take a look at this map. Below I find three (of the 12 total) that just don’t match me.

Does that look right to you? What do you think? For the record, here are the three points, from above, that I don’t match at all:

  1. DowJonesing: Sorry, but not me. My main entrepreneurial effort so long that there were no savings, no stock portfolio, and nothing Dow Jones related to worry me.
  2. Fuhgettaboutit: Even more seriously, not me. I nearly killed the business during one delightful growth spurt by being two excited to mind the cash flow like I’d learned in business school. I use b-school analytics a lot, not to decide things exactly, but to give me some point of view and perspective. I should add that I do not – repeat, do not – let the analytics obstruct things. They serve the greater good. They’re a tool, not an end. And I’m grateful for the overall vision (forest as well as trees) that I got in B-school about the meshing between marketing, sales, finance, production, management, strategy, tactics, and all that.
  3. Power Pondering: No, sorry, I don’t believe this one at all. Entrepreneurs obsessed with power suits, power lunches and powerpoint presentation? Not at all. I’ve never met an entrepreneur matching this description. Those are middle managers who would like to be entrepreneurs, but aren’t because they’re worrying about the wrong things. Entrepreneurs worry about improving the product, satisfying the customer, getting to the next level.

But the rest of them? Yes, I like it. The rest of them are fun and easy to relate to. See what you think: is this you?

(Image credit: Inside the Entrepreneur’s Brain | Grasshopper Group)

Comments

  • JayTurn says:

    Your explanation of the Power Pondering sums up myself and every entrepreneur I have ever met. In fact I’d say some of them started their business to escape that culture.

    Is it just me or do the people on the outside looking in, seem to think that entrepreneurs are obsessed with power and money? It’s a strange judgment because all the entrepreneurs I know are focused on building a business that provides a service or product that is better than anything else on the market. Not to buy expensive suits and have lunch with Donald Trump, it’s because they want to help people solve problems.

    • Tim Berry says:

      Jay, thanks, I love your reference to looking from the outside in. I’m with you, totally, on what drives most entrepreneurs. Tim

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