Building the Ultimate Businessperson

By Stephen Bean | May 26, 2010

In Excellentia Lucrum – “In Excellence is Profit”

Having been trained as a psychologist and also inhabiting the world of business for quite some time, I have always been extremely fascinated by the psychological and intellectual qualities of uncommonly successful entrepreneurs.

In fact, a while ago I wrote an article entitled, “What Makes Successful People Successful,” which appeared on planetlaundry.com and essentially was a guideline for Success 101. What follows here is the “advanced graduate course” in not only becoming successful but, in fact, becoming highly successful, i.e. way to the right of the mean and, as the song says, “Out of the common place and into the rare.”

Since highly successful people are in the distinct minority, quite logically so are the qualities necessary to become highly successful. Success, like most things, including a variety of human traits, is distributed on what statisticians call the normal bell-shaped curve, meaning that most (perhaps 70 percent) small-business owners achieve about average or slightly below-average results, only a few (about 10 percent) do uncommonly well (i.e., are highly successful) and a few (about 10 percent) have nothing but grief with a great big capital “G.”

A few years ago, I hosted a popular radio show called “Entrepreneurial Focus” in the Detroit market. It was a live, hour-long weekly talk format (mainly me doing the talking) with about 75,000 loyal listeners, according to the station general manager. The subject was, of course, the entrepreneurial experience from top to bottom. I also interviewed a number of guests from the world of business on the air so that my audience could be exposed to a variety of entrepreneurs of all types.

Doing this radio show was interesting for me, especially talking to the callers who owned small businesses or hoped to but did not seem to comprehend the success formula – they just thought it was cool to own a business. Some of them who did own small businesses were actually so uninformed that they could best define the term “cash flow” as the movement their money made as it disappeared down the drain.

There are, give or take, about 15,000 publicly traded companies in the United States run essentially by professionals that statistically don’t fail very often. Conversely, there are about 30 million or so small, privately owned businesses run by all kinds of people – and the failure rate for small business approximates 50 percent or so within the first five years of operation. In 2008, for example, 627,200 new small businesses started up, and 595,600 small businesses closed. These are sobering statistics.

So what’s your chance of big time success? A gentleman by the name of David Birch, who was a former head of a research firm that specializes in studying small-business data, attributes this high small-business failure rate to what he calls the “I Had No Idea Syndrome.” I guess that’s an acceptable euphemism for simply not having the “skills to pay the bills” prior to going into business for one’s self, thereby turning the experience into a huge and risky gamble and major wager.

Many people take this plunge just because they think it’s cool to own a business and to be their own boss, but many lack the necessary skills and personality traits to succeed. These folks quickly discover that they can’t survive the storm because they don’t have the skills to dance in the rain – and the sizzle fizzles mighty fast.

I’ve also noticed that many budding yet unprepared entrepreneurs often simplify matters and just think they will figure out the issues and challenges as they come along.

Big mistake.

Like they teach in the armed forces, in combat you don’t rise to the occasion, you sink to the level of your training. The same principle applies to running a small business.

In the suburb where I live, I actually watched a guy build and open a pizza take-out store on a busy street in the center of town surrounded by other retail businesses – but with only a few metered parking spaces nearby, which are always full. The key operative phrase here is “take out.” One would think that a lot of nearby, available parking was absolutely essential. The pizza was actually very good, but the business lasted less than three months.

What on Earth was that business owner thinking?

Don’t get me wrong. It’s all right to make mistakes, but it’s not all right to create major errors in the premise that will definitely appear in the conclusion. Also, you can – and should – effectively learn from the mistakes of others, because you are simply not going to live long enough to make all of them yourself.

Detroit Tigers outfielder Johnny Damon, when recently asked how he felt about striking out, noted, “There are worse things in life than making an out.” However, the big difference between Damon’s occupation and owning a small business is the fact that Mr. Damon gets up to the plate at least four times each game, and he only needs to be “correct” on 30 percent of his plate appearances to pull down a high seven-figure salary.

Here’s the point: If you don’t know where you’re going, just about any road will take you there. And that’s not a good way to travel. So, the idea is to be totally prepared intellectually and psychologically before going into a business. By taking this path, it may delay your startup a bit, but it also will likely prevent your premature shut down. Do the math… it makes complete sense and can make business ownership likely every bit as cool as you thought it would be.

If you want to become uncommonly successful, it’s a great idea to behave and think like uncommonly successful people. Hey, it worked for them, didn’t it?

J. Paul Getty – the late, extremely wealthy American industrialist and founder of Getty Oil – when asked how he became so wealthy simply responded, “Some people find oil and some don’t.”

I think he found oil by knowing exactly how and when to look for it. J. Paul did not get super rich by chance.

People are interesting organisms. Many of them simply don’t want to learn; they just want automatic benefits with a minimum of discomfort and effort. That nasty little four-letter word – W-O-R-K – seems to annoy a lot of folks.

Well, guess what? To become a successful business owner, it requires a lot of W-O-R-K in the way of preparation. Anyone can obtain a business as long as he or she has the money, means or method to acquire it. Heck, you can even acquire a business for nothing, through inheritance. However, there is a huge difference between merely owning a business and owning and running a highly successful business.

So, over the years and from observing many successful people, I have compiled the following list of psychological and intellectual skills and traits that I believe work in combination and are responsible for the uncommon success of uncommonly successful people. People don’t become extremely successful by chance – hope is most certainly for bystanders and wishes don’t do dishes. The highly successful dairy farmer, for example, does not sit on a stool in the middle of the field hoping the cow will just back up to him.

Highly Successful People Are Not Necessarily Super Intelligent

The world is essentially run by “C” students, meaning that one does not have to be super smart to be uncommonly successful. You don’t have to qualify to be invited to attend the MENSA picnic each year in order to achieve outstanding results owning a small business.

In fact, studies have shown that there are a number of varieties of intelligence, and the most important one as regarding entrepreneurial activities is the type of intelligence that enables you to effectively deal with and adapt to your specific business environment.

Highly Successful People Are Extremely Curious

Ever hear of Ray Kroc? He sold multi-mixer machines that could make five milkshakes at a time – and one of his customers, The McDonald Brothers, a small hamburger restaurant in California, was actually using five of them at once.

Kroc was very curious to know why, so he investigated. His curiosity and his subsequent franchising of McDonald’s restaurants literally started the fast-food revolution in this country and, of course, made him extremely successful financially. Had he simply just continued to sell the machines to the McDonald brothers and not been curious enough to find out why they were buying so many of them, he likely would have remained a mixer salesman of average accomplishment.

Highly Successful People Are Highly Creative

Creativity drives successful businesses and is absolutely fundamental in the formula. Creative people get that way by being curious; in fact, curiosity is the main requirement to become creative. This is true because curious people read and acquire knowledge about many things, which is then “deposited” into their “psychic bank” and is always there when they want to make a withdrawal. Wisdom truly begins in wonder.

Highly Successful People Manage Time Effectively and Efficiently

“Inch by inch, row by row, that will make your garden grow,” as the song lyric goes, is the basic formula for viewing time within a small business. There is a lot more to life than increasing its speed. The best thing about the future is that it arrives one day at a time. Highly successful people are methodical because they realize that the present is the basis for the future, and that we choose our joys and sorrows long before we actually experience them.

Highly Successful People Relate Effectively With All Kinds Of People

The most highly successful people that I have ever met all share this trait. They are not remotely on a pedestal, despite their success. They know that they can learn something from everyone, no matter who they are, and that there is always something in all kinds of people and circumstances that they need to see or hear and can benefit from.

Highly Successful People Deal Effectively With Psychological Ambiguity

Events in business are not often totally clear, and this can make a lot of people very uncomfortable, because of their immediate need to “get to the bottom of things.” Highly successful people seem to have less need for what psychologists refer to as “psychological closure.” Highly successful people are able to let things play out, so to speak, and patiently deal with unclear events until they become clear. They know that patience is the weapon of the winner.

Highly Successful People Understand the Difference Between Taking Calculated Risks and Merely Gambling

There is a big difference between assuming a calculated risk and gambling. Highly successful people have the maturity to know that nothing is free and that one must take a chance to achieve success. They understand that people tend to live their lives seeking certainty, but in the final analysis, must settle reluctantly on probable likelihood, and that all of business life is the management of risk and not its total elimination.

They go out on a limb because that’s where the fruit is. However, they know which limbs offer the best-tasting fruit. They calculate the odds and practical reality of the risk. They know the relationship between risk and reward. They somehow seem to know, as in the Chinese language, that the word “crisis” is composed of two characters – one represents danger and the other represents opportunity.

Highly Successful People Don’t Assume or Depend on the Benevolence of Others

Highly successful people know it’s their total responsibility to take the total responsibility for their business activities and business decisions. They do not have a sense of entitlement by improperly believing that other people are going to be looking out for them. They don’t intrinsically mistrust people, but they do not assume their benevolence either. They understand that everyone is fighting their own battle and climbing their own mountains, and that they have to do the same.

Highly Successful People Are Natural Psychologists… Or Learn To Be

It’s all about dealing effectively with people, isn’t it? Highly successful people understand and appreciate people. They generally know how others perceive and are motivated – and why. Marketing does not come naturally to most people in small business. If it did, marketing consultants would not exist.

For highly successful people, marketing is an attitude, not a department. They understand the difference between their product’s features and benefits and how to effectively carry that message to the customer. Want to learn marketing? Watch a lot of infomercials on television. They are often brilliantly structured, interconnecting features and benefits and based on the marketing model called “AIDA” – effectively getting your “attention,” “interest,” “desire” and “action.”

Highly Successful People Are Very Willing to Sacrifice and to Totally Commit Themselves to Their Business

There is no such thing as a free lunch or, for that matter, a free launch, if you happen to work at NASA. Words such as dedication, commitment and delayed gratification best describe the attitudes of these individuals. They do not give a hoot about the amount of hours spent working, coffee breaks, regularly scheduled vacations or taking weekends off. They are committed to excellence, and as the legendary Green Bay Packers head coach Vince Lombardi loved to say, “The quality of your life is in direct proportion to your commitment to excellence, regardless of your chosen field of endeavor.”

Highly Successful People Use “Can Do” Words and Not “Can’t Do” Words

Instead of saying “it’s too complicated,” they prefer “let’s look at it from a different angle.” Instead of “it’s a waste of time,” they prefer “just think of the possibilities.” Instead of “there’s no way it will work,” they prefer “we can make it happen.” Instead of “it can’t be done,” they prefer “it will be a challenge.” And instead of “it’s good enough,” they prefer “there is always room for improvement.”

Highly Successful People Provide Inspirational Leadership by Caring About Others

In an issue of Forbes magazine, columnist Rich Karlgaard reiterated a story that he heard from a nurse by the name of Nancy Ortberg, who worked in the emergency department of a hospital in California and who was finishing up work one night before going home.

She said, “The doctor with whom I was working was debriefing a young new doctor, and had done a very respectable, competent job, telling the young physician what he had done well and what he could have done differently. Then he put his hand on the young doctor’s shoulder and said, ‘When you finished did you notice the young man from housekeeping who came in to clean the room?’ There was a completely blank look on the young doctor’s face.

“The older doctor said, ‘His name is Carlos. He’s been here for three years. He does a fabulous job. When he comes in, he gets the room turned around so fast that you and I can get our next patients in quickly. His wife’s name is Maria. They have four children.’ Then, he named each of the four children and gave each child’s age.

“The older doctor went on to say, ‘He lives in a rented house about three blocks from here in Santa Ana. They’ve been up from Mexico for about five years. His name is Carlos,’ he repeated. Then he said, ‘Next week, I would like you to tell me something about Carlos that I don’t already know. OK? Now, let’s go check on the rest of the patients.’”

Ortberg then recalled: “I remember standing there, writing my nursing notes – stunned – and thinking I have just witnessed breathtaking leadership”

Effective leadership has many dimensions. In organizations, big and small, the boss does not get ahead by standing on his employees shoulders, using them to push him up, and keeping his employees down. He gets ahead through them wanting to elevate him.

Successful entrepreneurs know this. Your employees must be loyal and dedicated – and will most often speak to you through their silence if they detect that you are not interested in them.

So, there you are. You’ve got the formula. Now all you have to do is focus on developing these qualities, skills and traits. Will it be easy? Of course not. It will require discipline, which is merely choosing between what you want now and what you really want most.

Always remember that it’s not about striving for perfection, but rather striving for excellence that will lead you to uncommon success.