Whether as individual entrepreneurs, or as heads of entrepreneurial teams, stories about successful entrepreneurs have always captured popular imagination. What is different about them, or what has been different in their lives, readers wonder. While all details about success stories are sought after hungrily, the fact is that research has not been able to isolate any special “traits” of entrepreneurs that one might use to predict success of an entrepreneurial venture.

A study by Kets De Vries (The entrepreneurial personality: A person at the crossroads) found no commonalities in his research on the lives of 150 entrepreneurs. However, in their actions, he did find some commonalities: a strong sense of independence, a need for control, for achievement, a dislike for repetitive work, and a liking for “moderate risks”. On an “internal-external scale” to measure locus of control, entrepreneurs were typically on the internal end, that is, they tended to believe they had control over their destinies, wanted to be self-reliant and have autonomy (while people on the external end would believe they were controlled by their destinies).

He also found that some of these behaviors, which helped the person create a new venture, often created handicaps as the organization grew: the entrepreneur was typically autocratic and directive, poor at delegation, intolerant of organizational structures, and made no distinction between day-to-day operational matters and long-term strategic moves. Because of their autocratic ways, the entrepreneurs studied often got surrounded by yes-men, leading to a work environment around them that was politically charged and full of uncertainty.

It was only a few that managed to guide the organization through its formative years to maturity, and still fewer that were able to organize a proper succession and effectively hand over the reins. A few managed to create in the process, a work culture that retained the dynamism and energy of the entrepreneur. De Vries suggested, “Perhaps internal entrepreneurship in large bureaucratic organizations is the inevitable response to organizational decay and inertia.”