This presentation is from an invited workshop given at the School on Sustainable Entrepreneurship held at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid. It formed part of a two week course on Theoretical Chemistry and Computational Modelling. Further details can be found at the following website: https://emtccm.qui.uam.es/?page_id=869

1. CAS
© Ray Wallace 2015
WallaceDr Ray

3. Outline of my talk
 The Entrepreneur – some thoughts from Richard Branson
 Online evaluations – an individual’s ability to make a good entrepreneur
 Qualities needed by entrepreneurs
 Characteristics which define entrepreneurs
 Skills needed by entrepreneurs
 Some further tips from Richard Branson
 Team building and management
 Cultural awareness
 Entrepreneurship and Higher Education
 Mutual support
 What makes a good business opportunity?

4. CAS
© Ray Wallace 2015
…. You have the
idea, you have the
money
…. Now you need to
surround yourself
with the right people

5. …. But first of all we need to examine what
makes someone a successful entrepreneur

6. First of all a word from Richard Branson on
the subject of entrepreneurs …

8. Are you cut out to be an entrepreneur?
There are lots of online self-evaluations, quizzes, ‘questions & answers’
out there on the internet. Here are some examples:
• https://www.bdc.ca/EN/articles-tools/entrepreneur-toolkit/business-
assessments/Pages/self-assessment-test-your-entrepreneurial-
potential.aspx?page=Home
• http://www.psychometrictest.org.uk/entrepreneur-test/
• http://psychologytoday.tests.psychtests.com/take_test.php?idRegTest
=3204
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33851439

9. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33851439

10. ….. It certainly helps to have:
• Strong technology skills
• Expertise in a key area
….. But these are not the key
defining characteristics of
entrepreneurship

11. …. Once you start looking at what people say are
the characteristics of an entrepreneur you can
easily end up with a list as long as your arm!

12. …. What you will find however is that
entrepreneurs have many characteristics but
there are some key drivers and qualities that
ultimately lead them to success

13. Show strong
leadership
Have strong sense
of basic ethics and
integrity
Are willing to
fail
Are serial
innovators
Know what they
don’t know
Have a
competitive spirit
Understand the
value of a
strong peer
network
Have a high
degree of self-
motivation

14. Show strong
leadership
Have strong sense
of basic ethics and
integrity
Are willing to
fail
Are serial
innovators
Know what they
don’t know
Have a
competitive spirit
Understand the
value of a
strong peer
network
Have a high
degree of self-
motivation

15. Show strong
leadership
Have strong sense
of basic ethics and
integrity
Are willing to
fail
Are serial
innovators
Know what they
don’t know
Have a
competitive spirit
Understand the
value of a
strong peer
network
Have a high
degree of self-
motivation

16. Show strong
leadership
Have strong sense
of basic ethics and
integrity
Are willing to
fail
Are serial
innovators
Know what they
don’t know
Have a
competitive spirit
Understand the
value of a
strong peer
network
Have a high
degree of self-
motivation

17. Show strong
leadership
Have strong sense
of basic ethics and
integrity
Are willing to
fail
Are serial
innovators
Know what they
don’t know
Have a
competitive spirit
Understand the
value of a
strong peer
network
Have a high
degree of self-
motivation

18. Show strong
leadership
Have strong sense
of basic ethics and
integrity
Are willing to
fail
Are serial
innovators
Know what they
don’t know
Have a
competitive spirit
Understand the
value of a
strong peer
network
Have a high
degree of self-
motivation

19. Show strong
leadership
Have strong sense
of basic ethics and
integrity
Are willing to
fail
Are serial
innovators
Know what they
don’t know
Have a
competitive spirit
Understand the
value of a
strong peer
network
Have a high
degree of self-
motivation

20. Show strong
leadership
Have strong sense
of basic ethics and
integrity
Are willing to
fail
Are serial
innovators
Know what they
don’t know
Have a
competitive spirit
Understand the
value of a
strong peer
network
Have a high
degree of self-
motivation

21. Show strong
leadership
Have strong sense
of basic ethics and
integrity
Are willing to
fail
Are serial
innovators
Know what they
don’t know
Have a
competitive spirit
Understand the
value of a
strong peer
network
Have a high
degree of self-
motivation

22. Among these key qualities you will generally find the
following personal characteristics
Optimistic
thinker
A sense of
vision
Ability to
inspire other
people
A desire for
autonomy
Risk
tolerance
Drive and
persistence
Resilience

23. Optimistic
thinker
A sense of
vision
Ability to
inspire other
people
A desire for
autonomy
Drive and
persistence
Risk tolerance
Resilience

24. Optimistic
thinker
A sense of
vision
Ability to
inspire other
people
A desire for
autonomy
Drive and
persistence
Risk tolerance
Resilience

25. Optimistic
thinker
A sense of
vision
Ability to
inspire other
people
A desire for
autonomy
Drive and
persistence
Risk tolerance
Resilience

26. Optimistic
thinker
A sense of
vision
Ability to
inspire other
people
A desire for
autonomy
Drive and
persistence
Risk tolerance
Resilience

27. Optimistic
thinker
A sense of
vision
Ability to
inspire other
people
A desire for
autonomy
Drive and
persistence
Risk tolerance
Resilience

28. Optimistic
thinker
A sense of
vision
Ability to
inspire other
people
A desire for
autonomy
Drive and
persistence
Risk tolerance
Resilience

29. Optimistic
thinker
A sense of
vision
Ability to
inspire other
people
A desire for
autonomy
Drive and
persistence
Risk tolerance
Resilience

30. …. Additionally successful entrepreneurs must
have or be able to develop the following skills
• Creative and Critical Thinking Skills
• Interpersonal Skills
• Practical Skills

31. Creative
thinking
Critical
thinking
Problem
solving
Recognising
opportunities

32. What Why How Maybe
Maybe not
Fresh
perspectives
Unorthodox
solutions
Lateral
thinking

33. Reasoning
Evaluating
Problem
solving
Decision
making
Analysing

34. Identification Structuring
Possible
solutions
Logical
reasoning
Decision making Implementation Monitoring

35. Reasoning
Evaluating
Problem
solving
Decision
making
Analysing
Identification Structuring
Possible
solutions
Logical
reasoning
Decision making Implementation
Monitoring

36. Leadership and
Motivation
Communication
skills (all types)
Listening
•Active listening
•Empathetic listening
Body language
Personal
relations
Emotionally
intelligent
Negotiation
skills
Customers
Resolving
differences
Ethics
Integrity
Respect

37. Leadership and
Motivation
Communication
skills (all types)
Listening
•Active listening
•Empathetic listening
Body language
Personal
relations
Emotionally
intelligent
Negotiation
skills
Customers
Resolving
differences
Ethics
Integrity
Respect

39. Science-based skills
Generic skills –
integral part of
science-based skills
Goal setting
Project
management
Business
plan/Financial
forecast
Decision making
Knowledge
Business
knowledge
Entrepreneurial
knowledge
Opportunity-
specific knowledge
Venture-specific
knowledge

40. Science-based skills
Generic skills –
integral part of
science-based skills
Goal setting
Project
management
Business
plan/Financial
forecast
Decision making
Knowledge
Business
knowledge
Entrepreneurial
knowledge
Opportunity-
specific knowledge
Venture-specific
knowledge

41. Some more tips and encouragement from
Richard Branson ….

42. Building your team

43. Margerison – McCann Team Management Wheel

44. Creator/Innovator – likes to come up with new
ideas and different approaches to tasks

45. Explorer/Promoter – Enjoys exploring possibilities
and looking for new opportunities

46. Assessor/Developer – Prefers analysing new
opportunities and making them work in practice

47. Thruster/Organizer – Likes to push forward and get
results

48. Concluder/Producer – Prefers to work in a
systematic way to produce work outputs

49. Controller/Inspector – Enjoys focusing on the
detailed and controlling aspects of work

50. Upholder/Maintainer – Likes to uphold standards
and values and maintain team excellence

51. Reporter/Adviser – Enjoys giving and gathering
information

52. The ‘linker’ role involves integrating and coordinating
the work of others within the team and in relation to
external interfaces

53. The Margerison –McCann model
assumes that people are more
capable and motivated to perform
the types of work which they prefer

54. A typical Team Management Index (TMI) question
A
2
2
1
0
B
0
1
2
2
One of sixty questions
Selection choice
I definitely prefer possibilities
I prefer possibilities but realities are important to me
I prefer realities but possibilities are important to me
I definitely prefer realities

55. Four key work questions
• How do people prefer to relate with others?
• How do people prefer to gather and use information?
• How do people prefer to make decisions?
• How do people prefer to organise themselves and others?

56. How you relate to others
How you use and gather information
How you make decisions
How you organise yourself and others
Extrovert = E
Practical = P
Analytical = A
Structured = S
Introvert = I
Creative = C
Beliefs-based = B
Flexible = F
The Team Management Index scoring
(RIDO) scale
The scores on each scale range over 30
points either side of the centre point

57. Notes:
• In some situations a person may respond on the right hand side and in other situations on the left. For
example a score of 18 on the extroversion scale and 12 on the introversion scale, shows the range of
preference but overall extroversion dominates ∴ EXTROVERT
• For example, a person who scores E-20, C-5, B-10 and F-7 (E C B F) would have agreed with many more
of the Extrovert responses than the introvert, more of the Creative than the Practical responses, more
of the Beliefs than the Analytical and more of the Flexible than the Structured responses. They would
then map on the Team Management Wheel into the Creator-Innovator sector, with related roles of
Reporter-Advisor and Explorer-Promoter.

58. Cultural awareness
You can use the model to
understand people from different
cultural backgrounds better,
so that you can prevent
misunderstandings and enjoy a
better working relationship with
them

59. So now, hopefully, you will have a good idea of the
people with whom you need to surround yourself
Initially you will be looking for people with many
talents and as they will all need paying, you will need
to select them carefully!
There much in the way of guidance and reading
matter to be found on the internet and elsewhere but
there is one key entrepreneurial trait, which I have yet
to mention and it is one that most entrepreneurs rely
on: a highly developed intuition

60. Most entrepreneurs rely more on
gut feelings to make decisions
than they do on conscious
analysis of a situation. Even
though they may be highly
analytical and like to accumulate
lots of data, their actual decisions
are usually based on what feels
right

61. How does entrepreneurship fit in with Higher
Education? Some more now from Richard
Branson ….

62. So you are now all fired up with
enthusiasm but often you can
find yourself on your own with
no kindred spirits around you
….. help can be at hand in the
most unexpected places

63. … an example from the UK

64. Totnes Local Entrepreneur Forum

65. We have learnt about entrepreneurs, their
qualities and characteristics and how they
should build their teams but they also need to
know what will make a good business
opportunity
I will leave you with my thoughts on the FIVE
things that generally need to come together

66. The product or service will meet a need
The opportunity will work in your location
You have the resources you need to help the business succeed
You can provide the product or service at the right price according to the market
The timing is right in terms of the market and your resources

67. I hope very much that you have
enjoyed this presentation
You can provide anonymous
feedback at the following web
address:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/7HWZMY6