The Entrepreneurial Aptitude Test
By Matthew E. May, special to Overdrive.
Do you have what it takes to become the next Howard Schultz or Mark Zuckerberg? A new book may not only help you answer that question, but also surprise you with new-found self-awareness.
Heart, Smarts, Guts and Luck: What it Takes to be an Entrepreneur and Build a Great Business is the work of a trio of accomplished entrepreneurs and advisors-turned-venture capitalists. Tony Tjan, Dick Harrington and Tsun-yan Hseih interviewed hundreds of executives and business builders across the globe, including Google cofounder Sergey Brin and Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh. Among the many insights they discovered is that having a high degree of self-awareness may be the best marker of a successful entrepreneur, even more so than having a high IQ. Self-aware entrepreneurs, and successful people in general, tend to know exactly what drives them, and have the flexibility to shift gears.