Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research
1997 Edition

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ENTREPRENEURSHIP: ONE MORE TIME— NON–COGNITIVE CHARACTERISTICS THAT MAKE THE COGNITIVE CLICK
Daryl G. Mitton, San Diego State University

BACKGROUND
    Hooked on Hughes
    A Confirming Theory
    My First Research Efforts
MY PERSPECTIVE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP, 1953
MY METHOD OF STUDY
    My Metaphor
    My Approach
MY PERSPECTIVE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP, 1997
FINDINGS
    They Actively Bank Experience
    They Systemically Think and Act.
    They Continually Test Limits.
    They Commit to a "Cause".
    They Embrace Competence.
    They Are Situationists.
    They Take Fast Action.
    They Make Significant and Enduring Change.
SIGNIFICANCE
    New View of Entrepreneurship
    The Rewards of Corporate Experience
    Re–examining Entrepreneurship Teaching
REFERENCES

ABSTRACT

The question has been raised many times as to what the characteristics of entrepreneurs are. To date the studies regarding their distinctive features tend to be inconclusive. Presented here, is a different way of looking at entrepreneurs, which, hopefully, can shed new light on what makes entrepreneurs different. In this study behavior patterns of only highly successful entrepreneurs who have made a distinctive difference are considered. Further, a very broad spectrum of source material is used to gather information—interaction, observation, informal interview, research studies, concept books and papers, conference presentations, autobiographies, biographies, novels, and reports from the popular business press such as The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Forbes, and Business Week. Personal factors and patterns that led to significant results were noted, analyzed, and eventually categorized. The conclusions reached are that most highly successful entrepreneurs: Actively Bank Experiences; Systematically Think and Act; Continually Test Limits; Embrace Competence; Commit to a "Cause"; Are Situationists; Take Fast Action; and Seek Significant and Enduring Change. These "backdrop patterns" are what make the entrepreneur's cognitive behavior successful. These are the behavioral forces that make entrepreneurs entrepreneurial. They should help, too, in determining just how they differ from "non–entrepreneurs," whoever they might be. They also suggest the form that entrepreneurial training should take.

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