History is filled with thousands of examples of entrepreneurs who
changed the world without any formal education. In recent years, most of
us knew about Steve Jobs' exit from the Ivy League to pursue his
dreams. But I am not about to rest on one side of the debate or the
other.
The fact is that a formal education will bring you
up-to-speed on the latest develops, and history, of your chosen
field. In addition, your dedication to post-secondary education will
help you to create business networks that it will take decades to
re-create without the college / university environment.
Regardless
of your personal opinion of formal education’s role in business success
and entrepreneurial endeavors, here are three skills that you will not
learn in school but are crucially important to your success as an
entrepreneur / founder.
1. Communicating
Entrepreneur
are only as successful as their ability to explain
their vision. Communicating with other people is likely the most
important skill of any entrepreneur. Knowing when to communicate -- and
when not to -- is the difference between the business have’s and
have-nots.
Your communication skills will be needed in every
aspect of your job. You will have to inspire your employees with your
words, build confidence with your investors and explain your actions to
your shareholders.
Now, make sure that you are not committing the
worst sin of communicating. I have consulted for CEO’s in the past who
fancied themselves as great communicators, however, what they really did
was run over people and talk everyone around them into submission. I
have seen executives who waste hours of time over-talking in
meetings. They feel like they have to be heard and over-explain
everything. They do not let others get heard and, as a result, end
up creating a suppressive environment, where other people’s thoughts
never get heard.
Do yourself a favor and find a good mentor or
executive coach to help you do a personal check and work on increasing
your communication skills. You can never be a good enough communicator.
2. Multitasking
As
an entrepreneur, you are going to be expecting to know everything,
about every part, of your endeavor. In the early days, you will be the
“chief cook and bottle washer." As your enterprise grows, so to will
your personal tasks.
In the early days, you will have to run the
company and take care of shipping / receiving. As your business grows,
your tasks will change, and you will still have a multitude of them. If
you are lucky enough to get into the big leagues, you will eventually
get to manage your business and your shareholders at the same time.
Regardless
of the stage, you will need to be involved in many different things at
the same time. You have no choice -- so get good at it! I have never met
a successful big-league founder or CEO who didn’t have a great handle
on time management and keeping important things -- like family and
health -- in perspective. Again, if you are struggling in this area,
hire a coach or consultant to help you.
3. Attention to detail
We’ve
all heard the old saying -- “The devil is in the details." I personally
believe it would be better to say, “Your ultimate success is in the
details." Managing details is likely the most important skill of any
successful business person.
People who are weak in this area will
tend to ignore the details. They will categorize them as “little
things." But if you let enough “little things” build up, they will turn
into a “big thing." Big things kill businesses! As the primary of your
own business, you need to become an expert (and example to others) of
how to deal with the details.
Examples of important details
are reviewing, and understanding, your daily financial reports, emailing
your key people with little “thank-yous” for a job well done, managing
email in general and about 1000 more things.
If you are struggling
in any of these areas, you already know it. Let this little piece be
your slap in the face. Your company, and employees, are depending on you
to make the venture successful. The fastest way to improve these skills
is to hire one of the many awesome management consultants or coaches
that are available.
I
have hired several consultants to help me in my career. I have also
been hired to help CEOs in major corporations. The biggest reason to
consider improving yourself and hiring help is that it is very hard to
determine what is holding you back. Its much easier for someone who you
trust to help you.
