Entrepreneur or Manager, Which One Are You?

There are a few people in this world that I admire and if I had to list them all it would go on for a very long time. I’m not talking movie stars or music heroes although I admire some of those as well, I am talking about people who have stepped up to the plate in one form or the other and created their success. Now there are people we don’t even know that have attained that status and there are people who are well known that have achieved success in many areas of their life. I applaud all of you whether you are known or not. My look of success is not that of fame, fame is fine if you get it, but in my mind that shouldn’t be what defines you. Success in my mind is your own vision of success, whether that means you have the family life you want, or you have achieved the business success you hoped to attain, or you are still climbing the ladder and doing life your way, you are all successful. One person that I look up to is Sir Richard Branson. I admire him because he has played the game under his own rules, success or not.

The other night Richard Branson was being interviewed on the news about his success and the space program he is involved with. The interview was only five minutes long, but during the interview he did say something that really struck me. He said, “Some people are managers and some people are entrepreneurs.” Now that may not sound like a profound statement, but it got me thinking about why some people are good at what they do and others aren’t. Recently I was in talks with a company about being hired to do some work with an executive team. They wanted a creative approach to things but all the questions focused on managing the team. Needless to say I am not the managerial type, I like the creativity of the entrepreneur. In the Branson interview he went on to explain that he is a true entrepreneur and that his success has come due to having great people in key positions to handle his businesses. He went on to state that if it was he managing things they would have failed miserably. His success is due to coming up with great ideas, getting them started, and then finding good people to move them forward on a day to day basis.

So if you are having trouble running your operation, you may be more entrepreneurial than managerial. You may need to get some good people into your organization to move it forward leaving you the time needed to create and formulate new ideas. Take a look inside yourself to see where you fit in to your success program.

About the Author

Bruce Outridge is a business and leadership consultant. He helps entrepreneurs have successful careers. Form more information on Bruce and his programs visit his website at www.outridge.ca or www.bruceoutridge.com