I feel like to write something tonight after attending the speech on entrepreneurship given by professor Lloyd E Shefsky from Kellogg business school. (Many thanks to Ivan and other BeBeyond MBA Workshop teammates whom I did not meet for long. And we had a wonderful gathering with afternoon tea, dinner and drink at Jade 36. )
The speech was given to the clients of a fund management company so I suspect that it touches only the basic. But I had a resonance at his speech.
According Shefsky, there a few major traits of an entrepreneurs:
1) entrenched confidence: some entrepreneurs hold illusive optimism.
2) tolerance to ambiguity. It does not mean that entrepreneurs are extremely courageous to face any kinds of threats or risks. But they dare to embrace uncertainties.
3) Hard working. Most of the entrepreneurs are hard working but, according to the professor, they are not workaholics who are addicted to work but have real passion in what they are doing. And to become a successful entrepreneur does not necessarily need to work extremely hard. Quite a few entrepreneurs started their business because they expected to have a more flexible working hours.
4) Perseverance. But it is not a catalytic event but recurring process. He quoted someone that life is not a long race but continued short races.
In the past few years at BeBeyond, I had struggled and fight against the problem with “confidence” and “ambiguity”. I guess not a few of my colleagues at BeBeyond shared very similar feelings. Three or two years ago, I became more comfortable to move ahead without clearly defined roles or unstable goals. Yet, even yesterday, I was still questioning myself.
Teammates in July Workshop said Saturday noon after lunch “it is lucky for BeBeyond to have you in the team”. I was speechless at that moment. It is true that I had been devoted to the MBA Workshop, cared about almost each teammate’s experience and finale result. Yet I could not help doubting whether I was the right person to take the responsibilities at BeBeyond. Will a more capable person better drive the business or achieve more taking my role? Why I could not be more forceful or more communicative? What stopped me for taking quicker action? Was I slow in decision? I was confused. Such self-doubting occurred and reoccurred.
While I struggled, I learnt that optimism is perhaps the best gifts God grants to human. Unluckily, I was not born with optimism. I have confidence. But, deep in my heart, I have a “tragic hero” complex, which means, I believed there are “heroes” who have to pay a cost or make personal sacrifices to realize any meaningful pursuit. And to grow the business of BeBeyond is such a quest.
It took me years to learn to think positively and be optimistic. When I joined BeBeyond, I had almost nothing but a passion to try something sounds exciting. I was a merely English major graduated from a second-rate hinterland university. When I started coached MBA workshop teammates four years ago, I was leading a group of teammates either achieved young or rich either in money or experiences or both. To gain credibility from the teammates who are smarter, better educated, or successful was not easy. And as I was working with Jinbo, our CEO, I had to accept that teammates would like to hear suggestions from an experienced trainer, who has overseas exposure, insights on business, and who is creative, inspiring, and of great fun to talk with. Inside my heart, I had to live through the fears that where and how well I could survive if I left BeBeyond where I taught MBA applications. Meantime, the attractions of experiencing life aboard, receive a better education, and work for a better-known company or higher paid positions were always there.
Yet I saw how lack of self-recognition could kill a strong applicant’s chance to enter a top school. Through helping teammates gain and maintain confidence when they doubted over their qualifications or wanted to give up, I changed my own mentality. Today, I have, perhaps, a biased confidence that I am able to coach almost any kind of prospective MBA applicants to get into a top MBA. I was asked to finale review packages by a few teammates. And I had achieved 100% success rate with one MBA Workshop class started in November.
The above said, I was perhaps encouraging myself so that at the turn of a new year, I would spend less time self-doubting, but more time finding solutions and pushing things forward.