There are only two types of senior executive leaders in the business world: professional managers and entrepreneurs.
That’s a bold statement, to be sure, but it’s true. While every successful leader shares a set of common traits, the reality is that the similarities end there.
Successful senior executives are decisive opportunists who possess an iron-clad stomach and understand how to take calculated risks and learn from failure. They are able to forge and foster long-term business relationships. They are persuasive and can sway a single individual’s opinion or plant the seeds needed to create groupthink. And they are closers, really good closers.
When you think about it, professional managers are akin to corporate mercenaries in that they’re hired to capture market share, increase revenue and, yes, crush the competition.
Professional managers command top dollar and their job is to get results.
Typically, they are recruited to do such things as:
- Engineer a turnaround
- Push or pull an organization over a hurdle and take it to the next level of growth
- Inject innovation into processes, products and people
- Take a company public
- Spearhead and/or integrate an acquisition
- Clean up or get a company ready for a sale
- Keep the C-suite warm for a fixed period of time while the board or owners methodically undertake a long-term CEO search
Professional managers often hold MBAs from prestigious business schools, and many studied under the masters, such as Jack Welch and Wayne Huzienga.
Entrepreneurs, however, are an entirely different breed. By their very nature, entrepreneurs have a need to create something out of nothing. They’re committed to filling a gap in the marketplace that they’ve identified or are driven to revolutionize an industry. And just as important, they recognize how to innovate in ways few thought were possible.
Most entrepreneurs are serial entrepreneurs, meaning they have that proverbial fire in their bellies to take an idea through the complete business life cycle — from idea to business development to growth, and then a cash-out event (sale of company, IPO) — before starting the cycle anew. The rest are lifestyle entrepreneurs who have built businesses that allow them to live a certain level of lifestyle that they’re satisfied with maintaining.
As you read through this issue of Smart Business and our Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards coverage, think about what type of leader you are.
