In the business world, many people believe that the term manager or executive is similar to that of businessman or entrepreneur; However, these are different concepts and not differentiating them can lead to many errors.
In Spanish we do not have the differentiation that is made in English when we refer to the businessman, manager or executive; we simply say "Businessperson".
In the English businessman-woman, executive, entrepreneur They are very different concepts. In that sense, Anglo-Saxon culture can differentiate between people who are dedicated to business, captains of entrepreneurial industry and those who work in the business world, serving as executives, managers or in other positions.
Entrepreneurial qualities
On this occasion, after having made that differentiation, we want to find some elements of the entrepreneurial spirit that can be useful for the development and actions of any executive who works in a company or corporation.
This is a non-exhaustive list of these entrepreneurial qualities:
The entrepreneur or businessman is usually a person who is always looking at the street
Analyzing in detail where the opportunities are and thus looking for where to find other businesses. Many executives lose this connection or do not practice this and only look at the internal processes of the companies, thus restricting their possibility of finding business opportunities.
In the same way, the entrepreneur usually makes decisions and, after being informed, is capable of being bold.
This ability to decide quickly and face risk is often not found in company executives, who are afraid of decisions either because of hierarchies, because of the responsibilities that they entail or because this practice has not been encouraged in the inside your organization.
Another quality of entrepreneurs is being in permanent contact with clients.
The owner of any business, no matter how small always concerned about customers, their needs, their complaints and their unsatisfied desires, while many executives, sometimes company managers, get involved in the processes and are only attentive to the wishes and complaints of the staff who work with them, thus forgetting about the client as a key element for any business.
A permanent characteristic found in entrepreneurs is innovation.
It comes from looking at opportunities on the street and being in contact with customers, two aspects that we have pointed out previously.
- The innovation It is not always about inventing something radically different; It is often about improving just some processes, slightly changing some services or product designs, modifications that allow the entrepreneur to advance and then obtain competitive advantages through that innovation.
- Many executives prefer be conservative, they do not want to transform their company's processes or generate changes in products and services because it is easier for them to control what already exists.
Very present in any entrepreneur is the need to take care of profitability
"The eye of the master fattens the cattle"
The Spanish proverb says and, indeed, the practice of take care of the profit, being attentive to costs, worrying about profitability in all aspects of a business operation is a characteristic of the entrepreneur, not always common in all executives. Rather, when a manager takes care of these aspects, he or she may be looked upon with derision by his colleagues as if he were taking care of other people's capital.
Understanding that it is from this search for return on investment that resources come out for everyone is also an entrepreneurial quality that must be learned.
Let's remember the other saying:
“All the straps come from the same leather.”
Finally, a very important quality is to take care of liquidity
Companies enter bankruptcy proceedings due to lack of liquidity to meet their commitments. If you cannot pay, your workers and suppliers will leave your side.
And to finish off with another Castilian saying:
“Profit is vanity, and liquidity is survival”
With the Master in Financial Management, Accounting and Management Control You will train to become the Financial Director, with the necessary skills and qualities such as those described in this post.
