One of the thoughts that I shared with a gathering of students of entrepreneurship at a University near Delhi recently…
The Top-3 barriers, in my mind, to becoming an entrepreneur are:
1) Success
2) Security
3) Education
With success comes status, which is hard for many of us to give up. When we become “successful” we also evolve formulae and rules that have got us there – unfortunately, they also keep us there. As Jim Collins wrote in his book “Good to Great” – the biggest enemy of great is good.
When we are secure, when we have certain income, we are loath to give that security up. One of the first principles taught to MoC (Management of Organizational Change) professionals is that people don’t want to change, even from a poor situation that they may be in, because the new situation is unpredictable, unknown. When the current situation is comfortable, changing that becomes even harder.
With education come Rules – what is possible, what is not, what should be done and what should not be. The best entrepreneurs break business rules and constraints – not because they are consciously breaking them, but often they are not aware that there is supposed to be a constraint by which they should limit themselves.
Of course, you can build on the back of success. Certainly, basic security can allow us to take some risks which may not be feasible otherwise. Of course, education can provide many more platforms of growth that may not otherwise available and certain rules are absolutely essential (we call them “laws”).
But consider carefully, are success, security and education enablers for you, or are they holding you back?