Do you think entrepreneurs are born or made? (asked 6 December 2011)

This is a popular question to ask, but it's not the best one to ask.

My preference is to ask whether there are some personality types that are counterindications for entrepreneurship. Perfectionists who can't handle uncertainty (i.e. those with Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder) would make questionable entrepreneurs of any kind, whether that's entrepreneurship based on innovation or merely small business.

That said, the recent research is moving in the direction of "MADE". For example, low risk aversion has popularly been considered a necessary condition for entrepreneurship. We are starting to learn that entrepreneurial entry and success may not hinge on risk attitude but rather low risk perception. And now, a paper found here ( http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1966517 ) finds that risk averse people may be *MORE* likely to become entrepreneurs if their risk aversion leads them to diversify their knowledge and acquire broad skills and become a "Jack-of-all-trades." In a large dataset, we found that this indirect POSITIVE effect of risk aversion (on entrepreneurial entry) actually overcame the direct negative effect, for 12% of individuals.

So the lesson? Next time somebody tells you that they don't want to become an entrepreneur because they're scared, don't tell them that they aren't fit to be an entrepreneur! Tell them to diversify their knowledge, and dabble around. Who knows, maybe the next time you see them, they'll surprise you.