Clear-Cut Differences Between Entrepreneurial CEOs & Professional CEOs
What are differences between entrepreneurial CEOs and professional CEOs? Originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world.
The difference between an entrepreneurial CEO and professional CEO is the same as the difference between an entrepreneur and a businessman.
The First Thing Is the Approach to Risk
Businessmen will usually have lower tolerance towards the risk. They tend to work to minimize it as much as they can be reducing their profit margin potential. It’s a safer approach. While an entrepreneur is all about the risk to make profits. Businesses have plenty of things to lose while the entrepreneur would lose their credibility and time only – not a lot if we compare. Losses in business can be catastrophic while in entrepreneurship is the way of doing stuff. Positive ROI is all businessman may want. All things need to be in proper order. Steady growth is a preferred option while people into entrepreneurship will think about how they can 10x anything.
The Second Thing Is the Approach to Change
You see, businesses don’t want to change much. Often they tell themselves a story what made them who they are. This often revolves around traditional ways of doing things. The ways which worked for a long time. In their mind, it must work now as well. The business would like it for a sense of stability. Any changes may be as a real threat to business identity. Entrepreneurship is about radical changes to achieve the ultimate result – insane profits doing something from nothing. If one way does not work, the entrepreneur will try another. If this fails – there always more attempts to make things work. Entrepreneurship is about bending the status quo and changing things. Using it as a starting point and build something novel. It’s a natural division of following versus creating mentality.
The Third Thing Is the Approach to Money
Businesses may treat money as validation and the way to establish security in the market. You need to pay bills and stuff. For an entrepreneur, money is just a car to drive change. To produce and deliver something you will need to invest money. In this way, money use will drive change. It’s not about money as establishing the security of the venture but securing the change. Following the premise that pro entrepreneurs are masters at managing money for basic needs in case they fail as athletes are pro at managing their diet.
The Fourth Thing Is the Approach to Ideas/ Execution
Businesses are usually bland but you will understand – they can’t be proud of the idea-generating potential. They have a solid experience where they find confidence in anything they do. It may express aversion towards ideas and rely on experience. While entrepreneurs they may have less experience but more implementable potential.
Contributed by Thomas Vato, Consulting Innovator (2018-present)
