#7 Traits Shared by the World's Top Entrepreneurs

#7 Traits Shared by the World's Top Entrepreneurs

Everyone has the potential to develop the mindset that has brought success to the world's most ambitious entrepreneurs.

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1. An unwillingness to give up.

Starting a business is one of the most challenging undertakings a person can accept. It requires an enormous variety of different energies and efforts, ranging from dealing with logistics to hiring to taking responsibility for others' financial well-being.

2. A deep desire to always question.

There's a reason few people start a business. Beyond the difficulty, it requires looking at the outside world to identify an opportunity. To do that, one has to question the world around her. She has to ask why things don't exist and why reality functions the way it does. Then, she has to capitalize on the opportunities she's surfaced.The best entrepreneurs do this not only when getting their companies off the ground, but also while growing each day. They have to question their success, internal metrics and norms. This requires challenging fundamental beliefs. It's easier to take things as a given -- we don't need to always exert mental energy or effort to question things. Instead, we can let our automatic processes make decisions for us.

3. Long-term vision.

Starting a company that begins to succeed is one thing. Maintaining that success for years on end is entirely different. At a business's founding, one is looking for market opportunities and areas for growth. Once it's begun, though, it's tough to continue looking toward the future. 

4. An ability to get others behind them.

No matter how smart or capable you are, if nobody joins you, you can only accomplish so much. Therefore, getting other people on board is a critical step. The best entrepreneurs are able to effectively communicate their mission and ideas to others.Running a business means convincing other people to spend their lives -- and, ideally, some of their best years -- working toward your dream. That's a big undertaking. It requires immense skill to articulate a vision. More importantly, you have to be someone others want to work with. How you go after that vision means as much as the vision itself.

5. A deep passion for their work.

Being an entrepreneur requires well-above-average amounts of work and mental energy. Therefore, without intense passion and energy for the work at hand, consistent effort isn't sustainable over time.The best founders love their craft and the problems they're solving. They don't start a company for the fame or money. They do it because they deeply care about their work.

6. A deep understanding of themselves.

In order to effectively manage others and handle the necessary work of an entrepreneur, one has to understand herself extremely well. Founders need to know what it will take to decompress so they can recharge in challenging times. The best know where they're weak so those vulnerabilities don't have a negative impact. They also play to their strengths so they can delegate work and utilize others' skills.

7. They can always adapt.

In a rapidly changing world, companies that don't follow suit will fail. Those cultures of adaptation and flexibility tend to come from the top down. When CEOs are open to frontline employees' ideas and willing to change business models when the time comes, their companies last much longer.The best entrepreneurs are constantly learning and adapting in order to maintain their ventures' success. They also do so to become better people and leaders, making sure they grow as their companies do.