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Interview Patty

Growing Your Business

Leadership Skills

We've all heard startup success stories like Amazon, Uber and Airbnb. These represent exceptions, however not the norm.

So why do more than half of startups fail?

Well. It can be due to their leaders. Another recent study cites "incompetence" and "unbalanced experience or lack of managerial experience" as main derailers. So how can you increase your odds for success as an entrepreneur?

Here are six skills we've identified that help entrepreneurs to become more strategic-minded and to increase the long-term viability of their venture.

1. Anticipate: Be vigilant routinely, not just initially
Successful entrepreneurs identify unmet needs and quickly move to address them. Jack Dorsey created real-time microblogging when he developed Twitter and saw potential in accepting credit card payments via smartphone with Square.

2. Challenge: Check your assumptions
Successful entrepreneurs challenge the status quo. Sir Richard Branson has challenged one industry after another by not going into ventures to make a fortune, saying, "I do it because I'm not satisfied with the way others are doing business.”

3. Interpret: Don't just collect data, analyze it
All companies collect data, but few leverage it strategically. Entrepreneurs should go beyond what data says at face value to understand needs, patterns or implications. As Henry Ford once said, "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses."

4. Decide: Own your decisions
Zappos was facing bankruptcy before making the bold decision to bet the company on a last-ditch idea to allow free returns. No one had done this before, and the shoe company didn’t know if the model would work but it had the courage to try.

5. Align: Build the right team
The best leaders recognize that success does not come from a brilliant idea or single visionary alone. Few entrepreneurs have all the necessary capabilities in-house, so they build a network of partners who believe in the same vision while offering complementary capabilities. A diverse team can help provide the multiple perspectives needed to think through challenges in fresh ways.

6. Learn: Embrace failure
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Failure and resilience must be a part of the entrepreneurial DNA.

Source: Entrepeneur

Patty Block, President and Founder of The Block Group, established her company to advocate for women-owned businesses, helping them position their companies for strategic growth. Charting the course for impactful, sustainable, profitable businesses, the beacon is control: of your strategic direction, your money, your time, your staffing, and your ability to bring in business. The Block Group brings together the people, resources and ideas that build results.

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Advice for women entrepreneurs.

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