The simple answer is yes. Of course, your talents, abilities, or weaknesses will be evident to those with whom you work. The potential success of any venture depends on how well the entrepreneur can leverage her assets. The more advantages the better. 

Many people claim you either have that “x-factor” that makes you a great entrepreneur or you don’t. Many of those same people believe that entrepreneurs are born to start companies and the rest of us are meant to find jobs with large and small companies following the lead of someone else. Please see the post on intrapreneurs for more information on this topic. Below are some facts I gathered from cognitive science research:

• Teachers of entrepreneurism must immerse their learners in complex, interactive experiences that are both rich and real. One way entrepreneurs refine their skills is internships or assignments to create and execute events. Another good example is starting or leading clubs or organizations. A good metaphor for learning the skills of an entrepreneur is the idea of immersing yourself in a foreign culture to learn a second language. Entrepreneurs immerse themselves in their projects and try and persude others to join them in that effort.
• As instructors of entrepreneurism, we want to help would be entrepreneurs to use all of the skills at their disposal. Learning basic economics, management, marketing, and finance is part of the critical fundamentals. But emotional intelligence is critical too. Often entrepreneurs must make many decisions simultaneously–thus taking advantage of their brain’s unique ability to parallel process.
• Students must have a personally meaningful challenge or value the skills of an entrepreneur to be able to apply them in practice. In an earlier post we discussed the skill of handling or dealing with abiquity. Such challenges stimulate the student’s mind to the desired state of alertness. Add financial risk to the mix and you can imagine that each student’s ability to handle stress differs dramatically.
• In order for a student to gain insight about a problem related to a start-up venture, there must be intensive analysis of the different ways to approach it, and about learning the business in general. This is what educators call the “active processing of experience.” It creates the ideal petrie dish for creating new entrepreneurs. Or did they just discover that passion? Are entrepreneurs born or nurtured?