The simple answer is maybe. Being a successful manager is not enough. Even possessing specialized knowledge or skills is only part of the “DNA” of successful entrepreneurs. Your talents, persuasive abilities, and drive will be evident to those with whom you work. Ask others what they think, but be careful about naysayers. I was told no one could sell enough basketball apparel to create a successful business. I was told “basketball apparel was too small of a niche”. My brother and I went on to successfully launch Above the Rim and sell it to Reebok.

The potential success of your future venture depends on how well the entrepreneur can leverage her assets. The more advantages and skills you amass the better.

Many people describe an “x-factor” for putting forth the courage and drive necessary to launch a new business. Entrepreneurs I’ve met 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. If you don’t have the “x-factor” these people would discourage you from ever starting your own company.

Does that really mean the rest of us are meant to follow others our entire career? I counsel recent grads to find jobs with large and small companies in the industry they want to eventually be in as an entrepreneur so they can learn from other’s mistakes.  Below are some facts I gathered from cognitive theory about how are brain’s learn:

Learning to be an  entrepreneur isn’t easy. Some say it is impossible. But most students are more successful learning entrepreneurism when they immerse themselves in actual new company experiences so they can feel the complex, interactive experiences that are both rich and real for entrepreneurs. That doesn’t mean to be an entrepreneur you need to do 10 different internships with start-ups–there are other less time-consuming ways to become “immersed”.

• A proven method entrepreneurs used to refine their own skills was successfully completing assignments where the outcomes were unknown and success unsure. Risk isn’t something you can read about to understand –you must experience it first-hand.
• One exercise my students are required to do is go out and meet real entrepreneurs. Ideally they don’t just listen to a speech in my class.They go out and engage with small business leaders or founders to help them create and execute events.
• Another good opportunity for students to hone their entrepreneurial skills is starting or leading clubs or organizations.

An experience I recommend is participating in study abroad. A great metaphor for learning the skills of an entrepreneur is  immersing oneself in a foreign culture and learning a second language. Entrepreneurs that can immerse themselves in a new market and learn to first survive will eventually thrive. As they are successful in their study abroad experiences they can model that adaptive behavior and persuade others to join them in their entrepreneurial ventures.

As an instructor of entrepreneurism, I want to help would be entrepreneurs to use all of the skills at their disposal. I recommend would-be entrepreneurs learn basic economics, management, marketing, and finance as part of a critical foundation. If you can’t master the fundamentals, it is hard to persuade others you can lead .

• I am amazed how many college business professors claim to be good at teaching entrepreneurism and they have not started a successful company or even consulted or know those that do. Imagine going to music lessons from someone that can’t play an instrument or sing!
• To be a successful entrepreneur emotional intelligence is critical. Often entrepreneurs make many decisions every hour, what to prioritize, who to sell to, what to buy, who to hire, how to best model behavior, what to market, where to market, etc. They must do all of this simultaneously–thus taking advantage of the brain’s unique ability to parallel process.

My students must have a personally meaningful challenge or value the skills of an entrepreneur to be able to apply them in practice. That is why that instead of lecturing, I bring 22 entrepreneurs to them or we conduct field visits to see entrepreneurs in action.

In an earlier post I discussed the critical skill of handling or dealing with ambiguity. Such challenges stimulate a student’s mind to the desired state of alertness. Add the financial risk (that an entrepreneur faces everyday) to the mix and you can imagine that each student’s ability to handle stress differs dramatically. That is why I say you cannot always tell who will be the successful entrepreneur.

In order for my students to gain insight about a problem or opportunity related to a start-up venture, we must create a laboratory to practice these skills. In my entrepreneurism lab, there is an intensive analysis of the different ways to approach problems, feedback from peers and the instructor, and instruction about learning the best approach or model to attack the overall market or gain business traction.

This is what I call the “active processing of entrepreneurial experiences”. It creates the ideal petrie dish for creating new entrepreneurs. I have been fortunate to have helped over one hundred former students start or get involved with a new venture.

Yet I continue to ask questions such as: Can entrepreneurism can be taught?

Did that particular student or entrepreneur have the “x-factor”? Or did they just discover a passion for a particular aspect of a business and go with that?

After 11 years as a full-time teaching and entrepreneurial coach, I still cannot answer the fundamental question: Are entrepreneurial skills inborn or nurtured?

I have seen all types of business leaders and I know entrepreneurial success comes faster when “born” entrepreneurs with the X-factor are nurtured by those of us who have been “around the block”. Note to any entrepreneur-don’t try to do this alone.