Do you speak entrepreneur?

Do you really know how to talk to an entrepreneur? These are people who will not simply be impressed by initials behind your name or the number of years you’ve “been in the trenches”. Entrepreneurs speak the language of change, progress and profit. Bury them in theory or doomsday moaning and groaning and you are sure to lose their attention.
If you’ve been reading along the last few months you know that I love working with entrepreneurs. Over the years I’ve also had the chance to speak at various meetings, large and small, about coaching and training entrepreneurs and being more entrepreneurial even if you work in the corporate world. This past week I got the chance to present at NACCE—the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship. It was another chance for me to meet with like minded people and push my personal agenda for loving entrepreneurship as well as the need for clear, concise, communication whenever possible. If you want to work with entrepreneurs you need to learn the lingo.

• Want to really impress an entrepreneur? Make your dealings fast and flexible. Get to the point. I’d say more on this one…but…

• Don’t take yourself too seriously, even if you ARE the smartest guy/gal in the room. Many entrepreneurs are brilliant, educated and accomplished but they often let their actions speak for them and skip the speechifying. Entrepreneurs like to have fun. If they are not having fun but in an occasional serious moment they still like things to be in perspective—light, agile and comfortable.

• Speak about results and deliverables. Entrepreneurs want an effective process, maybe even a creative and beautiful process, but they don’t want to wallow there. Note to trainers and educators: learning objectives are not exciting to the outside world—think new strategies and skills instead, even better–competitive advantage.

• Really embrace diversity. There are all kinds of entrepreneurs and our society needs all of them to thrive. The micro business and the next big tech breakthrough are equally important. We need risk-takers and we need to encourage the reluctant and accidental entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurs, who focus on the greater good before profit, are also an essential and often over looked element to a whole and healthy society. Purge your vocabulary of words that mark one “brand” of entrepreneur as better.

If you hear someone talking about opportunity, finding a new and better way, or building life, wealth and success “my own way”, you are probably listening to an entrepreneur. Lighten up, open your mind to novel ideas and join in the conversation.

Image from Princeton.edu

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