And you did what? Cartoonist Randy Glasbergen nails it dead on with this one. Opportunity is everywhere. It just might be speeding towards you in a form different from what you envisioned. Hmmmm…

There’s a little story about a man of faith who was caught in a terrible flood and was literally sitting on his roof top praying to be saved. Within an hour or so along comes a rescue boat and the captain pulls along side the man and tells him to jump in.

The man refuses saying he has faith and knows God will save him so the captain reluctantly leaves and heads out to rescue others. This scenario is repeated three more times as different rescue craft spot the man till finally the water rises and the man, now tired and weakened, quickly drowns while trying to swim away.

The man now standing before the Pearly Gates of Heaven, quite annoyed, questions the angel in front of him quite sternly and says, “I prayed to Heaven and yet I drown?” The angel, non plussed, shoots back, “Good gosh, what do you expect? We sent the boat four times!”

The little story is more than a cute joke; it’s literally a modern parable more than applicable to our times of economic and technological change. Those that have the vision to see the opportunities will likely prosper and those that are inflexibly bound to the past are almost surely to fail or at best struggle. Moreover this point applies not just to people but whole social groups, and even nations.

As a business entrepreneur I’m always asking questions like “why are some emerging economies, such as some of the former Soviet Block countries of Eastern Europe, doing well while others can’t create the opportunities for their very capable work force?” “What attitude(s) tend to be prevalent in those people and societies that have a demonstrated track record of successfully capitalizing on new opportunity versus those that don’t?”

My own list includes:

• Strong Sense of Humor: Being able to see much of what happens in life as funny. Both the obviously good and that which isn’t so pleasant. The event will be the same regardless but you can choose how to react. I find laughing about 99% of the time is a better choice. I gain energy from laughter; not lose it to whining.
• Courage: A willingness to take measured (key word) risk. “Betting the farm” (risking it all) makes for good drama in a movie or story. It’s pure foolishness in business. And speaking of drama….
• Low/No Drama: There’s a growing tendency, at least in my opinion, that people are increasingly overly dramatizing what should be seen as small events. Emotional mole-hills to mountains is the general trend. Successful entrepreneurs know you “blow past” (get over) the small stuff quickly. The big stuff is taxing enough. No need for frittering away energy foolishly in drawing out the trivial.
• Vision: Yes I know this word is used endlessly but is applicable regardless. Entrepreneurship, by definition, is taking risk on the new and unproven. It takes an ability to see first what the others don’t and act on it. I believe that’s called “vision.”
• Social Factors: A society that supports risk taking and entrepreneurship through it’s attitudes, laws and institutions. Examples of legal support is the presence of reasonable bankruptcy laws that let the unsuccessful business owner(s) get “back on their feet” to try again. Overly onerous laws that penalize failure simply teach would be entrepreneurs that the risk isn’t worth it; at least not in that country. The real serious ones then leave to find a more suitable environment such as the United States has traditionally been.
• Optimism: Having started a number of small businesses in my time I know you have to believe in success from the beginning. Yes in the back of your mind you know it can “go south” (fail) but you have to believe in your ability to make it work. Pessimism is little short of preordained failure as it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
• Action Oriented: Nothing happens until action is taken towards the envisioned outcome. Period. Wishing won’t make it so and neither will anything else but action. Success is achieved only by the “Doers.”

That’s my “No-Sub Seven” as I call them. The absolute must haves. The ones for which there are no substitutes.

What’s on your list that I’ve missed?

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Featured cartoon is from “Today’s Cartoon by Randy Glasbergen”, displayed with special permission. For many more cartoons, please visit Randy’s site at www.glasbergen.com