Having spent only a few years in the bowels of employment, with the remainder being in the guise of a co-business owner, my survival instincts still remain rooted in realising further entrepreneurial ambitions, as opposed to targeting some cooperate ladder to climb. My previous business was a partnership with my wife, where we successfully used the Internet to reach clients and provide consultancy services remotely from home.

This lifestyle approach suited me well at the time, as I detested employment and commuting – especially on London’s dilapidated tube system – and had been previously accustomed to working autonomously as a web designer anyway. Business from home however, proved socially isolating and accentuated my independent lone-wolf tendencies.

Realising that this limiting behavioural mould would prevent me from reaching my full entrepreneurial potential, we decided to sell the business and head off to sunny Australia. Enrolling at Bond to take the MBA programme therefore fulfils a thirst for deeper self-awareness and stronger interpersonal capabilities, as well as facilitating critical managerial skills, business contacts and the means necessary to launch an Internet venture in Australia.

Many of the “soft skills” identified for successful entrepreneurs, for example, having an internal locus of control, good listening and nurturing abilities, high standards of personal integrity, perseverance and determination, are already good strong points, and alluded to by my INFP personality categorisation under “Keirsey’s Temperament Sorter”, and through an emotional intelligence rating of 131. Some years ago I also engaged in similar personality assessments, and the reports received back particular to INFP’s was both accurate and revealing.

Throughout my continuing MBA studies, I have learnt that entrepreneurial leaders rarely achieve brilliance alone, but rather through committed and supportive team work , thus my goal of balancing personal urges for quiet solitude with interdependent social values is surely a step in the right direction. Other weak areas include a lack of focus and being easily distracted, for example, starting things passionately and not following them through to completion. This unfortunate trait is accentuated by poor time management, procrastination and the general avoidance of organised detail.

Knowing that I already have many of the interpersonal skills required to simply “get along” and work with people, I now focus on the so called “hard skills” which relate to the practical organization and managerial competencies I will need to become a successful entrepreneur. My former profession as a web designer thrust me in the stereotypical “artsy fartsy” camp when I first experienced the corporate milieu, thus I was generally absolved of formal business meetings and left to my own creative devices.

This view was particular to the era of the Nineties Internet Boom, where pure business types failed to appreciate the merits of design, usability and interactive customer experiences. Web design has come along way now, but at that time I had failed to appreciate the benefits of acquiring project management or team leading capabilities, and even after leaving the profession to start a Work Permit Consultancy, still did not have the need or opportunity for developing these competencies.

Having realised that entrepreneurial success is built upon inspiring, recruiting, building and leading management teams, I’ve had no alternative but to take a truly honest and hard look at my present abilities and skill gaps. Being predominately self-employed over the past few years, it was impossible for me to track down anyone I had previously worked with to objectively rate my “Managerial and Leadership Competencies”, thus I have resorted to personally identifying a number of key areas which I sincerely know need improvement.