Pernell Karl “P.K.” Subban is a professional Canadian ice hockey defenceman who currently plays for the Montreal Canadiens. He’s been the most electrifying player of these NHL (National Hockey League) playoffs. No one occupies the spotlight quite like P.K. Subban. These are his playoffs, we just get to watch.
P.K. Subban was born to play hockey in the NHL. In fact, the personality traits that make him successful are very similar to those of an entrepreneur.
Passion
This is by far something that will qualify you as an Entrepreneur. If you don’t have a passion for what you’re doing, you’ll never succeed. There will be days/months/years when you don’t make any money, you have no customer and everything just sucks but your passion will drive you to keep pushing forward. It’s this passion that will help you to become the Entrepreneur that you’re meant to be!
Tenacity
An entrepreneur doesn’t take NO for an answer…ever. You may concede but will never give up. You will figure out a way to figure out solutions that will best fit the needs of your clients.
If you haven’t succeeded to score the first time, you will try again and again until you do!
Competitiveness
P.K. Suban is known as a ruthless closer who derive a malign joy from sticking it hard to their detractors and rivals.
Faced with strong competition, as an entrepreneur you will be able to generate sustainable and significant growth only through a relentless focus on the needs and wants of your clients.
Unpredictability
Most entrepreneurs plans change by the minute. You have to if you’re going to get ahead in this World. You will truly know that you’re an Entrepreneur if your business life is a little unpredictable. ”Entrepreneurs have to pivot consistently” according to Eric Ries author of Lean Startup. This is how you will dramatically improve the odds for success.
Strong People Skills
There are certain people skills that are essentialin the field of hockey. In the words of Sean Gordon, “All P.K. Subban needs to inspire instant, frothy hatred from the Bruins and their fans is to step off the bus. It’s a skill.”
To succeed in business, an entrepreneur has to be willing to communicate. Communication is one of the keys to success and every entrepreneur should have it. I will put a caveat on this though. There are many entrepreneurs that aren’t good at this but team up with someone that is VERY good at it. A great example of this would be Mark Zuckerberg. When he started Facebook, he didn’t quite have the skills to hit the ground running. I believe it was more business skills that he needed in the beginning more than money- you can get money anywhere. He needed Edwardo Saverin to be the business end and people end of the company. He needed to hire the right people who had the skills to grow his business.
Read this in order to find out more about how not to be a Jack-of-All Trades and Mater of None.
If you don’t have people skills, you need to find a partner who does. Alternatively, someone in your core team needs to have strong people skills in order to succeed.
If you are an entrepreneur, then you need to possess these qualities. You are made for this! Like P.K. Subban was made to be a professional hockey player.
Now I want to hear from YOU—is this a journey you want to pursue? Are you already on it? Share some of your lessons and insights in the comments below.
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