Earlier this year I touched on what I call the “instincts of entrepreneurship“. I’ve continued to research the way true entrepreneurs think and act; and the list of instincts has grown to become “The 11 Killer Instincts of Entrepreneurship”.

At a recent speaking event I talked about these 11 Killer Instincts. I promised the attendees that I would summarize what they heard on my blog, so here’s a bullet point style summary of what we discussed together that night.

Hopefully, you’ll capture the essence here and over time I’ll perhaps expand on each topic in ongoing blog posts. In the meantime, I’d appreciate your comments, insight, and opinion about this discussion:

The entrepreneurial mindset is a distinct way of thinking, like an genetic mindset, that produces extraordinary results. That’s why I say that an entrepreneur is a different type of “species”, if you will. The mindset I am talking about is instinctual and in my opinion has more impact on professional success than education, connections, good looks, or money.

Instinct is, by definition, “An inborn pattern of behavior that is characteristic of a specific species.”

However you define it, most agree that there’s something “different” about the classic entrepreneur. My intention is to help people everywhere understand these unique characteristics, and develop them. They’re valuable for anyone; business owner, employee or manager. In fact, Jack Welch commented recently in Business Week, “In the end, pedigree is less important than the entrepreneurial nerve…that’s needed to succeed.”

Here’s a quick look at the 11 Killer Instincts of Entrepreneurship:

1. The Solution Instinct: This is about ideas and always seeing them. It’s about seeing new opportunities while traveling, shopping, or working. Seeing problems and potential solutions to those problems is at the heart of valuable ideas and business models.

2. The Detective Instinct: This is about fact-finding and due-diligence. It’s about letting go of the emotion and excitement of a good idea and taking a venture-capitalist approach. This instinct is something that keeps one constantly assessing how a business model will work, scale, and succeed… without personal bias.

3. The Great Communicator Instinct: This is about connecting and constantly selling. It’s a constant awareness that every point of communication matters. Whether communicating with partners, investors, vendors, employees, or competitors; every communication is an opportunity to strengthen your company.

4. The Youthful Genius Instinct: This is about doing what you love. When we were young, we dreamed big dreams and showed glimmers of what we might become. Tapping into the expectation of our youth is central to successful entrepreneurship.

5. The Entrepreneurial Heritage Instinct: This is about how our heritage can reveal some or our natural gifts. What has your family and ancestors been successful at already? Exploring your roots can help one tap into opportunity. There is a reason why many families pass along entrepreneurial success and create “dynasties” of their own.

6. The Risk-Taker Instinct: This is about going out on a ledge. No risk, no reward. It’s a fundamental factor of business building or almost any major endeavor. Finding the calculated balance of risk and opportunity is key.

7. The Work-Horse Instinct: This is about paying the price. Doing whatever it takes. Those “overnight successes” usually require at least 5 years of hard work and incredible sacrifice to get there.

8. The Thick-Skinned Instinct: This is about being tough. Resilience, optimism and a positive mindset reside in every great entrepreneur. The fundamental key to success in attaining goals? Never give up.

9. The Flexibility Instinct: This is about being willing to change. Emotion and pride must be removed from the process while building a business and paying attention to the best route to take. The right path naturally eventuates; if you’re willing to recognize it and take it.

10. The Human Instinct: This is about people. Attracting the best people is more important than the business model itself. Treating people well, leading well, and serving with care is a fundamental reason why anything worthwhile should be built in the first place.

11. The Knowledge-Quest Instinct: This is about constantly learning. Reading, thinking, listening, observing, absorbing, and applying is a hallmark trait of a great entrepreneur.

These are unique instincts and in my experience, everyone possesses at least a touch of each of them. And it’s my observation that every natural instinct can be discovered, uncovered, and developed by anyone interested in doing so.

Look within and uncover your entrepreneurial instincts. You’ll find that your personal ambitions and goals will rapidly progress, improve, and materialize.

Building a business is tough. It requires great determination and self-confidence. But there are unseen dangers lurking within both of those necessary ingredients.

Pride, arrogance, and stubbornness often become the siblings of determination and self-confidence.

In 1999 one of the founders of Webvan confidently faced reporters, answering questions about the company’s sweeping vision of home grocery delivery. The company had recently raised a staggering $375 million in an IPO and was valued at over $1 billion. He explained how they would continue to assemble a gigantic infrastructure spanning the U.S.

When reporters began to question “profitability” and “proof of concept”, asking pointed questions about exactly how they planned to ensure that the business would be a success, the founder chastised, “…what you have to understand, is that we are very, very smart…” This was a supreme example of pride, arrogance and stubbornness.

Webvan expanded from the San Francisco Bay area to eight U.S. cities and initiated a $1 billion network of high-tech warehouses. But considering the super-thin margins of the grocery industry, a lack of user adoption or demand, and rabid spending, the company failed to complete it’s proposed 26 city expansion. It closed in 2001, wasting hundreds of millions of dollars, putting over 2,000 people out of work and dashing the hopes of thousands of shareholders.

As an entrepreneur, it is vital that you learn to balance determination and self-confidence with a healthy dose of humility and openness. Some of the best direction insight, you will uncover along the way will be the unexpected advice and feedback that will be provided from potential customers, investors, employees, vendors, or friends. Sometimes these are tough facts to face. It’s this advice that might force a change of plan or a painful course correction. But it’s that sort of insight that ultimately makes your business thrive.

Peter Drucker put it this way, “The greatest danger for the new venture is to “know better” than the customer what the product or service is or should be, how it should be bought, and what it should be used for…the new venture needs to be willing to see the unexpected as an opportunity rather than an affront to its expertise.”

Check out this great post for more information about this topic:

Success Starts With Humility