The Ego And The Entrepreneur

In this week's research, Louis Janse van Rensburg unpacks the relationship between an entrepreneur's ego and their ability to innovate.

Let’s talk about entrepreneurs and our egos.

Asked where his/her inspiration comes from, an artist once said: “There’s this man in the sky that just pours buckets of ideas into my head.”

“I never composed a note. I merely listen to God,” said Mozart on the same topic.

Some creators refer to God as part of their religious beliefs, others as a shorthand for consciousness or nature - whichever way you are inclined, both the experiences above are objectively true, of course.

We have no idea where our ideas come from.

The problem is that when ideas strike and we act on them, and the fruits start to show, perhaps we even become famous for them, it becomes incredibly alluring to give ourselves credit for it all. To make?ourselves?God.

A proposition our primitive egos can’t resist.

Needless to say, the paradox is that success doesn’t only depend on the stream of ideas that come online in our minds. It still requires time, effort, work ethic, luck, resources and so on. But a healthy relationship with our egos can maintain a healthy balance between it all. In fact, this is linked to our ability as entrepreneurs to make a success of the things we build.

It is this relationship that a group of researchers in Germany wanted to explore, this?link between the development of our ego and the orientation of entrepreneurs to innovate.

In their?research, they identified six stages of ego development.

On the lower end, the?Self Protective?ego orients itself primarily to the person’s own needs and interests. The?Conformist?ego starts to recognise social rules and behaves accordingly to those rules. The?Self Aware?ego becomes aware of exceptions to the “rules” and results in an internal conflict of emotions. The?Conscientious?ego starts creating self-evaluated standards. The?Individualist?ego embraces relativism with a focus on personal self-improvement. And then lastly, the?Autonomous?ego self-identifies away from the ego, towards an integrated and complex identity.

Fascinating isn’t it!? You can read more about the stages?here.

The researchers tested groups of women entrepreneurs on where they fall in the stages of ego development and then evaluated their attitudes towards innovating and trying out new ways of doing things themselves, as well as encouraging others to do the same.

Here are the top-level findings of how each stage impacts entrepreneurs' openness to innovate:

1.?Entrepreneurs who fell into the ‘Self Protective’ ego stage showed a healthy willingness to innovate and slightly less yet still positive propensity towards encouraging others to do the same.

2. Those within the Conformist category showed a degree of conflict in their self-evaluation of themselves and their attitudes toward others.

3. The Self Aware stage of ego development indicated a balanced analysis of their willingness to try novel solutions and encourage others to think and behave in a similar way.

4. Similar for those entrepreneurs that fell within the Conscientious stage of ego development.

5. Those within the Individualist stage displayed more conviction to innovate and promote innovation with others.

6. Entrepreneurs who were tested to have an Autonomous ego showed a high degree of conviction in their willingness to adapt, try new things and advocate for the same with others.

The majority of respondents in the study fell in the Self Aware and Conscientious stages of ego development, indicating an above-average relationship between entrepreneurs and their egos. By extension, the results indicated a positive correlation between entrepreneurs and their belief in the importance of innovation.

So, what can we take from these findings?

Well, for entrepreneurs, clearly mastery over your ego improves your ability to adapt and innovate. What self-examination habits have you adopted to better understand yourself?

For educators, in order for entrepreneurs to develop a mature relationship with their egos, they need to have a critical perspective on it. To what degree can you provide entrepreneurs with knowledge about the conditions to develop an integrated ego?

For service providers, entrepreneurs want to be the hero of their story but still retain a sense of humility about what got them to this point. How can you empower entrepreneurs with tools that encourage introspection and balance on their journey?

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This article was originally shared with our community as Louis Janse van Rensburg’s Friday Research Mailer.?Subscribe?now to get it in your inbox fresh!