From Chapter 7, "Tolerating Risk: Being a Doer, Not a Dreamer" in Ingredients of Outliers Sense of Humor/ Humility Another essential quality the successful entrepreneur must have is a sense of humor. Things will go wrong, often at the most unexpected and inopportune times. The customer who came to my hot dog stand and announced to all within earshot that I was the doctor who’d treated him in the emergency department a week earlier is a case in point. An embarrassing moment? You bet it was! But I still laugh every time I think about it. A sense of humor is what keeps an entrepreneur … [Read more...]
Being a Visionary
From Chapter 7 "Tolerating Risk: Being a Doer, not a Dreamer" from Ingredients of Outliers Pressing On To me, entrepreneurism is simply taking something you’re passionate about and turning it into capital so you can do more of it. Passion without monetization is called a hobby. I’m what you’d call a serial entrepreneur; I’ve tried (and more often than not, failed) at more businesses than you can imagine. (You may recall my hot dog stand adventure and others that I described in Chapter 2.) Although failing’s never fun, if you keep your mind open it will teach you more than success … [Read more...]
Ingredients of Outliers Summary, by Dr. Douglas Winslow Cooper
What better way to look at your own work than through a fresh set of eyes? We found a summary of the foundational book in the Outlier Series, Ingredients of Outliers, not written by the author, Dr. John Shufeldt, but by another doctor, Douglas Winslow Cooper, PhD. He put the summary together for Asiance magazine, in an article titled, "How to be Outstanding". Check out his synopsis with a few of our instagram photos (follow us at @outlier_series) here: In his recently published The Ingredients of Outliers, physician-lawyer-businessman John Shufeldt, MD, JD, MBA, has written a succinct … [Read more...]
Risk Taking: When to Dismount a Dead Horse
Taking risks is no doubt scary, there is no definite outcome, and there is no guarantee for success. But risk-takers are the people who make history. People who take calculated risks are often the ones who reap extraordinary benefits. Taking risks and failure go hand in hand and you shouldn’t be afraid to do either if you want to set your goals high. When it comes to entrepreneurial ventures, Dr. Shufeldt is the first to admit he has made mistakes, and some ideas have never come to fruition. But trying, and taking that leap of faith is what creates innovation and breakthroughs in … [Read more...]