A few more skills for entrepreneurs

I have a few more skill areas I need to develop or improve in addition to those that I have already blogged about (Skill development, More entrepreneurial skills, and Being in touch with your market at an intuitive level):

• Compelling presentation and narrative - organizing and packaging your ideas, facts, rationale, arguments, benefits, etc. in a form that comes across as an appealing and believable story that literally compels your audience to agree with your proposal. The visual and verbal are equally important.
• Humor and fun - how to balance serious discussion and serious work on the one hand with light moments and at least some amount of play or at least a playful tone, with the goal of raising the overall energy level and leaving people feeling invigorated rather than merely exhausted and spent.
• A little drama and theater - nobody wants dark melodrama in their work and business environment, but a little suspense and unexpected turns can raise the energy level and prevent people from sliding into a lower-energy rut of lower productivity
• Surprise - even modest positive surprises can dramatically boost excitement, energy, and attention.
• Serendipity - being open and flexible and attentive so that you are able to fully exploit new opportunities that pop up in an unexpected manner. Setting yourself up for greater potential serendipity as well.
• Situational Awareness - being hyper-aware of all details of everything that is going on everywhere around you so that you can respond promptly to things as they are rather than as you imagined they might or might not be. Sometimes things are right in front of us and we still do not see them.
• Roadmap - Have a long-term succession of products and services in mind so that you can do a better job of trading off short-term gains in favor of long-term benefits.
• Rapport - How to establish and build a great working chemistry with partners, colleagues, employees, customers, investors, etc., with the ultimate goal of more effective and easier comunication and better and easier business results.
• Making a better first impression - getting started on the right foot is a lot easier than starting with a struggle for credibility.
• Managing money and a budget - it sounds easy, but so many bad decisions get made because we let income, expenses, or our cash balance get out of whack.

Just when I think I finally have my full list of needed entrepreneurial skills, a few more come to mind.

-- Jack Krupansky