Daniel Annett-Stuart’s words summarise what I feel is most important about the Entrepreneurial Mindset Profile® tool I use with clients as part of the coaching services:
“I liked the EMP tool as it clarified my strengths which I can leverage for business success.”
The founder of Radiant Signs Pty Ltd in Perth, Western Australia, Daniel used the insights from the EMP to strengthen his business by outsourcing more tasks and making better use of other people’s talents. Greater efficiency and happy people doing work they’re skilled at is always good for business.
After sharing Daniel’s feedback on LinkedIn recently, I’ll use this article to explain more about the Entrepreneurial Mindset Profile and its benefits.
The EMP was developed by Mark Davis, Jennifer Hall and Pam Meyer at Eckerd College’s Leadership Development Institute, in the USA. Eckerd College (Center for Creative Leadership (CCL®)) was ranked No. 10 overall in the Financial Times worldwide survey of executive education in 2018.
It’s an established tool, reinforced by academic research, and supported by partners including universities across the world, Institute Workplace Dynamics in Paris, MoneyMind in Brazil, and Women in STEM Entrepreneurship.
Davis, Hall and Meyer identified seven key personality traits and seven skills relating to entrepreneurship, defined a series of scales to measure them, and mapped where successful entrepreneurs and corporate senior managers scored against those scales. They are:
They then created an assessment tool, based on a series of questions relating to each of the personality and skills scales, to measure how participants compared to the benchmarks established. Completing the EMP assessment is a straightforward multiple-choice exercise, with no trick questions or essays required. It’s not stressful to do and only takes about 20 minutes to complete.
The tool is nuanced – it’s not just a case of hitting the max score on each item to be considered a perfect entrepreneur – as it is the interplay between the different personality and skills scales that is important.
Completing the questionnaire is something you can do yourself online. Helping you make sense of the results is where I, as a certified EMP Master Practitioner, come in. I have been trained by Eckerd College to interpret the results, provide insights as to what they mean, and work with you to develop ideas you can put into practice – such as Daniel’s recognition that he needed to outsource certain aspects of his business.
I promise, the process isn’t painful and you’ll come out of it feeling enthused, with greater insights of what makes you tick and what to do in order to thrive. Don’t just take my word for it; here’s what Jonathan Bean thought of the EMP process…
“As a writer who also works with charities, I suspect I’m not a typical subject for the EMP. I’m not heading up a tech start-up or managing teams of people in The City, and I don’t have any ambition to be the next Jeff Bezos (I’m quite happy here on Earth, thank you very much). However, I am a business owner – even if it’s just a one-man band, freelance sole trader business – and it is important to me that my business is successful.
“Attracting and retaining customers; developing and selling products; and exploring how to grow my business. These are all things I have to consider and adopting and maintaining an entrepreneurial mindset is key to achieving my goals. As such, I was keen to take the EMP test and discuss the findings with Vicki.
“Answering the questions is easy. It took just minutes of my time, using an online portal. The questions are all about you, the person completing the EMP assessment, so this is one set of questions where you’ll definitely know all the answers.
“After the online questions, I had a phone conversation with Vicki to talk through the answers. In general, the results didn’t reveal any great surprises, as I tend to be well-tuned into myself, but it was interesting to see how my scores compared to the benchmarks. In some areas (eg: idea generation, interpersonal sensitivity, and nonconformity) I was reassured to see my scores were similar to those of a typical successful entrepreneur. In others (eg: risk acceptance, action orientation, and execution) I deviate far from the norm curve.
“This is helpful information to have. I may have plenty of ideas, but if I’m not willing to take a risk and make them happen, I’m stifling the potential for growth.
“As I was intrigued by the EMP scales, Vicki and I also talked about other scenarios in which the scores might not interact in the way you’d initially suspect. For example, being a hard worker, conscientious, and good with people are all positive traits you may assume are a likely indicator of success. But without self-awareness and understanding, they can easily lead to doing too much, to an excessively high standard, for as many people as possible, burning out in the process. Completing the EMP can help avoid such pitfalls.
“I am not someone who enjoys being the subject of assessment. Reviews, appraisals, and even receiving positive feedback makes me feel uncomfortable, so I avoid these scenarios. I’ll admit to being a little nervous going into the EMP process, but Vicki instantly made me feel comfortable. I felt guided and supported throughout.
“It was a constructive, positive process. I would recommend to anyone. Whether you have entrepreneurial ambitions or not, developing a better understanding of your personality and skills is a valuable route to self-improvement and success in your professional (and social) life.
“You’ve got to know yourself to grow yourself.”
Thank you to Jonathan for sharing his thoughts on the Entrepreneurial Mindset Profile. I am taking bookings for new EMP consultations, so please get in touch. You can send me a message directly through LinkedIn or drop me a note in the comments and I can contact you. I’m looking forward to working with you!
