I have to admit that I love taking personal development tests and assessments. As you may know, if you follow my blog and other work, I am a big fan of reflection as an instrument for personal growth. Like meditation and journaling and other self-development tools, well-constructed and validated personality tests can provide an opportunity for reflection and can be an avenue for personal growth.
However, while they can be fun and informative, it is important to recognize they also have limits. Not every assessment is based in research, nor have they all been validated (measure what they say they are measuring) and proven to be reliable (consistent over users). As a long-time entrepreneurship educator, I have used a number of different assessments in my classes to help my students gain more insight into their work styles, behaviors and response patterns, and their preferences for certain work circumstances. However, over the years I have found that while there are a few very good instruments available that relate to entrepreneurship, there isn’t one that allows for reflection on entrepreneurial competencies.
In a few weeks, 500+ college students from around the world will convene in Tampa, FL for the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization Global Conference. This organization is the premier entrepreneurship network with chapters on university campuses across North America and beyond. Their mission is to inform, support, and inspire college students to be entrepreneurial and seek opportunities through enterprise creation. The highlight of the year is the annual Global Conference hosted each fall. I have been invited to offer the opening keynote talking about the work I have done in entrepreneurship and the findings I share in my new book, See, Do, Repeat: The Practice of Entrepreneurship, which provides a pathway to success for entrepreneurs.
With the publication of the book, I got lots of requests for more exercises and learning tools beyond those that I included in the book. So I got to work on a companion guidebook, Exploring the Practice of Entrepreneurship and I am proud to say it is now available for pre-sale and will be launching at the CEO conference in a few weeks. To make this program even more valuable, I have developed and included a new assessment – See, Do, Repeat: An Entrepreneurial Competencies Assessment. This assessment is based on years of validated research on the three competencies of entrepreneurship: the ability to recognize opportunities, the willingness to take action and the resilience to execute past failure. My hope is that this guidebook and assessment can provide entrepreneurs in any stage of development with another tool to help them prepare for the challenges of entrepreneurship. I am excited to share it with the future entrepreneurs attending CEO and hope that you and others you know who wish to pursue an entrepreneurial path will consider using it to help strengthen your own entrepreneurial competencies.
To your entrepreneurial success…