Many people have asked me what’s the difference between an entrepreneur and a manager? After all, don’t they both do the same thing?

 

My answer is that both types of people are incredibly different in terms of mindset and activity. Although on the outside, entrepreneurs and managers may look the same, they both act and think differently.

 

Both entrepreneurs and managers have their own key strengths and understanding both their qualities will help you hire them in your company and assess opportunities.

 

For example, let’s say that you have a company and you receive several applicants to manage your team of people. If you receive an applicant that has managerial capabilities but has never owned their own business, then the manager would most likely be highly skilled and focused on the leadership of a team, which is what you’re looking for.

 

However if you come across an entrepreneur, who also has experience in managing people but has a multitude of starting and running several businesses, there is that risk that the entrepreneur may take your idea and start their own business and compete with you.

 

Entrepreneur vs Manager Entrepreneur Vs Managers And Understanding Their Personality Types Before You Hire Them

Understanding the pros and cons between entrepreneurs and managers

Both are skilled but have different values and mindsets.

 

If you’ve read Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, he speaks about the 4 quadrants, employee, small business owner, big business and investor. Each of those quadrants have their own thinking, mindset, attitudes and values.

 

Well entrepreneurs and managers are no different. They both have their own set of values and attitudes towards everything and understanding the personality types of these people will greatly help you achieve your goals.

 

We’ll categorize both these personality types into 3 categories, mindset, values and activities. Below is just a general overview.

 

Manager VS Entrepreneur Table

 

Mindset Values Activities
Manager
  • Focuses solely on the management of people and very skilled at this.
  • Follows key structures and policies
  • Follows management and works well within a team.
  • The successful management of a team towards a singular goal.
  • Ensuring policies and structure is kept within an organization.

 
  • Written policies and procedures for people to follow
  • Implementation of procedure
  • Organization of team meetings
  • Motivation and leadership of people
Entrepreneur
  • Focuses on the creation of companies.
  • Looks at expansion of industries and markets.
  • Tends not to follow set rules and makes up their own.
  • Normally unemployable due to always wanting to run things their way.
  • Increase cash flow within a business or entity
  • Creation of products and services
  • Creation of jobs
  • Seeking out new customers and clients
  • Negotiating deals
  • Running core activities that bring in business

 

 

 

As you can see from the table above, both managers and entrepreneurs have their key strengths and weaknesses.

 

Entrepreneurs are normally more diverse in many areas and tend to continually be involved in multiple ideas and projects. This is their strength but their weakness is lack of focus due to the multitude of projects they are working on.

 

Managers are mostly focused on people development and leadership of teams which makes them strong in the area of management but weak in the areas of business building and marketing.

 

I hope the information provided was useful, I always believe there is an advantage knowing different personality types. By understanding the personality types of people, you’ll be able to select the right person for the job and build a winning company.

 

Good Journey.

 

Khoa Bui

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About the Author

Khoa Bui is a best selling author, international speaker, corporate trainer and entrepreneur. He has been featured on Entrepreneur Magazine, Channel 31, Global News Network and more. He has a passion for writing, traveling the world and building online businesses. Find out more about Khoa here.