ABSTRACT

The difference between an entrepreneur and a titan is not determined by personal net worth or the size of the company’s bottom line. External measures, no matter how impressive, are not the defining characteristics. Some of the true differentiators can be categorized as business skills; as discussed in previous chapters, these include developing a team, executing a plan, and staying focused on those things that move the levers of a successful operation. Others are personal, including drive, discipline, and integrity. Among the cream-of-the-crop entrepreneurs, the ones who reach the pinnacle of success, there is another trait that is part personality and part discipline. Rooted in early life experiences, it sometimes shows itself as work ethic, but really goes deeper than that. Bill Jensen, CEO of Intrawest, which develops and manages leading ski resorts in the United States and Canada as well as other worldwide destination properties, calls it “the 2 percent difference.”