Are Small Business Owners Smarter?
C&F Motorcycle Parts, Upland CA - Specializing in Harley Davidson Motorcycles
We all wonder what makes someone smarter than someone else. Is it genetics? Is it environment? Is it experience? The answer might be stranger than you think. One person’s smartness has more to do with how they view the world through their specific amplified traits. The National Human Genome Research Institute defines a trait as, “A trait, as related to genetics, is a specific characteristic of an individual. Traits can be determined by genes, environmental factors or by a combination of both. Traits can be qualitative (such as eye color) or quantitative (such as height or blood pressure).” Essentially, traits are characteristics that make each one of us unique. The good news is the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing says, “Genes account for between 30-50% of the determination and the rest is made up largely of environmental experiences unique to the individual.” This means we have more control over our traits than we think. We can influence and shape our traits by modifying our experiences. So, which traits should we be working on? Big Think reported on a massive study examining the link between personality and intelligence. Personality encompasses the “Big 5” traits, neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness, openness, and agreeableness. Here’s what they found:
Neuroticism - Most jerks are not that smart. These negative emotions can get in the way and are indicators of lower intelligence.
Extraversion - Not surprising was that extraverts are smart, but this trait is minutely related to intelligence with high sociability having a small negative impact on intelligence.
Conscientiousness - A great trait that lends itself well to self-motivation and keeping things in order, is definitely part of increased intelligence, but when that pendulum swings too far to being overly cautious and heavily routine oriented, that can have a negative impact on intelligence.
Openness - The strongest trait of them all, openness is the only trait with a positive history linking it to intelligence. Exposing oneself to new ideas and experiences is the best way to increase intelligence.
Agreeableness - Probably the most surprising trait of the 5 which praised compassion and sensitivity, but downplayed politeness as being negatively related to intelligence.
A lot of these traits from the study are intriguing and make sense, but I’ve seen some other traits that may or may not necessarily be linked to higher intelligence, but are definitely prevalent in many of the small business owners I have worked with over the years. What I have found unique about these traits in small business owners is that there is no boundary, no bottom and no end. Here are some of the top ones:
Curiosity - They always seem to ask the question why or at least they are thinking it. Why are things the way they are and how can they be better? Their curiosity is endless.
Resilience - Small business owners aren’t robots, they have feelings just like everyone else, but they don’t stay down for too long. They talk themselves back into the game. When knocked down, they get right back up.
Failure is an opportunity - Like an obstacle in the road, failure is just something to get around, it’s not the end and more importantly, there’s a great lesson to be learned here and maybe a financial gain too.
Driven - Every day has to matter. Every day has to count. They just keep going, even if the odds aren’t in their favor, because every thing, leads to the next thing.
Insatiability - We’re never done. The sun never sets. Every day the clock resets and they measure themselves by how much they got done that day. There's always more to do.
Small business owners are arguably smarter. At some point in their life, something clicked and they decided to go a different way. Even though odds were not in their favor, the information they would have to learn would be immense and their livelihood would be significantly impacted, they did it anyway. So why does that make them smarter? They have chosen to live their life fully. Whether the future holds good or bad, they are willing to take the risk. The best part about all of this is that anyone can be a small business owner. As noted in this article, you have the same traits as everyone else does and now you just need to amplify them. Be open and start exposing yourself to new ideas and experiences. You can do it, because you ARE smart.