The title refers to a very good book about what it takes to be an entrepreneur and build a great business. The authors of the book are Anthony Tjian, Richard Harrington and Tsun-Yan Hsieh and the book is called Heart, Smarts, Guts and Luck published by Harvard Business Review Press, Boston, Mass, 2012. The authors tried to figure out the basic components of what it means to be an entrepreneur.

The next stage is Guts refers to initiating, enduring and evolving. Anyone that has vision of bettering a process is automatically battling the status quo or very slow change. The status quo is where most people are at because you rarely get fired for not changing the status quo or not rocking the boat. If you believe and see a different vision for what can be, structures will have to be changed to implement your vision. In most companies, there is a limited opportunity to do so and you have to find the right people. One of the reasons why companies are started is the Guts category – few would believe in them or it was easier to start a new company.

Guts is divided into 3 categories to initiate; to endure and to evolve. To initiate is to start to take the ultimate leap of faith where little evidence suggests your venture will bear fruit. This is a large step for there is more ideas to be found, than people with the desire to actually do them. Many ideas come with only  … or waiting for the time is ripe … or something along those line. To actually make the step needs confidence, passion and conviction.

The guts to endure refers to the long journey necessary to test your idea and see if it works. If you understand that many ideas will not pan out, then failure is not an option but a reality. Not trying, not going forth is the failure and the market will tell you if it is a success or not.

The guts to evolve is the ability to enact change within themselves. To bring an idea to reality involves different skills than thinking of the idea, the idea maker has to understand that and be able to change themselves. There is a fine line between perseverance and being stubborn. The change involves risk to both the idea person and the company trying to do the change, until it is accepted by the market and than everyone sees how good the idea is. Conversely if the market is not accepting then the idea needs to evolve.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the success of the these companies is the opposite of guts driven, for staying profitable and paying dividends tends to push the company towards what has worked. For many years, it may have worked and how does the company transform itself to reflect what now exists. One tried and true method is the profitable company has the ability to buy new companies which are involved in more rapid change. How the combining of the companies works is something for the dividend paying shareholder wish to pay attention to. What type of companies are bid for and being bought and what does that say about the company strategy. If you like it, the company can continue to be a hold.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions