Why is the "need for success" important for entrepreneurship?

If you had a choice, would you rather stand on the winner's podium or watch someone else stand on that platform?

Be honest now. When you participate in a competition, do you just say that you are there simply for the experience or in the end, do you imagine yourself finishing first?

There is nothing wrong with wanting to succeed. It's quite natural, and it's often seen at a young age.

"Ever since I was a kid, I've always been obsessed with getting better results," says Alessio Lorusso, CEO and Founder of Roboze, Bari, Italy and Houston. "I've never been satisfied with anything if I thought it could be improved or completely reinvented to get the best results."

It's a familiar story. Many business owners got their first taste of entrepreneurship before they graduated from high school.

"I've been an entrepreneur since my early teens, probably before I even knew the definition of an entrepreneur," says Kristin Larsen, founder of Believe In A Budget in Franklin, Tennessee. "I was the go-to babysitter in my neighborhood and had a steady stream of clients, often booked for entire summers and weekends (with parents competing who would pay me the most!). I said yes to every opportunity and put all my earnings into my savings account."

This pre-adult urge to enter the wonderful world of commerce is based on an equally strong desire to succeed.

“The importance of success is in my DNA,” says George Haymaker III, founder and managing partner of Re:THINK Ice Cream in Napa, California. "It's hard to explain how or why someone has it, but it's a function of my self-esteem to achieve. It's what drives me, I love competition and luckily I have discovered early on that it was my life's calling."

What is the desire for high achievement?

While Haymaker is right that it's hard to explain, that hasn't stopped researchers from trying. The academic literature is replete with studies attempting to describe this need for success and correlate it to success in business (and in other areas of life).

A 2017 study states, "According to self-esteem theory, achievement-oriented students are highly intrinsically motivated. Students with these goals view success as acquiring new skills and knowledge, intellectual improvement and skill development with the possibility of failure, tightly weighed against the chances of success (Atkinson, 1957) Regardless of the accomplishments of others, achievement-oriented (mastery-oriented) students value ability as a tool for achieving mastery of personally meaningful goals and they tend to believe that failure despite best efforts does not necessarily imply incompetence. It may simply mean using the wrong strategies."1

Other studies suggest that top performers are more likely to set themselves up for failure, primarily because they tend to seek out more difficult tasks.

"From a young age, I've always been inherently curious," says Paul Polizzotto, founder and CEO of Givewith in Manhattan Beach, California. "I've also been extremely competitive, so when I commit to a goal, I'll keep working on it until I make sure it's at its best. As an entrepreneur, I don't am not tied to the concept of "failing fast and often". I have a much stronger fear of failure than the desire to succeed. I believe that successful entrepreneurs need to fear failure and turn that fear into a catalyst to succeed. At every step of every business I founded, I made sure to chase failure and meticulously dissect my solution to deal with any prospect of failure."

Why is the need for success important?

It is generally accepted that the need for achievement is responsible for much of the progress seen in society. In a research article published in 2016, Tarundeep Kaur states: "The need for success is important because it is not only correlated with higher success scores, but also with faster promotions, obtaining a higher great success, to running their own business and to the economy of a country. 2

This characteristic is so valuable for the betterment of society that previous research has linked it directly to primary education.

Research by Lester Sontag and Jerome Kagan in 1963 concluded: "The period of six to ten years is critical for the crystallization of a desire for task mastery and intellectual competence. High levels of achievement behavior at this age are strongly correlated with achievement behavior in adulthood.It is further suggested that the teacher realizes the role...