Fear not dear reader, for you are a typical entrepreneur.
Many studies have been completed in entrepreneurship and the characteristics that an entrepreneur possesses. For example, in 1961, David Mcclelland described the entrepreneur as primarily motivated by an overwhelming need for achievement and strong urge to build. Collins and Moore (1970) studied 150 entrepreneurs and concluded that they are tough, pragmatic people driven by needs of independence and achievement, they seldom are willing to submit to authority. Busenitz and Barney (1997) claim entrepreneurs are prone to overconfidence and over generalizations. Bird (1992) sees entrepreneurs as prone to insights, brainstorms, deceptions, ingeniousness and resourcefulness. They are cunning, opportunistic, creative, and unsentimental.
These are strong words that are often used to describe the entrepreneur, but one of things that is rarely mentioned is the propensity for entrepreneurs to be the complete opposite of this type of personality, albeit for short periods of time. This is called the ‘Mercurial Shift’.
I first learned about this when studying psychometric testing. The testing is composed of 4 words to which the subject ticks a box indicating which word least describes them and which word most describes them. The results created a chart which then enable analysis of whether the potential candidate’s personality was suitable for the job.
I ran these tests for at least two years and found them to be a fabulous indicator of a person’s profile.
The ‘perfect’ profile (for a sales position) was what we called the ‘Z’ profile (left). This profile indicates high Influence, meaning the person has a personality that can influence others. Dominance is in the ‘grey zone’. This is a double edged sword, dominance shows leadership and determination but in the grey zone it means bowing to authority is not something this person will do. This is also indicated in Compliance being in the low grey zone – basically a hatred of authority and rules! Persuasion is in the low range, generally this means that the person uses his influencing personality and dominance to make a point rather than persuasive argument.
The words cunning, opportunistic, creative, and unsentimental as used above by Bird, would be used to describe this person. The psychometric chart to the left is the typical entrepreneur, and it is also my personal chart!
Mercurial Shift
What the chart also indicates is that Dominance and Compliance are in their respective ‘grey zones’ high and low. This is the 
indicator that a Mercurial Shift can, and will occurr at some stage. It may last for a day, it may last from an hour, but it will come.
What happens during this period is that the Dominance and Compliance points change places. Dominance goes into the low grey zone and compliance goes into the high grey zone. During these times the entrepreneur (me in this example!) becomes super compliant and about as dominant as a puppy who has just had his nose rubbed in poo.
That may sound great, but what happens is that in that situation you start feeling ‘not yourself’, you start to feel frustrated and to mask your feelings of not being dominant you can end up doing crazy things to prove to yourself that you are dominant and not compliant. I think you can tell what may occur in those circumstances. I used to drink and party, drive fast, play loud music, shout at employees and generally be an asshole.
I have learned to recognize when this is happening to me, and learned to counter its effects. I even have a name for it, I call it my ‘car crash‘ moments. I call it that to remind myself that it is only a temporary state of mind and if I let it become real to me I could do some damage.
To combat feelings like this you need to be able to change your state. Go for a run, phone up a friend, make love to your wife, play with your kids, do something positive that will change your state. If you are able to distract yourself from this state you will be able to manage negative feelings much easier.
Psychometric Testing
Having used testing for many years I have found that the results are a great indicator of the personality traits of the people you are interviewing. I would recommend that if you are in a business that requires certain personality traits, like sales people for example, 
then you use these tests to get an idea of the person sat in front of you. I found that those with the ‘perfect’ sales chart were harder to manage, first to move on if they had a better deal and ticking time bombs as far as personal problems are concerned. However, they were by far the most successful at that particular role.
Regards
David
@OneLifeNoFear
Davids Blog
