In his Navy service, Randy Nelson passed rigorous exams to qualify as a submarine team leader, earning his stripes through proven expertise.
Contrast that with entrepreneurship: There's no formal qualification. You file documents and dive in. As a founding member of the Raleigh-Durham, NC chapter of Entrepreneurs' Organization, Nelson has seen unprepared founders steer nearly 70% of businesses to failure within their first 10 years.
Today, this seasoned author, speaker, business coach, and founder of Gold Dolphins LLC—a Clayton, NC-based coaching, mentoring, and consulting firm—is dedicated to forging capable business leaders.
“Entrepreneurship alone is not enough. Leadership alone is not enough. The combination is powerful and more than capable of overturning the failure rate in the entrepreneurial community. Every company would benefit from greater capacity for entrepreneurship and leadership,” Nelson shares.
Related: 16 things you can learn from Dave Ramsey about life and leadership
This article originally appeared in the June 2017 issue of SUCCESS magazine.
