"Beyond traits": Latest insights into entrepreneurial success

A new study from the Netherlands (Boesten et al, 2025) challenges the traditional view that entrepreneurial success is solely driven by personality traits like risk-taking or extraversion. Instead, the research argues that successful entrepreneurs combine proactive behaviours across multiple life domains, and not just business, to create sustainable ventures. In this article, we review the findings.

The report

The research was conducted with 286 Dutch entrepreneurs who participated in a general survey study with some also participating in a diary study.

The findings contradict stereotyped notions of entrepreneurs and align with a broader shift in entrepreneurship research over the past 1-2 decades (e.g. Kerr, 2018). There is increasing consensus that past research overemphasised innate traits, and there needs to be a more holistic, dynamic understanding of what makes entrepreneurs and wha allows them to thrive.

Key findings

1. Entrepreneurs Succeed Through Integrated Life Strategies

The contribution of Boesten et al (2025) is the finding that the most successful entrepreneurs don’t just "work hard, but rather they orchestrate proactive behaviours in four key areas of their lives:

1. Career: Opportunistic pivoting (e.g., shifting from freelancing to a scalable product).

2. Health: Prioritizing sleep, exercise, and mental resilience to sustain high performance.

3. Relationships: Building networks before they’re needed (e.g., mentors, collaborators).

4. Learning: Continuous upskilling (technical and emotional intelligence).

As a practical example, a founder who exercises daily (health), attends industry meetups (relationships), and dedicates 2 hours/week to learning AI tools (learning) outperforms peers who focus only on their business.

2. Traits Matter Less Than "Behavioural Systems"

Historical research confirms that traits like grit and openness correlate with entrepreneurship. However, the more recent Dutch 2024 study shows these alone don’t predict success.

Instead what is found to be important, are:

• "Proactive synergy, which means aligning behaviours across life domains, is 3x more impactful than any single trait.

• Founders who neglect health or relationships burn out or make poor decisions.

In short, pursuing a rigid "hustle culture" fail.

The paper introduces the idea of entrepreneurship as a way of living life, and proposed curating a life system to support it.

Implications for (Aspiring) Entrepreneurs

There are some straightforward high level implications for aspiring or current entrepreneurs:

What to Do Differently

1. Audit Your Life Portfolio

   • Use the 4-Domain Framework (Career, Health, Relationships, Learning) to identify gaps.

   • Note how any weakness in one area drags down others (e.g., poor sleep = bad negotiations, or neglected health = lower energy).

2. Build Cross-Domain Habits

   • Health → Business: Morning workouts boost afternoon focus.

   • Relationships → Learning: Join mastermind groups to exchange skills.

3. Redefine "Hustle"

   • Replace 80-hour weeks with "strategic energy management" (e.g., cultivate routines that are comprised of deep work blocks with recovery time).

Consequently, there are clear pitfalls to avoid:

1. Over-indexing on traits: Being "risk-tolerant" means little without execution systems.

2. Ignoring non-business domains: Founders who neglect health see 23% higher failure rates (linked to stress-induced errors).

Summary

In summary, the research is changing the paradigm on what makes for effective entrepreneurial lifestyles. There is still a lot of hard, focussed work to be done, but the optimal routines look at the entire system of life as a resource pool to manage and use:

The Old View, that "Born entrepreneurs" thrive due to innate traits, is being supplanted.

The new view is that anyone can become an entrepreneur through leaning, by designing a person-centred system of proactive behaviours, alongside studying the various facets of success in their own domain.

Entrepreneurship isn’t about being a "type: it’s about curating a life that sustains innovation.

Sources

Boesten, Renée M., et al. "A person-centered perspective on entrepreneurial success: combining proactive behavioral strategies across various life domains." Career Development International (2025).

Kerr, Sari Pekkala, William R. Kerr, and Tina Xu. "Personality traits of entrepreneurs: A review of recent literature." Foundations and Trends® in Entrepreneurship 14.3 (2018): 279-356.