Acton’s new video calls zebras the entrepreneurs of the Serengeti. It’s a fitting comparison. While you may be partial to the lion for its kingliness, the monkey for its humanness, or the puppy for its wiggliness, there’s no better beastly mascot for Entrepreneurship than the zebra.

Zebras are One-of-a-Kind.
No two zebras have the same stripe pattern.
Each entrepreneur is an inimitable misfit. You may recognize similar stripes of pragmatism, creativity, scrappiness, and stick-to-itiveness running through each one, but those stripes aren’t stamped out in prep schools or painted by numbers.

Zebras are Precocious.
Zebras can walk only 20 minutes after being born…They can run within the hour.
Entrepreneurs start early too. As children they are the tinkerers and game inventers and lemonade sellers; they are the master baseball card-traders and club-formers.

Zebras are Innovators.
They constantly seek out greener pastures.
Entrepreneurs get excited by opportunities for continuous improvement. They are compelled to find ways to do things better, faster, or cheaper.

Zebras are Rebels.
They’ve never been truly domesticated. They cannot be tamed and trained.
Entrepreneurs seek autonomy. They resist the cubicle and the corporate ladder…and may have problems with authority, from time to time.

Zebras are Visionaries.
They can see in the dark…and in color.
Entrepreneurs see the world that everyone sees, but they also see what could be, superimposed on that same landscape. They can spot hidden opportunities and focus in on minute truths. They excel in seeing both the big picture and the little.

Zebras are Leaders.
It is the zebra who leads the Great Migration of herds across the Serengeti. The wildebeests look to the zebra to take the first plunge at river crossings and to chart the best course across the vast grassland expanse.
Entrepreneurs bring other people along on their journey. Partners, employees, customers, and competitors all follow entrepreneurs to new ground and inhabit the dreams made solid there.

Are you a zebra?

Posted in Blog, Entrepreneurship