Entrepreneurship | Sam Zell Speaks at Ross - "Make no little plans"

Sam Zell, a graduate of the University of Michigan Law program and a real estate legend, spoke to a crowd of MBA students on challenges for the modern 'entrepreneur' on November 16, 2006. Sam
was listed by Forbes magazine in 2004 as the world's 247th
richest person and the nation's top landlord with 128 million
square feet of office space and 225,000 apartments. Sam helped found the Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute at the Ross School of Business.

In his talk, Sam discussed the top traits essential for today's entreprenuer, paraphrased below.

Entreprenuers must:

1. be extraordinarily observant to seek out and identify opportunities.
   
2. maintain and develop extreme focus to achieve success.
   
3. have an unendless stream of questions to challenge others as well as one's own ideas and convictions
4. have an enormous risk tolerance
5. possess a sense of urgency and the ability to recognize and execute on a unique opportunity and/or moment
   
6. be a salesman
7. see what others don't see - even if it is obvious.
   
8. have personality and be willing to test the limits and challenge the status quo every day
9. have a view, an opinion and a direction
   

Sam left the crowd with an inspiring quote by Daniel Burnam, the American architect responsible for the beautifcation of central Chicago.

"Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood and probably will not themselves be realized."