Tom Peters, the biz guru who spells out the secrets of excellence among companies says that there are Ten “Traits of Excellence” for an individual . He quotes them with reference to Gandhi, Churchill and Mandela.
I have tried to put in a few words against each of these traits . An entrepreneur who wants to build a successful company should possess these qualities :

1.Dreamer-Visionary.: He needs to visualize the situation much before lot of people can and have the guts to execute it.A healthy mix of dreaming and execution is important. Mere dreamer wont do. Like Ram charan and Larry Bossidy who point out thatExecution is the killer in this world of dreamers. This reminds me of a statement hung on the wall of my previous company , “ Lot of people dream , but only few stay awake in the night to make it succeed” –

2.True to Himself: All said and done, one cant fake any thing to oneself, in the struggle to build a company. There are times when one has to vent out emotions to people, say the things which they feel like, and be absolutely true to their belief

3.Story Teller : Can anyone deny the importance of this trait ? right from pitching to VCs to talking to customers , to talking to employees, this trait is very important. One of my Professors at school, Mr. Nitin Agarwal always use to emphasize that every successful business model should have a story or else it would not be communicated to the stakeholders –

4.Magnetism: Richard Branson, Jack Welch , Narayan Murthy, every one has a magnetic power to draw people to work towards a common goal

5.Inclusive

6.Stamina

7.Persistence

8.Politician Extraordinaire

9.Actor

10.Thrive Past Failure: Here I am always reminded of a mail which Mr. Nama, a senior leader at the company I worked for had sent me . Here go the lines. This is what I call thriving Past failures
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If this cannot motivate and drive us crazy to win in life. what will ?

Failed in Business - Bankruptcy - 1831
Defeated in Legislature - 1832
Failed in Business - Bankruptcy - 1834
Sweetheart - Fiance Dies - 1835
Nervous Breakdown - 1836
Defeated in Election - 1838
Defeated for US Congress - 1846
Defeated again for US Congress - 1847
Defeated once again for US Congress - 1848
Defeated for US Senate - 1855
Defeated for US Vice President - 1856
Defeated again for US Senate - 1858

-— ABRAHAM LINCOLN - Elected President of the USA - 1860
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As someone said, there are only 2 things in your life that are beyond your control,
ONE - The day you are born
TWO - The day you die…..

All the things in between are completely in your hands…
So these traits can be cultivated in any individual, if he is prepared to do so.

Like Gandhiji ’s quote - My Life is a Message ?

If everyone asks himself a simple question that , is his/her life a message? The answer to this question daily would make any individual strive towards success