The Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurs have many of the same character traits as leaders. Similarly to the early great man theories of leadership; however trait-based theories of entrepreneurship are increasingly being called into question.
Entrepreneurs are often contrasted with managers and administrators who are said to be more methodical and less prone to risk-taking.
Such person-centric models of entrepreneurship have shown to be of questionable validity, not least as many real-life entrepreneurs operate in teams rather than as single individuals.
Still, a vast but now clearly dated literature studying the entrepreneurial personality found that certain traits seem to be associated with entrepreneurs:

David McClelland (1961) described the entrepreneur as primarily motivated by an overwhelming need for achievement and strong urge to build.

Collins and Moore (1970) studied 150 entrepreneurs and concluded that they are tough, pragmatic people driven by needs of independence and achievement. They seldom are willing to submit to authority.

Bird (1992) sees entrepreneurs as mercurial, that is, prone to insights, brainstorms, deceptions, ingeniousness and resourcefulness. they are cunning, opportunistic, creative, and unsentimental.

Cooper, Woo, & Dunkelberg (1988) argue that entrepreneurs exhibit extreme optimism in their decision-making processes. In a study of 2994 entrepreneurs they report that 81% indicate their personal odds of success as greater than 70% and a remarkable 33% seeing odds of success of 10 out of 10.

Busenitz and Barney (1997) claim entrepreneurs are prone to overconfidence and over generalisations.

Cole (1959) found there are four types of entrepreneur: the innovator, the calculating inventor, the over-optimistic promoter, and the organization builder. These types are not related to the personality but to the type of opportunity the entrepreneur faces.