NN Taleb in his book Skin In The Game, discusses the characteristics of the entrepreneurial risk taker:
“Products or companies that bear the owner's
name convey very valuable messages. They
are shouting that they have something to lose.
Eponymy indicates both a commitment to the
company and a confidence in the product. A
friend of mine, Paul Wilmott, is often called
an egomaniac for having his name on a math-
ematical finance technical journal (Wilmott),
which at the time of writing is undoubtedly
the best. "Egomaniac" is good for the product.
But if you can't get "egomaniac," "arrogant"
will do.”
There is a tradeoff - It takes near narcissistic levels of confidence to sustain the risk commitment necessary. The risk taker is an interesting personality type. Interesting that society, via its religious teaching, generally discourages the high confidence, arrogant types that make for a good risk taker. Is religion acting as a balancing system, with risk taking a natural reinforcing system? Is religion teaching while confidence is good to sustain commitment, it must be balanced with humility?
“The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.” - Proverbs 8:13
