{"id":3609,"date":"2025-07-08T15:59:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T15:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=3609"},"modified":"2025-07-08T15:59:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T15:59:11","slug":"successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\/","title":{"rendered":"Successful Entrepreneurs Leverage Knowledge and Motivation"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher<\/a><\/p>\n

Successful entrepreneurs focus on what they know best and care most about when brainstorming and evaluating business ideas, according to Academy of Management Scholar Dean Shepherd<\/a> of the University of Notre Dame.<\/p>\n

\u201cEntrepreneurs often say, \u2018Where do I look for an opportunity?\u2019 Now, I always try and say, \u2018We\u2019ll look internally first at your own history,\u2019\u201d Shepherd said. \u201c\u2018What is unique about you? What unique knowledge do you have?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cMy path is unique, just like every person\u2019s path is unique, and it\u2019s given me knowledge that other people don\u2019t have,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I can think about things from that perspective, then I\u2019m more likely to come up with an opportunity that other people haven\u2019t thought of in the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn thinking about it that way, I\u2019m more likely to see opportunities related to my motivation, something that I\u2019m passionate about, and so opportunities are often identified at the intersection of my knowledge and my motivation.\u201d<\/p>\n

People who are knowledgeable in a particular field are better equipped to spot signals of potential opportunities in that area. Experienced entrepreneurs can also gauge the chances of success of a particular idea, even if it\u2019s just a rough estimate, to decide whether it\u2019s worth pursuing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m highly motivated by certain things, then I\u2019m more likely to see signals in the environment that relate to that motivation, and so it\u2019s the combination of those two that allows me to identify opportunities,\u201d Shepherd said. \u201cI also evaluate opportunities in a similar way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI say to myself, \u2018Do I have the knowledge, the skills, and the ability to be able to execute this opportunity? Is it feasible?\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I also asked myself, \u2018Is it desirable? Is it something that I want to do? If I do it and exploit this opportunity, does it give me the things that I want to have?<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so it\u2019s really that intersection of knowledge and motivation that is the how do we identify opportunities, and also whether we want to exploit those opportunities or not and what would be required to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher Successful entrepreneurs focus on what they know best and care most about when brainstorming and evaluating business ideas, according to Academy of Management Scholar Dean Shepherd of the University of Notre Dame. \u201cEntrepreneurs often say, \u2018Where do I look for an opportunity?\u2019 Now, I always try and say, \u2018We\u2019ll look internally first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,22,21,44],"tags":[],"sp_smart_badges":[],"ppma_author":[70],"class_list":["post-3609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-careers","category-entrepreneurship","category-innovation","category-motivation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSuccessful Entrepreneurs Leverage Knowledge and Motivation - Academy of Management Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Daniel Butcher\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Daniel Butcher\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c\"},\"headline\":\"Successful Entrepreneurs Leverage Knowledge and Motivation\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-08T15:59:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":369,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/african-american-opens-her-shop.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"CAREERS\",\"ENTREPRENEURSHIP\",\"INNOVATION\",\"MOTIVATION\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\\\/\",\"name\":\"Successful Entrepreneurs Leverage Knowledge and Motivation - Academy of Management Today\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/african-american-opens-her-shop.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-08T15:59:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/african-american-opens-her-shop.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/african-american-opens-her-shop.webp\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Source: Shutterstock\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Successful Entrepreneurs Leverage Knowledge and Motivation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/\",\"name\":\"Academy of Management Today\",\"description\":\"Smarter, faster business news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c\",\"name\":\"Daniel Butcher\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g559188980b254e0e0624aacb72ebc733\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Daniel Butcher\"},\"description\":\"Daniel Butcher is a writer and the Managing Editor of AOM Today at the Academy of Management (AOM). Previously, he was a writer and the Finance Editor for Strategic Finance magazine and Management Accounting Quarterly, a scholarly journal, at the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). Prior to that, he worked as a writer\\\/editor at The Financial Times, including daily FT sister publications Ignites and FundFire, as well as Crain Communications\u2019s InvestmentNews and Crain\u2019s Wealth, eFinancialCareers, and Arizent\u2019s Financial Planning, Re:Invent|Wealth, On Wall Street, Bank Investment Consultant, and Money Management Executive. He earned his bachelor\u2019s degree, Cum Laude, from the University of Colorado Boulder and his master\u2019s degree from New York University. You can reach him at dbutcher@aom.org or via LinkedIn.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/danielbutcher\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/author\\\/daniel-butcher\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Successful Entrepreneurs Leverage Knowledge and Motivation - Academy of Management Today","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Daniel Butcher","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\/"},"author":{"name":"Daniel Butcher","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c"},"headline":"Successful Entrepreneurs Leverage Knowledge and Motivation","datePublished":"2025-07-08T15:59:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\/"},"wordCount":369,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/african-american-opens-her-shop.webp","articleSection":["CAREERS","ENTREPRENEURSHIP","INNOVATION","MOTIVATION"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\/","name":"Successful Entrepreneurs Leverage Knowledge and Motivation - Academy of Management Today","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/african-american-opens-her-shop.webp","datePublished":"2025-07-08T15:59:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/african-american-opens-her-shop.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/african-american-opens-her-shop.webp","width":1000,"height":720,"caption":"Source: Shutterstock"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/successful-entrepreneurs-leverage-knowledge-and-motivation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Successful Entrepreneurs Leverage Knowledge and Motivation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/","name":"Academy of Management Today","description":"Smarter, faster business news","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c","name":"Daniel Butcher","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g559188980b254e0e0624aacb72ebc733","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Daniel Butcher"},"description":"Daniel Butcher is a writer and the Managing Editor of AOM Today at the Academy of Management (AOM). Previously, he was a writer and the Finance Editor for Strategic Finance magazine and Management Accounting Quarterly, a scholarly journal, at the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). Prior to that, he worked as a writer\/editor at The Financial Times, including daily FT sister publications Ignites and FundFire, as well as Crain Communications\u2019s InvestmentNews and Crain\u2019s Wealth, eFinancialCareers, and Arizent\u2019s Financial Planning, Re:Invent|Wealth, On Wall Street, Bank Investment Consultant, and Money Management Executive. He earned his bachelor\u2019s degree, Cum Laude, from the University of Colorado Boulder and his master\u2019s degree from New York University. You can reach him at dbutcher@aom.org or via LinkedIn.","sameAs":["https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/danielbutcher\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/author\/daniel-butcher\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":70,"user_id":4,"is_guest":0,"slug":"daniel-butcher","display_name":"Daniel Butcher","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/DanButcher_Academy-of-Management.webp","url2x":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/DanButcher_Academy-of-Management.webp"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/african-american-opens-her-shop.webp",1000,720,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/african-american-opens-her-shop.webp",1000,720,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/african-american-opens-her-shop.webp",1000,720,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/african-american-opens-her-shop-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/african-american-opens-her-shop-300x216.webp",300,216,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/african-american-opens-her-shop.webp",800,576,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/african-american-opens-her-shop.webp",1000,720,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/african-american-opens-her-shop.webp",1000,720,false],"owl_elementor_thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/african-american-opens-her-shop-600x432.webp",600,432,true],"owl_elementor_team":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/african-american-opens-her-shop-350x450.webp",350,450,true],"owl_elementor_testimonial":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/african-american-opens-her-shop-100x100.webp",100,100,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Daniel Butcher","author_link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/author\/daniel-butcher\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/careers\/\" rel=\"category tag\">CAREERS<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/entrepreneurship\/\" rel=\"category tag\">ENTREPRENEURSHIP<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/innovation\/\" rel=\"category tag\">INNOVATION<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/motivation\/\" rel=\"category tag\">MOTIVATION<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"By Daniel Butcher Successful entrepreneurs focus on what they know best and care most about when brainstorming and evaluating business ideas, according to Academy of Management Scholar Dean Shepherd of the University of Notre Dame. \u201cEntrepreneurs often say, \u2018Where do I look for an opportunity?\u2019 Now, I always try and say, \u2018We\u2019ll look internally first…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3609"},{"taxonomy":"sp_smart_badges","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sp_smart_badges?post=3609"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=3609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}