Lawrence et al (2008), Nature 456, p168-169 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/456168a http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/456168a Some snippets from the above: "...when subjec

Lawrence et al (2008), Nature 456, p168-169 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/456168a http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/456168a Some snippets from the above: "...when subjects were introduced to the hot components of the task, differences were observed. We found that entrepreneurs behaved in a significantly riskier way, betting a greater percentage of their accrued points (63%) than their managerial counterparts (51%)." "… risk-taking performance in the entrepreneurs was accompanied by elevated scores on personality impulsiveness measures and superior cognitive-flexibility performance. We conclude that entrepreneurs and managers do equally well when asked to perform cold decision-making tasks, but differences emerge in the context of risky or emotional decisions" "... the entrepreneurs (mean age 51) are comparable to the young adults aged 17–27, whereas the managers (mean age 50.5) resemble their age-appropriate group" [with respect to risk tolerance] "There are courses that teach the 'know-how' of entrepreneurship and, within this, teach how to mitigate risk through extensive business planning and market research. Yet given this new evidence, courses teaching the opposite — risk-tolerance in both behaviour and personality — may also be desirable"