There are socially conscious entrepreneurs who are wildly successful and others who are stuck and frustrated.

Socially conscious entrepreneurs are important to the welfare of all of us. They are where the real breakthroughs will come from. Improvement of the human condition is dependent upon them. No government will solve the real problems of hunger, poverty, health, access to opportunity, discrimination…and it is unlikely that large traditional organizations will either. More likely, it will require ’10X,’ or ‘exponential organizations(ExOs)’ These are organizations that have productivity/effectiveness at least ten times greater than traditional ones.

This article is intended to let conscious entrepreneurs know what is holding you back from making the difference you know your work can make – not to frustrate you, but to give you hope. All of these 5 Key Success Factors are achievable more quickly and easily than ever before.

Are you leading what could be a major breakthrough or contribution?

The groundbreaking book, Exponential Organizations by Salim Ismail, Michael Malone, and Yuri van Geest did an exceptional job of researching and reporting 10X organizations and the technology factors that supported their major breakthroughs, as well as some critical ‘softer’ factors such as ‘Massive Transformative Purpose.’ Reported breakout companies include Uber, Netflix, Zappos, Facebook, Craigslist, AirBnB, and the Virgin Group, as well as some highly focused efforts within segments of large organizations. These are companies we selected to highlight partially because they are more well-known than some of the others.

What the book does not address, and is the purpose of this article series, is identifying critical personal leadership factors, our 5 Key Success Factors, that enabled these 10X organizations to utilize their technology breakthroughs effectively in the first place. These leadership factors are so consistent within the founders of the ExO’s and missing within the would-be founders of similar organizations that failed, that we suggest they are predictive of success of 10X and other highly effective entrepreneurial ventures, including yours.

We’ll show you the 5 Key Success Factors and evidence that they are predictive of success in leading not only exponential organizations, but others aimed at significant breakthroughs, and without those factors, predictive of failure.

It is significant that these criteria are now achievable in a matter of weeks. This in itself might be seen as a 10X accomplishment. To see how, GO HERE.

What Are The 5 Key Factors That Predict Entrepreneurial Breakthrough Success?

Low Fear of Failure

Fear of Failure is perhaps the greatest killer of innovative ideas. We know that you, like us, have felt this before. It is what keeps us from taking action on great insights. It’s why you get the great idea and before you finish your due diligence, even though the numbers are looking good, the weight of the possibility of failure catches up to you, so you put it on the back-burner…until it is too late. Hey, we’ve all been there!

While fear of failure does have the value of having an entrepreneur think through an action before trying to jump a 30 foot ravine, too much fear of failure can completely stifle important action and creativity that keeps you from quickly realizing the ravine is only 5 feet wide, and you can easily make the leap.

In fact, our research suggests the average person’s fear of failure at approximately 52% on a 100% scale.

Note that is only average. Many people have much more. As you can imagine, anywhere near that kind of fear would pin you like a deer in the headlights, stealing all your ability to make decisions and take fast action.

The founders of the the 10X companies in the same order we mentioned above, Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp, Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings, Tony Hsieh, Mark Zuckerberg, Craig Newmark, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, and Sir Richard Branson, as well as other founders we tested of 10X organizations touted in Exponential Organizations, averaged only 25% Fear of Failure when they first officially started their companies. That level is healthy to take heed, but not debilitating to take action. Those founders are even lower fear of failure now, as you might expect.

Meanwhile, those who tried and failed, or who had much less success than the 10X founders, measured much higher in fear of failure, typically 45% or more.

Our own research group actually averaged 45% fear of failure when starting our transformational process. They averaged 16% fear of failure some six weeks later, and their results were already reflecting the shift.

All 5 of these predictive success factors are, in fact, ‘inner game’ factors, (mental, emotional and consciousness). And, perhaps, for the first time ever, these distinctions can be developed in previously successful people in a matter of weeks.

To see how to get your own Success Factors to breakthrough levels, CLICK HERE.

Why we found these Factors when others did not…

For over 27 years, Enlightened Leadership Solutions has had the privilege of developing leaders in 68 countries, 23 Fortune 100 companies and numerous governmental agencies, non-profits and smaller companies. Ed Oakley and Doug Krug wrote the Simon & Schuster book, Enlightened Leadership: Getting to the Heart of Change, some 25 years ago when even claiming to teach ‘enlightened leadership’ got us barred from some companies.

Over the last three years, our team took our almost 3 decades of leadership experience and added extensive research and experimentation with the ‘inner game’ of scores of leaders that led us to understand the essence of ‘enlightened leadership’ far better than when we wrote the book. In fact, we discovered important distinctions of the 10x leaders compared to others who tried to start similar ventures, but failed.

Just as important, it was the same distinguishing factors that when achieved by our research group clients, led to major breakthroughs in their own established businesses that had been experiencing difficulties.

Just like ‘enlightened leadership’ terminology is now mainstream, we believe this leading edge work will be mainstream within three years as more of our clients have major breakthroughs, including those who are moving toward exponential effectiveness. Perhaps, the question is, are you an innovator or early adopter who is ready to get that edge on the market before this becomes mainstream?

While Fear of Failure is a major success factor, it is not the only important factor. You may not have substantial fear of failure, but if you have limitations in any of the other four factors, you still are not likely to experience the breakthrough success you want.

Low Anger

How many times have you seen anger kill a project? Everything started out roses, but when the stuff hit the fan, the anger came out and killed the heart, people and effectiveness. The project that could have changed the world died with the anger of its founders. Certainly, a certain amount of anger can be useful, perhaps even motivating, but too much gets in our way of being effective entrepreneurs and leaders.

‘Emotional intelligence’ is a popular concept today as a leadership development factor, and for good reason. Note, however, that emotional intelligence is about managing anger and other emotions, not clearing them. After all, you couldn’t easily clear your ‘inner anger’ in the past, but you could possibly learn to manage it.

The problem is, when a leader has a debilitating amount of anger, it is almost impossible to mask it from their people no matter how much emotional intelligence they have. Their people know them too well. You know the guy. Everyone avoids being the one to have to tell him bad news.

Furthermore, the effects are not purely external. The anger and other emotions that they are trying to mask is also eating them alive from the inside out. That was exactly what was happening to me three years ago and it culminated in an illness that made me so miserable that I wasn’t sure that I wanted to go on. Clearly, since I’m still here, I turned that around and it was that wake-up call that led us to these breakthrough perspectives. (I’ll share that full story with you another time ;))

So, if anger is such a critical factor, what levels did the 10x successes have that most of us do no

Our measurements consistently show average anger is about 32%. To put that into perspective, Hitler was about 69% and Mahatma Gandhi was 8%.

While average is somewhat debilitating, many entrepreneurs and leaders have an even higher level of anger than that. You’ve been there. You can feel it when you walk into their office!

But when the 10X entrepreneurs we’ve been discussing founded their organizations, they were only 20-25% on the anger scale and only got better as they built their companies.

They are now consistently at 12% or less, a level we like to call Branson-class, out of great admiration for the leadership of Sir Richard Branson. That is also the level we take our entrepreneurs.

Imagine that last project that could have changed the face of your company, maybe even your industry, but instead imploded. Honestly, how much of that was due to the baggage carried by the founder or a key person? What if that baggage, including anger, could be cleared out – as if it was never there – in 6 weeks?

Because that’s what we are seeing. When these 5 Success Factors get cleared, amazing enhancements in focus, clarity, motivation, awareness and creativity follow, which result in influence, impact and profit breakthroughs.

Let’s face it, debilitating anger is a very obvious anti-effectiveness factor, but there are other factors that have been a huge blind spot in the Western World…until now. Here is the third one…

Very High Consciousness

What does Consciousness have to do with business success after all? Our work in comparing the 10X founders, as well our research group, with those who have not been so successful, suggests a lot! Raising your consciousness is what Deepak Chopra is talking about when he says “waking up to who you really ARE!”

In case you are not familiar with the science of measuring consciousness, we’re going to bring you up to speed fast! Because, only for the last 13 years or so have we had a measurable scale for consciousness.

We can thank the late David R. Hawkins, MD, Ph.D., for his research first reported in his 2002 book, Power vs Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior. In it, he pioneered a logarithmic scale of consciousness from 1 to 1,000, where 1 is barely alive and 1,000 is ultimate awareness and enlightenment (Christ, Buddha, Krishna Consciousness). (Note: We must also give Dr. Hawkins credit for guiding us toward how to measure all these factors.)

Building on this scale, we have been able to identify where breakthrough levels of consciousness occur, and the significant shifts associated with them. We call this measurement Level of Consciousness (LOC).

Our research suggests current world average LOC is approximately 322, but most of the you reading this article are likely in the high 500’s or a bit higher, because you have already been doing some inner work.

What we wondered was if there was consistency among the ExO founders when they first started their companies? Absolutely there was! Those 10X founders already averaged 710 Level Of Consciousness when starting their corporations, and now they are consistently over 800.

But did that directly influence their business?

We’ve studied example after example of people who tried to start similar ventures, but failed, and they all measured less than or barely above 600. Due to the logarithmic nature of the scale, 100 points is a huge gap.

And what we’ve seen is that the higher the LOC, the greater the awareness, clarity, focus, energy, motivation and creativity, which is needed to effectively lead exponential and other highly effective organizations. All of these skyrocket when LOC goes up and debilitating emotions are cleared – yielding greater results in every aspect of life and business.

In fact, we know that “great ideas” are available to all of us. We see it all the time when entrepreneurs have amazingly similar ideas, but the variation in implementation is huge. Why do some jump on the idea and take off and others don’t?

You yourself may have had great ideas that someone else actually implemented before you could. Our research suggests that the exceptional viewpoint available from a higher level of consciousness, as well as the lack of debilitating emotions, helped the 10X leaders move faster and more efficiently than all the other entrepreneurs. Level of Consciousness is one huge, and perhaps, unrecognized factor in their success.

Imagine, what would be different if you and your key team were “coming from” these breakthrough levels? If your awareness, clarity, focus, energy, motivation and creativity skyrocketed, could you move faster and more effectively to market?

The consciousness piece is a crucial factor that so many leadership and development experts have glossed over or ignored entirely, because there was literally nothing they could do to affect a significant change in this area. They could tell you to go sit in meditation for 20 years, but there wasn’t much more to do.

So instead they introduce the conscious practice of mindfulness, which is useful over a long period of time, or don’t talk about it and hope that you can achieve breakthrough levels of success without it.

But we’re sorry to break it to you…its highly unlikely you can! In fact, most of our research group clients were right around 600 LOC when we began working with them, and they were all stuck in some way. We have found that level to be a significant barrier. It was typically a few weeks later when they broke through the next barrier, the 700 level, that they began to have measurable breakthroughs in their personal and professional lives. When they completed our process 6 weeks later, they averaged 812 LOC (world-class or Branson-class) and began to have even greater success, as we’ll discuss below.

This is a critical factor that you cannot afford to ignore. Sweep it under the rug and you’re unlikely to achieve the key initial levels of the 10X Founders that prove to be breakthrough levels. Fortunately, it no longer takes 20 years of meditation or a near-death experience to attain these breakthrough levels, and even Branson-class levels, of inner game Success Factors. It just takes six weeks!

There is good news about the upcoming 4th Success Factor. It’s likely that you either have already attained breakthrough levels for it, or are close, because of who you are as a conscious entrepreneur!

High Caring for Others

Caring for Others, and not just yourself, turns out to be a significant factor in being able to provide the leadership required of a 10X organization.

As you know, it’s all about your being. You can’t pretend. It has to be real. Just like you can’t pretend you aren’t angry. People see right through it, and it stifles their creativity and effectiveness. You can’t just pretend to care either.

And this is great news for you, because the average person reading our articles are usually already at 92%+. You are already in pursuit of bettering yourself and have likely been on this journey for years. It’s time to celebrate because you, like the 10X Founders, truly care.

You see, the breakthrough entrepreneurs appear to care for others, because they actually DO care for others. All the foundations and employee benefits aren’t just a front. They are a reflection of their “being,” the Branson-Class inner game.

The world-wide average Caring for Others is 85%, which probably sounds excellent. While it certainly gives us hope for the planet, 85% isn’t really as high as you’d think!

For one thing, this too is an exponential scale, so every point makes a significant difference. When you consider that our 10X founders were already at 95% average caring for others when they launched their companies, there is a huge gap between the ‘average’ person and Branson-Class caring.

Furthermore, they have only increased in Caring for Others since then and the Branson-Class are at 98% and higher. Their caring drives them to contribute, to make a difference. And people respond and want to do more and more business with them, increasing their profits and impact yet again.

This should give you hope, because in our experience, entrepreneurs who find us and work with us are already very close to these Branson-Class levels in Caring and it takes very little effort to take you over the top here.

In fact, the average of our research entrepreneurs when they came to us was initially 90%. That rose to 98% and higher over the six weeks of the transformation process. We work with entrepreneurs who are here to make a big difference and at these higher levels, they are making an even bigger difference for others, including their loved ones.

Four down, one factor to go and this is likely one that you are all too familiar with. It’s knocked us all down from time to time, and we find that when you finally eliminate it from the equation, magic can happen.

Low Fear of Rejection

Would Sir Richard Branson be ‘Branson’ if he were frozen by the fear of rejection?
After all, high Fear of Rejection can prevent us from initiating important contacts or presenting breakthrough ideas to the very ones who can help us most. It can keep us from crossing the room to talk to the one gatekeeper that would take your mission to the center of the spotlight. It’s one fear that entrepreneurs struggle with over and over.

In fact, the average Fear of Rejection is scary high at 65%. Can you even imagine how debilitating that is? Over half of you is holding back and even pulling you back from moving forward. It’s that little voice in your head saying, “No one cares about MY idea. Sure, it could save the industry, but who would listen to me? I’m no one.”

How many would-be successful entrepreneurs are stymied by this fear of having themselves or their ideas rejected? Many of us have missed opportunities due to this fear. And we as a planet have missed out on some amazing inventions and developments that never made it to market because of this fear. In fact, two years ago, I wouldn’t have had the courage to share these breakthrough perspectives – out of fear of rejection. With that fear gone now, this work has an opportunity to make a difference!

So, while most people are fighting against themselves, torn in half by this fear, our 10x founders were only 25% or less when they started their ventures. Wow! Do you think that made a difference to them stepping out in confidence to get things done? What if you were no longer fighting against yourself to take that next step?

Here’s what we see over and over. The average Fear of Rejection for our research group at the beginning of the process was 39%, which was already much better than average, because they, like you, had been doing their personal development work. However, it dropped consistently to 20% or less within 6 weeks, and we’ve watched them take action after action to move their businesses and lives forward ever since.

Have they succeeded on EVERYTHING? Of course not! But they have kept stepping out again and again until they got there. Fear no longer stole their power and they were able to keep on keeping on, improving, until they made it to where they wanted to be. Their ‘come from’ was in the right place, so they could get to where they wanted to be – even if it wasn’t exactly what they expected from the beginning!

These 5 Key Success Factors are predictive of breakthrough success. If you are missing the mark in only one or two of them, you aren’t likely to achieve the breakthroughs you know will make a difference. In our system, we not only raise high performers to these 5 Branson-class levels, but we actually clear over 400 emotions and 3,000 limiting beliefs that can also act as heavy baggage holding you back from where you want to be.

Let’s look at the summary of our research groups:

Note that ALL of the 10x founders measured are currently in the same range on all five factors as our research group’s final measurements. They were naturally blessed and have continued to do their work and grow since they founded their companies.

We see it in the ways they are contributing to the welfare of many others through major contributions and commitments to worthy causes, while also maintaining a great lifestyle for their employees, themselves and loved ones. That’s what socially conscious entrepreneurs are all about. Their doing flows from their being. Changing the world is not just something they do. It is who they ARE.

So what results might you have from personally attaining these Branson-Class levels of the 5 Key Success Factors? How might these inner game breakthroughs support the difference you want to make in the world?

Our Research Group Results

While maintaining confidentiality, we would like to highlight a few of the breakthroughs our research group has already had as a result of the mental, emotional and consciousness shifts that come from attaining Branson-Class levels of the 5 Key Success Factors:
– Multiple increases in business by 50% within months of being stuck.
– Epic sales months for multiple organizations within 3 weeks of beginning the process.
– Numerous cashflow issues resolved, including CEO paying herself again after a year without income from her 30+ year business.
– One professional speaker went from complete panic to his best keynote and closing $17,000 the next day. Another had her best keynote ever.
– Consultant/speaker 75% booked for the year by February after struggle the previous year.
– Real estate deals dormant for 18 months back alive and closed weeks after clearing emotional and mental money issues.
– 70 year-old CEO rejuvenated about her business and legacy, and no longer eager to retire.
– Innovative technology could 10X one business in the next two years.
– Numerous personal relationship breakthroughs, including rekindled marriages.
– Skyrocketed clarity, awareness, focus, motivation, creativity…
– and much more!
Keep in mind that many entrepreneurs have attempted and failed to achieve the very breakthroughs that the 10X Founders accomplished. You may have too, but the point is that intelligence, technology and creativity is necessary, but not sufficient to lead a 10X venture to success. “Doing” what successful people do is not enough. It is necessary to “be” like they “are.” Branson-Class levels of emotional and mental health, as well as very high consciousness are also required for you to finally attain the impact, influence and profits that you have been working toward all these years.

Fortunately, that no longer takes a lifetime. In fact, it takes only 10 minutes a week for 6 weeks of you time!

For more information on how you or your organization can reach these Branson-Class levels for your own Breakthrough Success, visit HERE.

Ed Oakley is Founder and CEO of Enlightened Leadership Solutions, Inc., and c0-creator of Life’s New Game. He has had the privilege of developing leaders from 68 countries over the last 27 years. Due to his personal breakthroughs and gifts that resulted from seriously debilitating illness, he has now shifted his focus on getting socially conscious entrepreneurs unstuck and making the difference that is so important to the rest of us.