I think the analogy is apt and deep. Entrepreneurs are like steppe peoples:

• Constantly on the move.
• High emphasis on personal qualities: adaptability, skill, stamina.
• Association with others has an emphasis on freedom and effectiveness.
• Happier conquering than managing.

Conversely, when you work in a large organization, the default behavior matches that of sedentary peoples:

• Settled in one place.
• High emphasis on hierarchy.
• Association with others has an emphasis on roles and continuity.
• Happier managing and keeping conquests limited to the outer borders of the polity.

I came to this conclusion because lately I was feeling that those around me with a more entrepreneurial air to them had this “wild” aura around them. But it isn’t wild in the sense of a feral animal, because it is also social and strategic. Rather, I now realize, it’s a nomadic way of doing business. In many cases, the spirit is not at all destructive, but rather creative. But that creativity, almost always, disrupts existing settled incumbents.

And interestingly enough, all successful empires built by nomadic peoples become sedentary societies. Which explains serial entrepreneurs: those are the ones who refuse to settle in the vast domains they conquered. They go back to the steppe and do it all over again.