By Ashkan Karbasfrooshan

SOURCE: WatchMOJO Business Blog

I had a chance to sit down with Barbara Corcoran. She’s currently on Shark Tank alongside Robert Herjavec, Kevin O’Leary, Kevin Harrington and Daymond John.

We chatted about numerous things, to read the interview from the beginning, see Part 1 here. Here is Part 2:

WatchMojo: You were quoted as saying that the worst students make the best entrepreneurs. I actually understand why you would say that, but do you think that good students make for bad entrepreneurs?

Barbara Corcoran: With a few exceptions, I would say generally so, yes. And, this is my logic, and I don’t really know, because I’ve not done a survey, but just on my life experience of meeting entrepreneurs’ day in and day out. I think great students operate very well in a defined role, okay? And so, the problem that happens as an entrepreneur is you’ve got to redefine your role constantly, and you’ve got to do it for yourself. You also have to set your own great standards, so you are not reaching for a program that’s been outlined that you can succeed at; you have to create your own program.

I think very often great students don’t have incredible imaginations, whereas kids that are terrible students have the whole school day to daydream. So, they have much more opportunity to practice being creative, because they’ve got to fill in their brain with something while they are not figuring, while they are not getting what’s going on in the classroom. And so, I think entrepreneurs who are terrible students often have a head start of a great student who is stuck with the program.

And then lastly, kids that don’t do well in school can’t wait to get out of school, and so when they get out of school it’s like getting out of jail and they burst out. And, their shear relief of being let go out of the confines of the school role usually creates great energy. And so, they are much more comfortable in a freewheeling, high risk workplace without rules than they are in something that’s defined; that’s my own theory, I don’t know if that’s to be true.

WatchMojo: From my own experience both from working with great entrepreneurs and starting a company I think there is a pattern.

Generally speaking if you are good at working within a framework, I think that makes you excellent to actually take direction and do great things. But, I think entrepreneurs generally like to work when there is no playbook; you throw them in the wild and ask them to solve the problems, that’s when we excel.

Barbara Corcoran: Oh, definitely.

WatchMojo: Now, the interesting thing is whether it’s New York City in particular, the panel on Shark Tank, the real estate world or business in general, women are generally out numbered. Their voices aren’t even heard oftentimes, or if they are heard, they’re not always taken as seriously as they should be. So the question is, how has being a woman played a part in your success?

Barbara Corcoran: It’s been an absolute advantage, or certainly that’s how I perceive it. Because, I walked into an old boys club where the large firms were owned, controlled by men. And, when I would meet, when I would walk into any industry event, I was the only person in skirt, and I made sure I had a red suit on to be noticed. So, I was noticed more, because I was the odd duck, so that’s an advantage to be noticed in any business for better or worse to be noticed is better then not being noticed, right?

WatchMojo: Exactly. That’s why I haven’t changed my name…

Barbara Corcoran: Yeah, right. Because, for you it’s true, isn’t it?

WatchMojo: Yes.

Barbara Corcoran: Because, people will remember your name. And then, the other thing is women operate very differently than men, and in the real estate world even though in my day it was owned by men, it was worked by women. And so, I intuitively knew how women liked to work, what was important to them; how to build a great workplace for females, whereas the men had to guess about it? You know, so I was closer.

WatchMojo: That’s a very good point, because you can have a fantastic company and provide all these opportunities, but if the women are not comfortable, you are right, you are going to lose a lot of talent and a male boss might not even understand why.

Barbara Corcoran: Yeah. We were the only firm in New York City where we designed our offices like spas where we had, you know shoe shine guys, massage therapists. Why, because 80% of my staff was female and they really liked that, I don’t think a guy would have thought of that one.

WatchMojo: Do you spend more of your time looking for ideas for your production company or investments on the show?

Barbara Corcoran: Both, I have one leg in each. I, you know I had both seat in looking for the story ideas and getting more television appearances, that was my career. Since I’ve been on the Shark Tank, I would have to say I’ve got one foot in each arena, because it’s not just doing the Shark Tank, it’s when you buy the businesses, and I bought twelve in the first season. Once you buy the businesses, now you have to tend to them. You know you’ve got to get the contracts done, you know arrange the funding.

You have to start working, getting to know your entrepreneur. So, clearly you can imagine how much time is involved in that. And, I’ve also had to build a financial team that I didn’t have going into that TV show. I had to hire venture capitalist to work for me, because I don’t want to lose my money.

WatchMojo: Who would?

Come back tomorrow, where we continue our discussion and I ask Barbara what the common traits of the businesses she’s invested in were.