Who do today's men look up to as role models? According to a recent survey by AskMen,  it's entrepreneurs! Out of over 2,000 surveyed men, more then a third (35%) identified famous entrepreneurs as their role models. The article explains the trend with two main things: men consider wealth and freedom key to happiness. Entrepreneurship can offer both, especially if you succeed. Interestingly enough, almost as many respondents identified themselves as their own role-models, which is consistent with another trend the article identified - men's eagerness to start companies has been trending upward since 2001. Thus, we have to thank the likes of Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg for making entrepreneurship cool even in the mainstream.

There is a stark difference between current and previous generations of men. Young male adults today are '120% more likely to start businesses without previous workplace experience', according to the article. Men today also seem to be more optimistic about their future, despite negative external factors like recession and slow economic growth in most of the Western world.

All these findings suggest we are likely to see more and more men becoming entrepreneurs. And not just any entrepreneurs but driven, ambitious, hungry for succeess and willing to take risks. With a growing number of successful tech businesses, there will also be plenty of role models to sustain the trend.

However, what one needs to remember is that the surveyed men come from North America, which is not always in tune with Europe. Entrepreneurship is far from mainstream in the Old Continent: an average young male here is still mostly looking up to CEOs of big corporations, athletes or movie actors.

Nothing wrong with that - success and hard work should be celebrated in any profession, though the lack of entrepreneurial vibe might hinder economic development. Besides, Europe does not exactly thrive with successful entrepreneurs: most of the globally renowned and celebrated entrepreneurs (or businessmen, athletes or actors) come from the US. Though instead of discouraging from entrepreneurship, this should only make Europeans more hungry for success.

Read full article on AdAgeStat here.

Image from Adagestat