The Hedgehog and the Fox: Personality Traits that predict (startup) success

Posted on June 27, 2025 by Nikolas Dimitroulakis, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.

There are all sorts of ways to categorize humans. People who are night owls and early birds. Vegans and steak-lovers. Messi fans and Ronaldo diehards. Those who default to spreadsheets, and those who default to sticky notes.

One of the most enduring frameworks I remember hearing as a kid was the classic left brain vs right brain idea. Left-brained folks are supposedly more logical and detail-oriented, while right-brained people are more creative and intuitive. The total separation of the two has been debunked, of course, but it’s true that most of us lean more into one mode of thinking than the other.

Personally, I always felt somewhere in between. More analytical than most creatives, more intuitive than most operations folks. I took a test to confirm the hunch. Turns out I was right. (You can take it here if you’re curious.)

But here’s a bigger question I’ve wrestled with—does my personality actually support the kind of life and work I want? Or is it subtly dragging me into patterns like overworking, over-believing, or overcommitting, that lead to frustration or burnout?

To explore this further, I want to introduce another framework: the Hedgehog and the Fox.

A quick detour through Isaiah Berlin
Isaiah Berlin’s famous essay “The Hedgehog and the Fox” is based on a Greek aphorism:

“The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.”

Berlin used it to categorize thinkers, and arguably, personalities. Foxes are broad, adaptive, and comfortable with complexity. Hedgehogs are focused, deep, and often driven by a central idea or belief.

*The fox thrives on variety, nuance, and agility.

*The hedgehog thrives on clarity, conviction, and singular vision.

So which one are you? (There’s even a test for that—I’m more of a hedgehog, it turns out.)

The risk of being too much of a hedgehog

In startup culture, a hedgehog founder might build a business around one clear mission, pursuing it with relentless intensity. This can be powerful but also dangerous. Because when that one big idea gets challenged or fails to land in the world the way they imagined, the result is often more than just disappointment, it’s burnout.

Hedgehogs tend to push harder when things don’t work, not necessarily pivot smarter. They see the challenge as a test of faith rather than a signal to adapt.

Foxes, on the other hand, are better forecasters. In the book Superforecasting, the authors argue that foxes outperform hedgehogs when it comes to predicting the future because they adjust, integrate new data, and don’t cling as tightly to a single theory.

Burnout, from this perspective, often happens when hedgehogs are forced to operate like foxes in a world that demands flexibility.

They may:

*Feel overwhelmed by ambiguity or rapid change

*Double down on control and certainty, even when it’s unsustainable

*Lose confidence when their “one big idea” no longer seems viable

Foxes can burn out too, especially from decision fatigue or feeling like they’re spread too thin—but hedgehogs are particularly vulnerable when their environments stop rewarding depth and start demanding breadth.

Why this matters?

In my tech career , I worked with many high-achieving people many of whom identify more with the hedgehog archetype. They’ve built careers or businesses around a single passion or belief. But somewhere along the way, things shifted. The world got messier, markets moved faster, people changed, and suddenly that deep conviction started to feel like a trap rather than a strength.

That was part of my journey too. I realized that my burnout wasn’t from lack of drive—it was from clinging to old certainty in a context that needed flexibility. Coaching became the space where I could learn to balance the best of both: to honor the clarity of the hedgehog while cultivating the adaptability of the fox.

Now, when I work with clients, one of the things we often explore is:

“Is your default mode of operating still serving you or is it what’s burning you out?”

Because success isn’t about being a fox or a hedgehog. It’s about knowing which one you are—and building the tools, team, and self-awareness to adapt when needed.

Try this:

Think of your current work or team. Are you operating like a hedgehog in a fox’s world? Or vice versa?

What part of your mindset might be contributing to stress or stagnation?

If you’re feeling burned out could it be that your “one big idea” needs to evolve?

For me, this reflection changed everything. It didn’t make the tension disappear but it gave me language, clarity, and space to grow.