A short time ago, a very good friend of mine who, like myself, is the founder of an enterprise, told me something that gave me pause. He informed me that in his enterprise – actually quite a successful enterprise, which is way beyond being a start-up – the following scenario can be observed:
“The four active founders no longer see each other as often as they used to and whenever they do see each other, they talk about the few negative things, instead of the many positive things that happen.”
This information, which actually was meant only at an aside, fell on very fertile ground with me, because it reminded me of my own experiences. After all, this rather considerate founder has a huge amount of sensitivity and awareness – which I probably had a lack of in a similar situation.
It is exactly those aside noises you often only perceive “subconsciously” that may sometimes be extremely important. Noticing this kind of thing and then proceeding to actually act in the right and in a most determined way is what makes a wise and successful entrepreneur.
Discoveries such as these must not be ignored, even if they seem to be harmless enough. Actually, they must initiate a high degree of watchfulness and mindfulness. After all, we have to nip things in the bud.
It is never an easy task to keep a team together, even if we are only talking four persons who (allegedly?) work “at eye level” and seem to treat each other with respect. Because as soon as humility loses priority over what (for me) is the almost “never-ending” task of leading an enterprise – or rather leading people -, the downward spiral will quickly start its work.
In such difficult situations – even if you only see the very first forebodings – you probably need very prudently designed measures. Yet even those measures might not necessarily be a success. Because with these solution approaches, success is the one thing you can never guarantee.
Human beings are full of mystery, and even those mystery factors change over time. Frustration and anger are elemental emotions nobody can actually switch off. They influence both your own and the other person’s way of thinking. And, when all is said and done, everything happening in the brain is a series of mind games leading to the most diverse and often incomprehensible constructs. And probably nobody can really understand them rationally.
Consequently, it is an illusion to assume you can understand it all and therefore act prudently. This means that, as the years go by, a huge amount of contentedness can turn into discontentedness for some persons. Said discontentedness might actually not be rationally traceable, yet it can have dire consequences. And even the best knowledge of disciplines such as philosophy and psychology, but also neurology, cannot really help.
Because, after all, those “life sciences” cannot describe the complex inside of every person, either. They teach us to think about how you should live. But that is all they do.
Consequently, the only thing that can help is attentiveness and openness. You need to remain alert in life, let love prevail and remain true to yourself. And you need the courage to try new things. Along with being prepared to give more than you take. All of which is, indeed, quite difficult.
RMD
(Translated by EG)
P.S.
For more articles of my entrepreneur’s diary, click here:Drehscheibe!
P.S.1
I took the picture from Wikpedia:
„Frontal lobe animation“ by Polygon data were generated by Life Science Databases(LSDB). – Polygon data are from BodyParts3D.[11]. Licenced under CC BY-SA 2.1 jp through Wikimedia Commons –
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