When asked “Why did you decide to contact me?” the founder of the company replied, “I don’t want to invest 2 years in an MBA. Further from the conversation it became clear what he meant. When a businessman encounters a more or less standard problem, he takes a solution template from the shelf of knowledge or, at the very least, fine-tunes it from a billet himself. But what if the problem is vague, dodgy and amorphous, but extremely serious — so serious that the future of your company rests solely on this bottleneck? Top managers are helpless, partners are busy with something else, and business consultants offer effective solutions, but, alas, not your problems.
A critical mass of questions pushes the founder to look for answers, if not exactly where they are, then at least where they potentially could be. I know many entrepreneurs and top managers who have chosen an MBA or its equivalent for this reason. In fact, I did just that in 2002, when, as the CEO of an international advertising agency, I went to the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. The investment was tangible - I spent two years studying along with my job, and I paid over $130K for my own tuition, travel, living expenses, etc. Undoubtedly, it was a valuable experience, which I remember with gratitude and warmth. But if a younger Alexander had asked the advice of today’s me, I would have told him a different, much easier, faster and more affordable way.
The thing is that even though I was banging my forehead painfully against the problem, I could not describe it in clear terms. I had neither the right tools, nor an experienced person to help me formulate what I was dealing with. And you know it’s very hard to find the black cat in a dark room, especially when it’s not there. In the end, of course, I found my cat, but in a completely different place, having lost many years and it’s scary to say how much money. In life, though, everything can be meaningless, or conversely, nothing goes to waste. It all depends on whether one man manages, figuratively speaking, to transmute trivial lead into valuable gold.
Thanks to the fact that my path has been very winding and thorny, I immediately recognize the particular type of bewilderment, deadlock and disorientation in which founders and CEOs sometimes find themselves. The specifics of the initial situation are different for everyone, but the types of obstacles and opportunities on the way, as well as the winning way of action on the meta-level are in some way similar for everyone. But, as you have already realized, it is the diagnosis of the problem that makes the greatest contribution to saving time, money and effort. So the main thing is to determine where the root of the evil is, and not in general, but here and now for a particular person.
Sincerely yours,
-Alexander
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”Who are you and what do you do?"
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.
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