The more one achieves in business, the harder it is to maintain an adequate perception of oneself-in-context. I know, it sounds like a paradox. After all, he’s supposed to have many more sources of quality information to buy. The problem is that as he ascends, a number of forces begin to work against him.
First of all, it’s pride. It is very difficult to distinguish which part of the success is due to the favorable wind and which part is due to his ability to steer the ship. As ambitious plans are realized, confidence in one’s genius grows as well. All it takes is a series of profitable trades and the founder is overflowing with euphoria that one touch of him turns any trivial object into gold.
In addition, the view from the next summit reinforces the belief that his way of perceiving the world and acting is the only correct, effective and infallible. There are so many losers around, burned by this and that, and he, look, has overcome all obstacles. And as you know, you shouldn’t fix what’s not broken. This is all true, except that the world around us is constantly transforming, nullifying the adaptations that have served us reliably so far. Over time, even the perfect system begins to slip and stumble. This is the signal of a growing mismatch with the context. If the software is not updated in time to restore balance, a hard landing is inevitable.
Finally, the founder’s immediate environment is distorting his orientation. A strong leader makes the hunt predictably abundant again and again, increasing both the number of followers and the dependence of all those people on him. It is too easy for them to turn their chief into an idol and too difficult to place the adequacy of his plans. As a result, the founder may find himself, without noticing it, in a kingdom of crooked mirrors. Being overly busy, he is forced to rely on professionals whose duty it is to prepare him an assessment of what is happening and an analysis of alternatives. After all, it is often more important not who made the decision, but who prepared it. But like gravity, the above forces work tirelessly to ensure that the founder hears from his environment what he wants to hear and not what is actually there.
The founder has to work really hard, and repeatedly, to pull himself and the business horse out of this warm and sweet swamp by the pigtail, just like Baron Munchausen. How does it work? He finds those whose sole function is to highlight precisely those places in the founder’s business and personality where he himself is least wants to look.
Yours sincerely,
-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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