Inspired by the art of Keith Haring
Fighting an opponent, you start the bout from a neutral stance.
Suppose you execute a throw, and now he’s on the bottom and you’re on top. To score points, you need to hold the new position for 3 seconds. If your opponent manages to escape, all your work goes down the drain.
And it doesn’t matter how perfectly you timed the moment, how skillfully you executed the technique, or how brutally your opponent crashed onto the mat.
The desired state was within reach, but you failed to lock it in. You’re back at point “0.” Less energy left, and you’re morally drained.
You execute another throw: your opponent goes down, but... immediately gets back up. The scenario repeats again and again. The question is: how’s your endurance? If it’s poor, he may end up winning.
The same thing happens in business all the time.
The team pours titanic effort into launching a new product or saving a crisis project. Yet everyone feels uneasy: “Something’s off.”
Of course. Even though in the moment everyone is right to give their all, intuition already knows: “We’ve lived this drama many times before.”
Unfortunately, every time after a win or a failure the team has to save yet another project or hunt for a breakthrough.
Valuable insights, experience, and knowledge were right there, within reach. Unfortunately, there was no one to capture these gifts, and no time to do it.
Nothing kills the drive like work without meaning. For a worthy cause people will tear themselves apart. But when crisis — and the pathos that follows — become the norm, everyone gets it: “This is manipulation or bullshit.”
The first to leave will be the people whose contribution decides everything. They always have more options. What’s left are those whose personal life is also Groundhog Day.
The irony is that, on the surface, there will be plenty of activity. Rushing, scrambling, hustling. But don’t let the changing scenery fool you. The exhausting pattern will keep replaying again and again.
“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes,” said someone unknown.
To change history, you need to pause and become aware of it.
Sincerely yours,
-Alexander
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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