Entrepreneur Magnet /  by Alexander Lyadov

 

The prudent founder seeks to maximize the market value of his company. It does not matter whether he makes this calculation explicitly or simply feels with his backbone that capitalization increases non-stop. The entrepreneur has no illusions that he can get everything for nothing. Reality expects sacrifice from man. Despite the call of hunger, a handful of seeds must be buried in the ground today in order to have a chance of a harvest in the future.

In the first approximation, the more money invested in seed, fertilizer, water and man-hours, the more significant and predictable the result. But only as long as each seed falls into the black earth, not the rocks. Otherwise, it is not scaling and not even an experiment, but squandering resources, that is a crime in terms of business morality. Reality punishes this with a change of ownership or bankruptcy.

Although a sane entrepreneur does not expect to be rewarded for free, this does not mean that he is a fan of the idea: “More investment is the only possible way to increase the company’s capitalization.” To the founder’s intelligence, such an idea is an insult, for it denies him his entrepreneurial essence. “Inventing solutions for absolutely impossible problems” is what reads under the microscope on the DNA of a true entrepreneur’s spiral. But what super-target is worthy of his spear? When the capitalization of a business is skyrocketing with no investment at all.

Yes, in its pure form the ideal is unattainable. But it is not the ideal itself that is valuable, but the pursuit of the ideal. The entrepreneur attracts other people’s capital when it is impossible not to attract it. The founder also invests his own money very reluctantly. Like a compass, his arrow is always parallel to the direction of the Earth’s magnetic field line. That is, his mind is looking for a way, having invested less, to get more. Mathematically, his investment X tends toward zero, while his return Y stretches into infinity.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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Common sense in business /  by Alexander Lyadov

Any slacker can solve a problem with an unlimited budget. Even a fire will go out if you dump a ton of cash on it. Clearly, there are situations where all the money in the world won't save you anymore. For example, the Titanic. But in other cases, indeed, the speed of its solution to a complex problem is proportional to the amount of investment made. So the first impulse of many people is to try to solve the problem with more money when standard ways don't work.

The non-standard nature of the problem means there is a high degree of uncertainty about what it really is. Perhaps by increasing the usual budget by 20%, we will get the desired breakthrough. Or maybe we will pour investments indefinitely, trying to concretize the abyss. In fact, such unfortunate initiatives can regularly be observed when leaders obsessed with "good" intentions waste colossal public resources for the sake of some ideology. In terms of psychology, their pleasure is super-valuable and therefore has no bottom. Like a drug addict, they will not stop until they have zeroed out all their reserves.

Fortunately, business is one of those areas where common sense can be measured. The function of business is to create and multiply value, which is indicated by an increase in market capitalization. This is how the criterion of right and wrong emerges. If a company's value has grown, it is good; if it stagnates or falls, it is bad. You can assess whether a particular initiative effectively corresponds to the main function. It's about ROI, which is the return on investment of funds in project X versus project Y. So the business has a limiter that protects against crazy initiatives. Provided, of course, that the business owners prioritize common sense and not something else. After all, even a strong team of top managers is powerless to prevent the owner from destroying his business.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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Flamboyant dreams /  by Alexander Lyadov

Some people simply ignore their dreams. They don't see any benefit in them. Others, when they wake up, rush through a dream interpreter in an attempt to find the common meaning of the symbols. My relationship to dreams is different from both. I benefit greatly from dreams, but only on the basis of my personal interpretations.

Carl Jung viewed curiosity as a way of communicating in time of self to self, that is, the future Alexander to the Alexander of today. We are often unable to explain why we are suddenly pulled in some direction like a wind sail. Attempts to resist this call end up generating longing, apathy, and hatred for ourselves and people. On the contrary, when we surrender to it, months or years later we are grateful for the priceless gift. Likewise, I perceive dreams as a coded message to me from the future self. Like the prototype, the dream seems to anticipate what is about to materialize in my life.

The only difficulty is that, for mysterious reasons, the "director" likes to give dreams an excessively vivid, flamboyant, and dramatic form. My hypothesis is that otherwise it is impossible to get around the rigid attitudes of the mind, which takes everything too literally. So the future Alexander strains his imagination to the limit in order to break through to me today with the help of strange symbols. An important message turns out to be encrypted. But the key to it cannot be found in popular dreambooks. Each symbol is intimately personal.

For example, today I had a hard time unraveling that the fantastic creature I saw at night was a person who had greatly influenced my life in my youth. Instantly, everything — the dream's plot, the other characters, and the objects — found a deep meaning, connecting the past, present, and future in one thread. I did not understand the message with my mind, but with my gut, or hara, as the Japanese would say. And now I am very grateful to the sender, for I know a little more about myself.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

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Why are there so few entrepreneurs? /  by Alexander Lyadov

Unknown artist

Why are there so few entrepreneurs?

It is believed that an entrepreneur must sacrifice everything.

What he has and what he doesn’t have by borrowing money.

This is an unfortunate and dangerous misconception, I must say.

Sacrificing material assets is not easy, of course.

But fortune demands something more, and by an order of magnitude.

To give up illusions is the true price of success.

It is those illusions that are more precious to man than anything else in the world.

They are so precious that to get rid of them is like taking off one's own skin.

There are too few people in any society who are willing to do that to themselves.

No wonder fortune favors them in return.

Having thrown off illusions, the founder sees reality as it is.

And what is reality like? Forever spouting opportunities, one better than the other.

The entrepreneur is left to scoop up this water of life with his hands.

There, right in front of his eyes, from zero emerges one.

What about capital? It is secondary.

There is always plenty of money in the market. In good times and bad.

If you can make something out of nothing, it’s up to you to choose whose capital to accept.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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Sign of Innovation /  by Alexander Lyadov

 

“It’s impossible to get new technology without having both sides. It’s hard to develop a tool that can only be used for good,” said Mark Andreessen, co-founder of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. In this interview Mark and Joe Rogan discussed the possibility of an apocalypse, due to the invention of nuclear fusion, artificial intelligence, etc. Every innovation — fire, railroads, electricity, computers, or the Internet — at first or later has been feared by the potential disasters it has brought to people.

The peculiarity of innovation is that it allows us to create additional value through the successful implementation of a new idea. However, value, that is, significance and usefulness, are not inherent to anything by nature. The value of a phenomenon or object is given by society, a group of people or a person. This means that depending on the power that drives people, any innovation — contraception, antibiotics, social networks, or AI — will turn into such a mark.

After all, if we don’t lie to ourselves, there are two beginnings within each individual: the “plus” and the “minus. It is no coincidence that in the Bible the first truly earthly people, the children of Adam and Eve, were the shepherd Abel and the farmer Cain. Both worked in the sweat of their brow, both offered a sacrifice to God. Offended that God would not accept his sacrifice for some reason, Cain hated his brother and committed the first malicious murder of a man by a man in history. Symbolically, this age-old drama is playing out within each of us. Work hard or cheat? Sacrifice the most dear or hold back? Be jealous of another or change yourself? Difficult choices have to be made all the time.

Therefore, the greatest uncertainty is not in progress as such, but in man himself. His decisions will determine the future. It is worth remembering this when you are carried away with the next “saving” idea for your business, much less for all people on earth.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

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Road Hypnosis /  by Alexander Lyadov

Empty road photo

Unknown photographer

 

Road Hypnosis is a type of trance state in which the driver can drive for a long time and react acceptably to external events, but then cannot remember what he was doing. His consciousness is absorbed in some other task, but manages to drive like autopilot. While in an altered state of consciousness, the driver is unable to react quickly and adequately to unexpected situations. When novelty catches him by surprise, an accident happens. Today, the expression “road hypnosis” is increasingly being replaced by the term “Driving Without Attention Mode.”

I remember the speedways in France when, driving a rented BMW, I drifted off into a parallel world where I had to crack an important cipher. Good thing my wife Marina was my vigilant navigator: “Sanya, look at the speedometer - it is already 180 km/h”. Otherwise, instead of La Manche, cheeses and Pommeau, we would have studied the Normandy ditch deeply, but once. By the way, the French prudently sow the edges of the highway with metal balls, which create a lot of noise if the driver has already moved out of the lane, but the ditch has not yet attacked.

In business, the same phenomenon is observed. The founder seems to have a firm grip on the steering wheel, his foot is pressing the gas pedal, and his eyes are watching the road. But his “processor” is absorbed in a problem he has been trying unsuccessfully to solve for a long time. “Why does my business never get to the next level?”, “Why do I create a lot with one hand, but then destroy it with the other?”, “Why have I been pulling this suitcase without a handle for so many years?”, etc. Everyone’s central question is different. More precisely, the root dilemma on whose horns the founder and his business are stuck. The problem, however, is not just the missing market potential. Driving in an unattended mode is known to lead to disaster, once something abnormal happens in the environment. Is there someone near you who will keep you awake behind the wheel?

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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Investor Problem /  by Alexander Lyadov

Illustration: The Prophet Jeremiah

The Prophet Jeremiah

 

What does an investor need to be successful? To answer this, we need to analyze what his main problem is.

By definition, the investor has a surplus of money resources available to put into projects managed by someone else. Therefore, at first glance, the investor has the problem of choosing which company to give funds to and which not. In other words, the investor's main task is to distinguish the signal from the noise.

The investor relies not on the company's past merits, but on the possible increase in its capitalization, that is, on its future cash flow. But, as we know, the world around us is volatile and unpredictable. For a beginner it is still forgivable to dream about King Midas' gift to turn any object into gold. A mature investor, on the other hand, has no illusions that he is guaranteed to pull out the winning ticket in the lottery.

Instead, the investor focuses on what is within his sphere of influence and competence. On the one hand, he needs to eliminate the possibility of catastrophic losses and, on the other hand, to have in his portfolio companies that in principle have a chance to hit the jackpot.

However, any investor's personal resources are extremely limited. Even if he has all the necessary skills for that, the investor simply can't afford to spend a long time fighting over assets, fixing the company's operations or inspiring a burned-out founder-CEO. The investor needs to create an environment where he doesn't have to spend his precious time on all these issues at all.

This is possible if you build up the inbound deal flow correctly. The best companies don't just have a professional team, a competitive advantage, or a profitable business model - they are able to solve complex problems on their own, without expecting a wizard-investor to save them.

If the projects with the highest potential come to you as an investor on their own, the expected return on your capital tends to infinity, and the cost of your most valuable resource - your personal time - tends to zero. For an investor, this is the ideal.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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Ambivalence of the environment /  by Alexander Lyadov

 

People with different professions, aspirations and achievements, as well as from different social strata, come to the pool. As they take off their clothes, they erase it all from themselves like a pencil eraser. Wearing a swimming cap, swim trunks and goggles, they look like creatures of another species whose function, at least temporarily, is to exist in an aquatic environment.

Here very specific skills are of value, and all other “assets” — money, acquaintances, status or knowledge from other spheres — become superfluous or even drag them to the bottom. The person finds himself alone with an environment that is alien to him, and therefore hostile. As soon as one makes a mistake, breathes liquid instead of air, the body is filled with panic: “I’m drowning! SOS!”. Of course, there are swimmers on nearby lanes, and somewhere above is a coach. So everyone gets rescued in time. But the amygdala doesn’t care about that, it senses the real danger correctly. Everyone must learn to survive in this strange environment by himself. Otherwise, water will kill a man — either instantly, when he falls overboard once, or gradually, due to fear, which pushes him to avoid lakes and rivers.

But when the problem of survival is solved, then the hitherto hostile environment opens its other, benevolent side. It turns out that water gives a unique in its uniformity load on the whole body, is a kind of meditation, and, according to the senses, a person comes out of it renewed. For a good swimmer, the phrase "like a fish in water" may not use the word "like," for it is true. It no longer matters whether he succeeds on land, whether he graduated from Stanford, or whether he limps when he walks. Water accepts man as he is, but on one condition — he is willing to interact with his environment in a humble, efficient and harmonious way.

Replace the water in the text with the market and the swimmer with the entrepreneur. The comparison illustrates why one gets choked by the first wave, while the other turns all change to good.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

”Who are you and what do you do?"
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What limits a manager’s growth? /  by Alexander Lyadov

 

There are individual and universal answers to this question. The first involves an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of a particular person, his or her long-term goals and time horizon.

The universal answer is useful for many businessmen in different situations: The growth of a manager is mostly limited by what he does not consider his own limitations. Figuratively speaking, the blind spot, Latin punctum caecum, is an area on the retina, which has no photoreceptors, is not sensitive to light, and therefore a person does not see anything in this area.

You can’t solve a problem that doesn’t seem to exist. One must first take the trouble to describe it, and then to take hold of it. Without a precise formulation of the problem, any, even heroic efforts to find a solution are useless.

But what is to be done? For it all sounds like a dead end. Unlike the design of the eye, the blind spot in our minds is not the design of nature. In fact, it is a learned blindness, that is, our refusal to see that which, for whatever reason, frightens us, disgusts us, or hurts us.

So there is a reliable rule of thumb — you must turn your gaze to the darkest corner of your life. A saying of the medieval alchemists stated: “In the dirt you will find everything.” What you feel is right, but what makes you uncomfortable, is the limitation you are looking for, that is, the area of personal investment for future growth.

You can also seek help from others to speed up the process. If the eye does not see itself, it will be helped by a mirror in the form of feedback from others. The only thing to remember is that the quality of the response is determined by the quality of your question. It is a special art how to get valuable feedback.

Besides, it makes no sense and is even dangerous to ask for feedback from everyone. Too few people are able to separate their attitudes toward you from their personal traumas and childhood projections.

To sum it up: if a manager wants to grow professionally, he or she should:

1) Recognize the inevitable existence of his or her blind spots;

2) Look for the “blind spots” by voluntarily facing his fears;

3) Ask for feedback about himself from mature people, whose experience, objectivity, and kind attitude the manager trusts.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

”Who are you and what do you do?"
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Saying Goodbye to False Beliefs /  by Alexander Lyadov

 

I remember an experienced entrepreneur confessing after a transformational session that it was my vivid metaphors, hyperboles, and humor that helped him see and accept the important things that his mind was otherwise very resistant to. I understand him very well, since as a client in psychotherapy I often experience the same inner struggle. Some belief has been a part of me for so long and is so dear to me that to part with it is like a yakuza to do jubitsume (Jap. 指詰め), that is, to voluntarily cut off a phalanx of one’s finger.

Reexamining one’s core assumptions and beliefs really feels like an earthquake when the ground suddenly drops out from under one’s feet. No wonder so few people are willing to subject themselves to such “torture” on principle, let alone as a ritual once a quarter or a week. However, reality doesn’t care about people’s feelings - it hunts tirelessly and ferociously destroys all lies. If a belief is wrong, sooner or later a person will collide with reality. If a minor belief collapses, a person gets off with a minor scare. But the sudden and forced destruction of an axiomatic assumption a person may not survive. Or turn into a vegetable, become a monk, or go to the islands, forgetting about business, family, and friends.

Once one has experienced a non-fatal collision, an intelligent person chooses between two evils in favor of the lesser one. Is it worth avoiding what’s coming anyway? Isn’t it then better to enter into contact with the unknown, but on your terms? After that, all that remains is to shake up the monolith of false assumption with metaphors, explode it with hyperbole, and cool it down with jokes. When the dust settles, one is surprised to discover that having lost something, one has gained much more in return. New degrees of freedom take one’s breath away.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

”Who are you and what do you do?"
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"I have an extremely important business decision to make. Can you help me?
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Non-linearity /  by Alexander Lyadov

In life, many good things happen non-linearly.

Nothing happens for a long, long time, and then — bam! Get the prize.

And the longer the search and the deeper the well, the higher the column of oil up.

But there is no guaranteed reward for the sacrifice made.

This uncertainty is a systemic risk that cannot be avoided.

One refuses to play the “unfair” game at all.

Another is filled with hatred that his super effort is “not appreciated.

And only a third stubbornly moves forward, in spite of everything.

When one realizes his function, meaning redeems sweat, tears and blood.

At worst, he learns something new. At best, he’ll win it all.

That’s what a true entrepreneur is.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

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Who are you? /  by Alexander Lyadov

 

The average person is convinced that it’s hard to make the first million.

Investor Peter Tiel pointed out that it is extremely difficult to make one from zero.

Ostap Bender admonished Shura Balaganov: “And then it’s not money anyway. You need an idea.”

Everyone agrees that it is the initial stage that is covered by the great mystery.

Later, the thing is much clearer and easier to scale.

But one important fact remains in the shadows.

In any activity this metamorphosis must be made personally by everyone.

Whether it’s a new profession or an ambitious startup, there’s no fire without the first spark being struck.

Of course, you can learn what to do and what mistakes to avoid.

But you still have to fine-tune the chosen venture to fit your personality.

If you take a tiny or giant step into uncertainty, what do you call you?

That’s right, you are an entrepreneur.

Not in form, but in spirit.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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Forget the competitors /  by Alexander Lyadov

 

You need to study your customers, not your competitors.

“Why?”

The best competitive position is when a company has no competitors.

“Is it possible?”

Yes, if in the perception of customers, the company creates phenomenal value.

“But how?”

By honing its product/service to the real needs of its customers.

“What does this mean?”

Customers don’t know their real needs, or they would have solved them long ago.

“So what to do?”

Focus on those customers who are most valuable to you.

“And then?”

Devote 100% of your attention to learning about their problems.

“What about my competitors?”

You don’t have them, because no one else is willing to make that kind of sacrifice.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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Whose responsibility is that? /  by Alexander Lyadov

There’s nothing like a team of smart, energetic, creative people working in unison with the founder. When goals are clear, authority is assigned, and resources are plentiful, human potential blossoms like a lotus and company value goes up.

But there’s nothing worse than paying the salary of someone who is destroying the business when you, as the business owner, aren’t around. The problem is that the human potential remains just as powerful, but changes the sign from “plus” to “minus.” Such an employee acts resourcefully, tirelessly and boldly. In short, shows remarkable qualities, but unfortunately, they are directed against you.

Great temptation to accuse people of meanness, ingratitude and cynicism. Pathological characters are found, but very rarely. Usually the cause is something else. When an employee receives a complaint from a founder saying that the business has been harmed, his amazement is a clue: “But this is unfair! After all, I meant well!”

Acting in good faith, an honest, hard-working and competent employee effectively destroys a business if he or she does not know the corporate answer to the global question, “For what?” In other words, if no one bothers to tell the team what the company’s desired future is, they are each forced to speculate and act at their own risk. Misunderstandings, conflicts and squandering of company resources in this case are inevitable.

There is only one person whose responsibility, and by the way, privilege, is to formulate a vision of what the business needs to be in the long run. Not the CEO, not the business consultant, not the investment banker, and not the marketer. If you are the founder of a company, that person is you.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

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Model of society /  by Alexander Lyadov

 

Model of society.
Anyone who has had experience in a psychotherapy group is usually surprised. You meet people there who are completely unknown to you, but very quickly you form a “cathode” and an “anode” — there is antipathy to someone, and you are drawn to someone with all your soul. With few exceptions, the first weeks or even months in the group can be uncomfortable. One participant complains that he “has no place,” to another “everyone is hostile,” and a third is “killed by boredom.” Reasons for conflict abound. Fortunately, in group, there is a therapist in charge, as well as rules of behavior. In this way, as in a petri dish, a nutrient environment is created, perfect for analyzing oneself and others. Inevitably there is the insight that the small group is a fractal reflection of your life in society.

You may have wanted to put yourself differently in your new company. But, after a few interactions, you slip into a familiar relationship with people, like a motorcycle pulling into a rut. By the way, in response to your complaints, you will get the astonished look: “To be honest, I had no intention of censuring (seducing, hating or comforting) you.” So wherever you find yourself, you reproduce your world using other people’s words and reactions as the building blocks you need. Sometimes you make an elephant out of someone else’s fly. And sometimes you don’t even need a fly — someone else’s silent presence is enough for your brain to explode with fireworks of hormones. And it’s the same distortion of reality that happens in all of us. Isn’t it a miracle that we understand each other at all?

What a person is like in small things is like in everything else. So even a tiny change in your behavior in a small group cannot fail to affect life as a whole. Engineering, science, martial arts and sports use the prototype, the model, the testing ground and the draft. In essence, a psychotherapy group is a laboratory for personal transformation. And if you are a CEO or founder of a company, any change you make will cascade positively to your team and business performance as a whole.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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Company Vision: Reality and Fake /  by Alexander Lyadov

When it comes to investments, I have had experience on both sides. While managing private equity and venture capital fund, I decided to provide capital to promising companies. Later, for the fund’s portfolio companies or as an independent advisor to the founders, I talked to investors looking to buy a business in part or in whole. From the intersection of different perspectives, I had an insight into how important it is to have a business vision that is real.

Many entrepreneurs don’t have a clear vision for their business at all. One explains it by the high uncertainty of the initial stage of building a business: “What’s the use of thinking far ahead when the company has an acute cash flow problem?”. The other is so bogged down in operational processes, from financial accounting to negotiations with clients, that it seems the company would fly off the rails if only he were distracted by "all those dreams. It’s all excuses. Formulating an effective business vision is not easy, but for another reason, related to the founder's willingness to honestly answer himself a series of existential questions. A separate challenge is to make sure that all employees embrace it and approach each day as best they can.

Usually, a vision is remembered when there is a great need to raise external capital. Going along with investment bankers and brokers, the founder agrees to a made-up investment story by them that will supposedly help sell his business faster. Yes, fabricated presentation materials about the company look tempting. An inexperienced investor might even take the bait, but making an amateur shareholder of your company is like setting off a time bomb. A seasoned investor at the first meeting will ask the founder a couple of direct questions, and this grand vision will melt like ice in the sun. To verify the testimony, the investor will also ask questions of the top managers. And if the business has no real vision, there’s no way to hide that fact.

For experienced entrepreneurs, however, the vision of the company is an extremely valuable working tool.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

”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.

"I have an extremely important business decision to make. Can you help me?
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Chaos and professionalism /  by Alexander Lyadov

“The longer you play, the less influence luck has. Like with all things, the bigger your sample size, the more the quality of your decisions or your strategies matter,” says Liv Boeree, poker champion and science popularizer. Great motivation to find your “game” as early as possible and stay active in it as long as possible, right?

When we first start doing something new, especially if it’s urgent, important, and not by choice, we inevitably get bogged down in chaos. Our heads spin and our hearts explode in our chests. Everything seems equally important. The eyes of unknown predators burn in the darkness. Traps lurk at every turn. In time, however, as the joke goes, “Horror! Horror! Horror!” turns into “Just horror.”

The main thing is that a pattern begins to shyly emerge amidst the chaotic mess of events and impressions. A rut rolls by itself, which the mind cannot fail to notice. More and more often you manage to guess what will happen next. This calms your psyche, and therefore increases your ability to focus and analyze. The feedback loop speeds up, which methodically makes your “model of reality” fuller and more accurate. You move with confidence, notice deviations in time, make decisions prudently, and put them into action with amazing speed. At least in your business, uncertainty is almost never an obstacle to you. On the contrary, thanks to your growing optionality, novelty only delights you, offering one gift after another.

Congratulations! You have become a true professional. The Mastery is just around the corner.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

”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.

"I have an extremely important business decision to make. Can you help me?
Reserve a time on my calendar that is convenient for you to meet with me. We'll clarify your request and discuss options for how you can help.

Your strangeness /  by Alexander Lyadov

Douglas Duncan, Pablo Picasso dancing in his studio, 1957.

Douglas Duncan, Pablo Picasso dancing in his studio, 1957.

Each of us has an oddity of some kind. It’s almost imperceptible among family, friends, or kind colleagues. But, for example, in an unfamiliar company, you can get a raised eyebrow at your “normal” remark or action. There are bound to be those in the world, in whose eyes you are an original, an oddball, and a weirdo. Well, that’s at best. And at worst, you’re a madman, an eccentric, and a freak. The less trust, intimacy and sympathy between you, the more your strangeness turns from cute singularity into a demonic trait.

Also, people usually don’t perceive you for who you are. You are to them like a hyperlink that, when clicked, launches a feature film about their own life. To you, it’s just your favorite coat, but to a person, it’s the color brown that makes them sick no one knows why. It’s amazing how differently passersby react to my dog, who doesn’t even notice them. One person’s gaze warms and a smile appears, while the other hysterically steps aside at the risk of getting hit by a car. The phenomenon is one, but the reactions are a spectrum.

So be sure that your strangeness is bound to confuse, disturb, or annoy other people. No one will admit it, but the reactions will give them away. And it is better to say goodbye to the idea to change yourself. The personality structure is like a skeleton — pump your muscles and get tattoos all you want, but the essence remains the same. It’s more practical to recognize your specificity, accept it wholeheartedly, and make it functional. The irony is that what made them raise their eyebrows yesterday will be what they will thank you for tomorrow. When people get stunning value from interacting with you, they will willingly forgive your eccentricity.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

”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.

"I have an extremely important business decision to make. Can you help me?
Reserve a time on my calendar that is convenient for you to meet with me. We'll clarify your request and discuss options for how you can help.

Business Crossbow /  by Alexander Lyadov

When we say the word “lie,” our imagination pictures crooks fooling naive Pinocchio, or the politician who “promises to build a bridge where there is no river. Far more often a person deceives himself, though this is less obvious. I am talking about false assumptions. Like a layer of grass on a swamp, they create the appearance of solid ground while you make a path with your eye, but fall through beneath your feet as soon as you step on it.

The lie can’t stand contact with reality. But until then, it looks like a monolith. Some assumptions have been instilled in us in the family and are therefore sacred. Others are subtly sewn into the subculture in which we grew up. Others literally saved us when we found ourselves defenseless in a difficult situation. Since then, however, the world, the culture, and, of course, ourselves, have changed greatly. Many assumptions have long since become irrelevant, or even hinder us, like a welder’s mask after dark. The mask is at least noticeable, but it is easy to forget about the sunglass contact lenses. Our perception of events is distorted, but we get annoyed at a “corrupt” and “unfair” world.

In business it is noticeable, for example, by chronic problems, which, like the heads of the Hydra of Lernaeus, stubbornly grow back after the strike of the sword. Or when the founder complains about the lack of reliable partners, because everyone he has met before for some reason tried to deceive him. Sometimes it seems as if an evil fate destroys any entrepreneurial venture at the stage of rapid ascent. But analysis reveals that he is right-handedly breaking what he left-handedly creates.

There is good news in this. The more false assumptions hold your business back, creating tension inside, the more the business accelerates after it is released from them. Just like a bolt finally released from a crossbow.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

”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.

"I have an extremely important business decision to make. Can you help me?
Reserve a time on my calendar that is convenient for you to meet with me. We'll clarify your request and discuss options for how you can help.

A true expert /  by Alexander Lyadov

Splinter with rose in his hand

Unknown artist

It used to be that for knowledge one had to go to the central library or borrow a forbidden book from friends with a promise to read it overnight. I remember as a child gnawing at copies of pages with b/w illustrations of sambo and karate moves. Today the problem is different - how to discern a diamond in a mudslide of content. That’s why in any field I try to find the best expert and draw knowledge from him. In jiu-jitsu — John Danaher, in health — Andrew Huberman, in kettlebells — Mark Wildman, in business — Naval Ravikant, etc.

In addition to the obvious criteria - whether the qualifications are sufficient, whether he is trustworthy, and whether he presents knowledge clearly - what matters to me is whether the expert has a systematic approach. This means a holistic set of interconnected elements, when there is not just a set of lenses of different diopters, but a microscope. The Internet is full of Brazilian jiu-jitsu techniques, which by their exoticism are stirring up interest. The problem is that they don’t relate to each other. Their study makes your fight chaotic - sometimes you get something, but there is no stable result. Also, most tips are only appropriate for specific bout conditions, body anatomy, etc. The one who gives advice does not bother to indicate the limits of applicability of his tool. The student can only wonder whether he is slow-witted, or whether the pseudo-expert is lying.

Coach John Danaher is another matter. Each of his video courses has a clear structure, hierarchy and principles that allow you to quickly grasp a complex topic. All courses, like Lego bricks, fit together perfectly. Therefore, with each studied subsystem, the increase in knowledge is not linear, but exponential. Most importantly, John’s advice is highly reproducible, that is, 99% of the techniques in the video course I can immediately repeat with a sparring partner. Every contact with an expert should leave you with a feeling of infinite depth of knowledge. He is willing to share it generously. All that is required is a willingness to take them.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

”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.

"I have an extremely important business decision to make. Can you help me?
Reserve a time on my calendar that is convenient for you to meet with me. We'll clarify your request and discuss options for how you can help.