Seen.
The River Doesn't Need Pushing.
Everyone knows the old adage: what got you here won't get you there. We were reminded this week that founders also have to recognise what got others there, might not get them there.
A growth business we were supporting operated without a CEO or MD. Leadership was shared across the co-founders.
They told us how this had been challenged by almost every outside advisor they worked with. It had almost become a joke for them. Over years, they had felt the push and pressure to "do things normally".
Recently though they changed their position. They decided that one of their number would now take the CEO role. Not because of the pressure from others, but because they felt it was the right time for them.
This reminded us that managing the contradictory pressures of sticking to your uniqueness, versus being open to accepted wisdom, can sometimes be a matter of timing.
These founders heard the advice, and knew the river didn't need pushing. They saw the value in the accepted wisdom, but also that what they had was working for now. The time would come to make this change and when it did, they made it.
Read.
As your business grows you may find yourself besieged by a particular category of outside advisor who wants to tell you about your business. We call them those-who-act-like-they-know-better-than-you.
We've all sat through lectures from those-who-act-like-they-know-better-than-you. We've all reached the point of wondering if we should just let them be in charge instead.
Although whatever their manifest accomplishments and extensive qualifications, it is worth remembering they didn't found your business. Only you did.
This article in the Sunday Times by children's author Oliver Jeffers contains some wonderful life lessons. We thought they might be relevant for founders besieged by those-who-act-like-they-know-better-than-you.
(PS. Sorry about the paywall. If you register you can read two free articles a month without a subscription. This one is worth it.)
Learned.
What is the future your people are protecting you from?
Sometimes it's someone inside your business that can seem to know better than you.
In our experience, the odds of this being true are higher than one of the ranks of those-who-act-like-they-know-better-than-you.
But it can be hard to hear. If it's negative or critical or not expressed brilliantly well, we can dismiss it as negativity.
Here's a tip we picked up this week: Next time you hear something like this, try asking yourself what future is this person trying to protect you from?
Ask them too. The answer might surprise you.
And finally.
We got together this week for our regular 6 month review. Ben suggested re-purposing the time for an exciting urgent priority on a current project. Alex agreed and said it was exciting to have so much going on.
Antony said Ben and Alex should respect their diaries and stick to their commitments.
This reminded everyone that Antony is always right and that cognitive diversity is useful.