What Happens to Entrepreneurs in Periods of Emerging Success
What you Hope to See:
- Emerging Humility
- Acknowledgment of team contributions, through compensation as well as words
- Increasing paranoia about competitors
- Hoarding capital; keeping expenses low
- Constantly planning and re-examining strategy; probing ways to improve
- Being keenly aware of customers and their needs; constantly surveying and seeking customer involvement in product development and improvement
- Believing it is time to work even harder
- Avoiding publicity; realizing too much press puts a bulls-eye on firm; being cautious with press releases
- Maintaining personal discipline (exercise routine, diet, etc.)
- Ensuring accessibility to customers, colleagues, and suppliers
What you Typically See:
- Arrogance beyond belief
- Dismissal of other roles; seeking spotlight credit and spoils
- Being increasingly dismissive of competitors
- Spending funds freely, often before positive cash flow realized
- Being overly confident of existing plan's validity
- Taking customers for granted; being out of touch with the marketplace
- Goes on “ cruise control ”
- Seeking publicity; grabbing the limelight; believing in their own press releases
- Eating and drinking too much
- Becoming increasingly isolated; often through unnecessary corporate bureaucracy