I recently met someone who wants to be a CEO. He wants it so badly he’ll do anything to assume and keep the role. He wants it so badly, he won’t accept that he’s not ready for the role. He wants it so badly, he is willing to ruin a great business opportunity so he could keep the role. He wants it so badly, he is willing to push away all those providing sound and sage advice about how to make his business successful. He wants it so badly, he thinks he will attract investors — because. He wants it so badly, he is unwilling to discuss in a non-emotional way, that the business could fail and what the consequences would be.
It’s a pretty common story in entrepreneur land. People have an idea, start a business and enjoy the notion that they are the boss. It often does not matter than they are not experienced to be the boss, but they like the ability to do what they want without constraints from any angle, including practicality. They start to develop acute ‘cataracts’ that prevent them from seeing properly, from seeing the reality that their dream is moving farther way and that being the CEO is what is killing it.
For certain, the fastest way to become a CEO is to start your own business. What’s unusual about getting what you wish for, is that if your business shows potential for success, you really do need to know how to manage it towards that success. It rarely comes any other way. The best CEO’s understand their inherent strengths and weaknesses surrounding themselves with people who can compensate as appropriate. The most astute entrepreneurs thrive on seeing their ideas become reality, it does not really matter if they are the boss, only that someone is working near as hard as they would to have it become a success.
I wish there were some magic potion people could drink to truly understand their strengths and weaknesses — to be able to see what they need to see in the mirror each morning, to get out of the way of what it takes to make things successful if success is to be had — to understand that they need not be the boss in order to realize all the benefits — but alas, the world is what it is, and many ideas go nowhere — because.