Down the Rabbit Hole

When I finished school, I took my entire life savings, $5000, and invested it in a business.  I was young, I was inexperienced.  But I was an entrepreneur and I was proud.  And in six weeks, I was broke.

—Mark Warner, US Senator, Virginia, 1954 - present

Commitment to making money is not enough of a basis to form a business.  If you ask most successful entrepreneurs, scientists and inventors what motivates them, it is almost never money.  The motivation is generated by some sort of electricity charging them to provide that special product or service that has never been done before.

Silicon Valley has attracted people from all over the world who appear to be searching for Utopia … and this utopia comes in the form of stock options.   Just like the California Gold Rush of the 1850’s, all of these people have come to California again one hundred and fifty years later to find money the way aspiring actors go to Hollywood to find fame.

The effect of this boom reverberated throughout most industries driving housing prices ever higher and crowding the cities with newly arrived immigrants from the United States and every country of the world.  The search produced the housing bubble and the stock market bubble of the late 1990’s.

The media has pumped enough hype to attract people who come here to be part of the action.  But, in reality, what is happening is that employee turnover ended up at an all time high as people were job jumping in search of more or better stock options.

In the 1990s, the average length of employment was, less than 18 months.  New start-ups and venture funding leaped to an all time high.  The recruiting business was in its hey-day as executive recruiters stand to benefit from the people who move regularly and often from company to company.

Watching most of these employees is amusing.  They never find Utopia because they always arrive late, after the company is pretty much established because they want to be a part of something successful.  They are not the kind of risk taker who will roll up his or her sleeve to make a company successful.  They are after the quick buck.   When things get difficult, they bolt.  Some companies grade or “class” their people by tracking how many un-vested stock options the employee has accumulated.  The more valuable employees have been granted more shares.

They lack both the passion and the commitment to drive a mission to completion.

Sociologists could classify employees into two categories:

–Committed, who are truly interesting in the work itself

–Utopians, those interested in money itself

Real commitment to your work is more along the lines of building and distributing new products that have the capacity to change the world. Innovation and invention is essential to progress.  Today we have incredible opportunities in energy, bio-technology, medicine, computers, communication and more.   And regardless of your particular specialty or field, you can make incremental differences by placing yourself strategically in a business that suits your own passion.

Looking solely to enhance your financial well being is not fundamentally in sync with the mission.  It’s only a matter of time before there will have to be a convergence with purpose.

Utopians are not the most successful, happy people.  It reminds me of the current scandal with Bernie Madoff.  What could have possessed such a financially secure individual to bilk thousands of middle class people out of their savings in a simple ponzi scheme.  How could he have twisted his mind around that concept?

Money itself is not the root of all evil, but the raw pursuit of money can be unfullfiling.

There are a lot of steps along the road of entrepreneurship to have a successful business.  And wealth accumulation is only one part of the measure of success.   Believe me, the ride is phenomenal, the learning tremendous, the pleasure can be sublime along the road regardless of eventual outcome.

The salary of the chief executive of a large corporation is not a market award for achievement. It is frequently in the nature of a warm personal gesture by the individual to himself.

—John Kenneth Galbraith, author and economist, 1908-2006

Let’s talk about money.

In our culture we equate large amount of money with success.  Royalty in American pop culture are high rolling movie stars, significant authors, musicians, inventors and entrepreneurs who have hit the jackpot and the like.

But let’s not confuse money with success.

Some folks think that money is the root of all evil…but let’s not go into belief systems either.  We are born without any money and we leave this earth that way–it is what we do to make a contribution to our society or our planet in between those extremes of birth and death that this blog is about.

Success in life doesn’t equate to just the size of your bank account or the size or number of homes you have.  So money is just one part of the equation.  With too little money, one has no personal security and does not feel safe.

It seems to me that success in life equates to our ability to achieve happiness and satisfaction out of our daily life.  In fact, there are a myriad of people who think success has nothing to do with money.  And they would be right.

Only 3.5 percent of the households in the United States enjoy a net worth of over $1 million.  The U.S. Census reports that the average annual income per household is far less — just under $40,000.  Does that mean that only 3.5 percent of us are successful?  No. I think not.

Certainly some of the most wealthy are miserable and unsuccessful and don’t know what they need to do to get on track with themselves.

Among everyone else in the U.S., there are stunningly successful people.  Teachers are a great example. Teachers must be deeply committed to helping other people learn.  In our current system, they are not generously compensated yet they have our future in their hands.  A teacher is certainly well educated and makes the deliberate decision to teach the young people in their hands carefully and with concern.  The result of this commitment causes a teacher to need to live modestly.  This passion, commitment and lifestyle is generally a highly successful formula for a satisfying life.

Now that I’ve told you what money is not, let me tell you what it is.  It can be both the reward for commitment, and a tool you can use to help get yourself to the top.

Money can make a lot of things easier.  It clears a lot of paths.  It buys a lot of solutions.  It gives freedom.  It pays a lot of people.  It lifts you out of “survivor” mode, where food, shelter, and clothing are no longer the focus of any your attention.  This enables a person to focus attention on other things.  It can make you feel successful and can allow you to pass your largess and generosity along.

The more money you have, the higher your attention is lifted until you are at such heights that you can concentrate your commitments to issues of global importance.   A good example is Bill Gates…perhaps his foundation will become his real legacy coming out of his drive from having founded and built Microsoft.   Microsoft is interesting, but solving world problems is even better.

When you’re playing poker and you only have three chips, you cannot play full out.  You play from a position of fear of possibly losing those few precious chips that would take you out of the game, so you strategize your moves to protect them.  You don’t risk anything.  You don’t grandstand.  And you will not win.  When you have a mountain of chips in front of you, your attitude changes.  Because you feel safe, you relax and play with joy.  Other players pay attention, aware that you are able to play full out.  This is a position of power.  Playing with a full deck makes you a powerful opponent.  Because when you are in a position of power, willing and able to risk more, you’ll likely reap greater reward.

The same principles apply and are true in all of life.

Now having said all that, I reiterate that money is not success. Money is a measure and a tool.  Never underestimate its power or the freedom it can bring your spirit.

If you have it, enjoy it without apology.

“Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that final victory comes.”

—Gautama Siddharta, founder of Buddhism, 563-483 BC

When someone asks me how I developed my ability to get businesses off the ground, I usually talk about commitment, drive and endurance.  Technology businesses are notoriously difficult for a number of reasons and so the level of commitment has to be enormous to sustain the momentum to gain acceptance in the marketplace.

I have spent a lot of time, especially in the last few years, coaching new CEOs and wannabe CEO’s.

Sometimes, I see the drive and interest in being the captain of their own ship.  But I also see why some of these businesses never get very far off the ground:  it is because that they lack the ability to focus on a single subject and endure to the end–meaning both a positive and correct solution or conclusion.

After being asked over and over again how I am able to do focus and deliver time and time again, I spent some time thinking about the capability.  It is so ingrained in me that I do it naturally.  In the kitchen, in the office.  I do the job one step at a time until it is finished.  And I don’t stop until it is finished.

How I got started might have been when I was a child, but maybe it was born innately before that.  My first recollection was that it started with me going in circles.  Literally.  When I was four years old, I started ballet lessons.  Like many little girls, I wanted to be good at ballet.  Among the many dance steps, I chose the pirouette and worked on technique.  I practiced in my family room outside of the classroom at balance and lift until I felt that I had perfected it.  Practicing for hours and hours, I was a tiny dancer.  Over and over.  One turn was not enough.  I went for two.  Two turns were not enough, I went for three.  In my child mind, I was practicing until I was able to perform the pirouette correctly.   I was not satisfied if I lost my balance or set my foot down improperly.  I just did it again until it was right.

In retrospect, I was really learning to take a commitment seriously and truly complete the things that I started.  More importantly, the discipline of endurance was developing within my consciousness: repeating and perfecting methodically until completely satisfied with the outcome of this effort.  This approach did not end with dancing: it applied to school, hobbies and relationships.

Today this kind of discipline has matured and grown and has become critical in work.  It is not just that your own business requires long hours–sometimes that is true too, but it is the tough decisions, long shots, difficult business transactions that really require sustained commitment and the ability to put the needs of the business ahead of your own needs.

The ability to commit and stay committed keeps the perception of the manager as totally dependable to others who rely on them: it is just an ability to make and keep commitments, no matter what the odds.  This is so important, like the captain on a ship:  management needs to have an unwaivering and high level of commitment.

In order to be successful every day, I have three simple personal rules:

1.  Even when I don’t feel like getting up and going, I get up and go, committed.

2.  Before I get involved in the day, I identify the one most important thing that I can do that day.

3.  I don’t go home until I’ve finished that one thing significant, the thing I set out to do that day.

What are your personal rules?

I like to tell people that all of our products and business will go through three phases.

There’s vision, patience and execution.

—Steve Ballmer, Microsoft

Starting a business is a lot of work and can take a toll on you physically, mentally and emotionally.

I have been noticing a lot of people who seem quite naive about what it really takes to succeed.

Before commitment can be absolute, it is extremely useful to get clear on your own motives both toward the outcome and the process.  You have to understand why you want what you want, so that you’ll be able to keep the project on track, especially when the going gets tough.

And it might.  Get tough, I mean.  The bigger the project is and the longer it goes on, the easier it is to forget why you started.  This is particularly true for professionals on the highest levels who have set the bar high and are driven to exhaustion in their efforts to overcome impediments to their missions.

Having a clear sense of purpose to which you can mentally return will help keep you from wavering when you are in the deep water.  When you’re exhausted, get recommitted and remember why you are doing this.   It is interesting that many entrepreneurs are motivated by providing a new quality product or service and not merely the potential of material gain.

Let me assure you that getting exhausted, getting bogged down, getting side-lined are merely tests of your commitment. It takes a big person to put the needs of a company ahead of their own ego or personal gratification.  But that is what the company needs in an executive or manager.

In life there are whole systems in all kinds of places that are designed to test you to the core … from teachers to armies, from your children to your company.  These tests are a distraction for you.  The test is there for you to fortify your commitment, or waiver and give up.  More importantly these situations and people let you know when your commitment has lapsed and it is time to move on.

When you follow your passion, it helps to give little thought to what other people think.  Other people may not believe in you or in your ideas.  This really comes out when raising investment funds.  That very process is designed to vet ideas and we solicit opinions from experienced investors who then we allow to judge and evaluate our ideas and experience.  This is a game to enlist the support of other people who test us.  Even when we encounter skeptics we should never let them daunt us or defeat us.

It reminds me of a story I heard of the foundation of Federal Express.  Evidently, the plan was hatched at Harvard, I think, as a class project.  The professor involved thought that the idea would never fly with a hub in Memphis–and competing with the US Postal Service package delivery system?  Why?  Who needs that.  The founder was not stopped by this bout of negativity because of his commitment and vision.

Never give up, never surrender.  Keep your eye on the prize.  Learn to filter out negative energy.  In fact, learn to filter out all distractions.

You have a mission.  Stay on it.

You might talk a good talk, even to yourself and yet something’s still not right.  Most of us have gotten involved in diets that don’t work, the difficulties of smoking cessation or incomplete home projects. How can you figure out if you aren’t firmly committed?

Disorganization, procrastination and distraction are two of the best diagnostic tools you have for determining that you are not really committed.  And more.

When you see yourself doing everything except the very thing that it will take to get the job done, you should suspect that something is wrong.  You’re not committed. It’s time to sit down and take a long, honest look at your goal, passion and commitment so you can know what’s gone wrong … and what you can do to get it right again.

At all times, the  responsibility is completely yours.  Focus on the strategy.  Execution.  Team.  Make sure you really understand your own business.  And then stay on it.

In life, many thoughts are born in the course of a moment, an hour, a day.  Some are dreams, some visions. Often, we are unable to distinguish between them.   To some, they are the same; however, not all dreams are visions.  Much energy is lost in fanciful dreams that never bear fruit.

But visions are messages from the Great Spirit, each for a different purpose in life.  Consequently, one person’s vision may not be that of another.

To have a vision, one must be prepared to receive it, and when it comes, to accept it. Thus when these inner urges become reality, only then can visions be fulfilled.

The spiritual side of life knows everyone’s heart and who to trust.  How could a vision ever be given to someone to harbor if that person could not be trusted to carry it out.

The message is simple: commitment precedes vision.

—High Eagle, Osage and Cherokee Indian composer, author, musician

While passion is an emotion, commitment is the decision to move into action. It takes both to be a successful business person and entrepreneur.

In business, you make a decision and begin to take action and results will occur.  If you put the right actions into place, at the right time, with the energy and commitment to stay the course, you are likely to get the result that you want.  It’s as simple as that.

Desire comes first.  But wanting alone is not enough.  When you truly want something, you will think through what it will take to get closer to the outcome, one foot in front of the other for methodical, continuous effort toward the goal.

Commitment is a two-fold proposition. You have to be committed to the outcome, but more importantly you have to be committed to the process.  You may need to ask others for help to stay on course to get the right outcome.  But, without both aspects of commitment in place, you may not be able to get the desired result.  When people fail to succeed, it is often a direct result of having not been as committed as they thought they were to either the outcome or the process.

Usually I dislike focusing on failure, but in this case, examining why people fail at commitment will lend insight into the dual nature of commitment and its critical importance.

Let me give you an easy example.  The struggle to maintain a healthy weight is a problem most of us understand.  You yourself may have failed at a diet or you probably know someone who constantly loses the battle of the bulge in spite of repeated, heroic attempts to shed pounds.  I contend that unless there’s a medical explanation for retaining weight,  a person fails at dieting frankly and simply because there’s a lack of commitment.  In spite of seemingly good intentions, a cupboard full of low calorie food, a bookshelf crammed with diet books, a coffee table overflowing with magazines that promise the secrets of weight loss, a fitness video languishing in the VCR, and a gym membership, he doesn’t really want to lose weight.  No matter how nice it would be to lose those pounds, the day-by-day, step-by-step, bite-by-bite process is too difficult, and he’s clearly not committed.  If he were truly committed, then there would be no stopping him.  He would be laser focused on both his outcome and the process that will get him there. Hidden cookies would be dumped down the disposal.  And he would reach his goal weight.  Yes, indeed.  And this example is the same for losing weight, quitting  =smoking, making a million dollars in business, inventing the next great thing or becoming a movie star.

You have to have total commitment to both the right outcome and the right process.

While our dieter may be determined to lose weight, but then commits to a bizarre diet that destroys his health along the way, then the project will be unsuccessful.  A few years ago,  I heard a story about a law student who was caught cheating on his final exams.  I interpreted his failure to be one of commitment, rather than one of grades.  He was committed to graduating and even perhaps to getting good grades, but he was not committed to learning and participating in the methodical process that would have gotten him there.

Look carefully at the situations that you get your self into.  Is there a theme?  A direction that life is pointing you in?  Or do you feel that you are controlling the direction and flow of life.

When you find yourself at a crossroad, make the leap.  Commitment is necessary to withstand all of the pressures that always come from challenge.  You can do it.  Leap.  Go for it.

I like thinking big. If you’re going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big.

—Donald Trump

When I was about 26 years old, I decided to start a retail business.  It was a cookware store.  It was very nice in a new mall.  We did well.   I wanted to do something in business with something that I really enjoyed, cooking.  So, this business was my big idea.

It never occurred to me to aspire to anything more.  I was satisfied with my space in the mall.  This business ran for about 8 years and then we sold it to another small business owner.  We mad a little money.  While there was nothing wrong with what I did, I was not even close to “Thinking Big”.

Other people, however, had bigger ideas.  In this case, Williams Sonoma–now a giant in that business with catalogs, internet, several related chains and stores in just about every mall in the country.

Donald Trump may have always had that little bit of j’ne ce quoi that drives him to do everything big.  In fact, he lives on the other extreme, living his entire life large and visibly.    While Trump has no qualms about thinking big, he is not exactly the model you might choose to emulate.  While smart and savvy, Trump is has an exaggerated sense of himself.  It might be nice to choose a role model who is a bit more centered.

Another famous character who is clearly driven and undeterred by the odds is Steve Jobs who brought Apple back to life with the most audacious and courageous media play ever–taking the computer to media while revolutionizing the music industry with iTunes and the iPod.  MP3 player had been around for several years, so they were not the innovators of the technology, but the innovators in leading the marketplace to rally around the most amazing play of the century.  The rollout looked effortless with retail stores opening quickly around the world, massive advertising campaigns and creative packaging.  The whole strategy is incredible.  Plus the execution is good.  Even though the products have bugs and various issues, they happily replace parts and whole systems, no questions asked and have these funny “Genius Bars” to help consumers.

These two people are great examples of the success that comes from thinking big.

Perhaps any idea can go through a kind of filter that steps back and sees everything on a larger scale.  There are thinking and planning processes that can help you create the vision and then put together the strategy to pull it off.

What does it take?  Guts.  Vision.  The ability to believe that you can accomplish anything you want by thinking it through.   When you have vision, the money to build the dream materializes as if by miracle.

Now, I am not saying that this is easy.  It clearly is not easy.  You have to convince an awfully lot of people in the big vision.  And then lead others to help carry through the execution of the plan.  But it is possible.

Dream the impossible.  Live the possible.  You can.  Do it.

The entrepreneur in us sees opportunities everywhere we look, but many people see only problems everywhere they look.  The entrepreneur in us is more concerned with discriminating between opportunities than he or she is with failing to see the opportunities.

—Michael Gerber

Maybe you have to be born an entrepreneur.  The concept that you can have an idea that then you can materialize into a business or profession has everything to do with confidence, outward focus and initiative.  These qualities do not come easily to everyone.

But for those who want to choose the path of manifesting your own dream, or even to join an early team who are bonded by a goal, the personal and professional rewards are greater than you can ever imagine.   Even when the startup company does not perform to financial expectations, the learning and personal growth can exceed expectations.  For it is all a part of life, and life is about experiencing, learning and growing.

Nowadays, a whole industry has grown up around early stage companies.  Everyone seems to want to get into the act from an exploding base of new venture firms to the support systems that parasitically attach to the incubating companies—accountants, lawyers, consultants, conferences and the like.   When I started my first company, none of this existed.   Things were simpler, more pure.  Then, the greed of the 90s set in and never left.

In some ways, there are too many ideas floating around.  In some ways, too few.  The ideas that become good companies have to be big ideas based upon big markets.  Big strategies, big implementations.  Many of the plans that come around are re-runs.  Or just pieces of a bigger strategy.  The entrepreneurs involved do not have either the vision or the guts to go huge.  They see that they are just a small fry, and who would want to do business with a small fry.

But the small fry who thinks big can start small and leverage that idea into an empire.   And guts, drive and initiative is what makes the difference between someone who will stay small and someone who can make it big.  And those qualities are readily visible in the style and presentation of the entrepreneur.  It is confidence in its purist form.  Perhaps no different than an Olympic runner psyching out the other runners with a positive attitude, calm and focus.

It is all about mental attitude.  Commitment. And doing what it takes, no matter what.  Even putting aside personal considerations for the good of the company.

Maybe these qualities are born in us.  Maybe we can acquire them.  But I promise, the road to success may not be a short one, but it is filled with wisdom to be learned at every junction of the path.

It is a thrill ride.  Up and down.  Let’s go for a ride.