Avoid These Deadly Sins

“In the chaos of your venture, and when under the influence of the daily pressure, passion, pleasure and pain you often find yourself saying things, doing things and allowing things that would be taboo in a normal environment.” 

These Deadly Sins should be a avoided at all costs. The after affects can be detrimental to the progress and growth of your organization.

• It’s We, Not I. It’s Ours, Not Mine. This is your baby. It is your vision. It is your passion. You gave birth to it. You live it and breathe it. You are the only one that burned through your life savings. There is no doubt about your commitment and dedication. Now what about everyone else that you want to be dedicated to the cause? Why will they be committed? Why will they be committed when they are being paid below-market compensation, or only equity, while working crazy hours? When you use words like “my” or “I,” you may not realize the message this sends or the impact it has on people who have invested time and energy in the business and made numerous sacrifices for its success. It is understandable since this is your baby. Entrepreneurs often feel they are entitled to say this is “my” business. For some, it is a source of pride. This seems harmless initially, but it erodes your team’s connection to the venture. If you listen to experienced CEOs, they rarely use words like “I” or “my.” They understand the impact this has on employees—even those of a larger company. For employees of an entrepreneurial venture, the message reads: “Even though you continue to commit your blood, sweat and tears to the company, it is mine not yours.
• Believing There Is No Competition. Everyone has competition. In a complex global economy with increasingly sophisticated technology, competition can occur almost immediately and from any corner of the world. If you or your company believe that you have no competition, or that no one can do what you do, you risk being viewed by vendors, investors and other needed resources, as naïve, inexperienced and ill-equipped to face the realities of doing business in today’s world. Instead of strengthening the position of your vision, you risk being perceived as blind, whether by ignorance or ego, or simply the strain of the pressure, passion, pleasure and pain. You become a risk, rather than a risk worth taking. Investors engage leaders who acknowledge, embrace, and strive to overcome the competition. Your ability to see reality must be as strong as your original vision if you want to bring it to life. Don’t run from or ignore competition. Acknowledge it, embrace it and take it head on with your best.
• Dismissing How Your Team Feels. Everyone understands that entrepreneurial ventures don’t succeed, or exist, without hard work and dedication. But that doesn’t mean you can ignore the needs and feelings of those struggling alongside you. If you dismiss your employees’ state of mind when you communicate or make decisions, you undermine your company’s strength, resilience and dedication to the business and its customers. You must respect the dedication it takes to do everything from the simplest daily task to the most complex business transaction. To do that, you have to be committed to knowing intimately how they feel and to demonstrating that knowledge through thoughtful action and encouragement. If you are thinking, “I don’t have time to worry about how people feel,” your employees are thinking, “Does our leader really understand the sacrifice we are making?” That question is usually followed by, “I wonder if the sacrifice is worth it?”
• Making Exceptions for the CEO. One of the most damaging behaviors of a young company is demonstrating preferential treatment for its leader. When your team believes that your needs come first, or at their expense, or that the rank and file’s needs are less important than the needs of the leader, it creates an undercurrent of resentment at all levels of employment. Similarly, when the rules apply to everyone but you, it sends the message that the CEO is above the law, and undermines the faith that you have the team’s best interests at heart. On the other hand, when the CEO is the first person on the team to hold themselves accountable, or to be accountable to others, it sends a message that everyone is in this together.
• Instilling Confidence. Despite the challenges of your organization, always communicate with confidence. How often do you walk out of a meeting and say to yourself, “If they only knew how screwed up we are”? It is fine to have those conversations with yourself, but not out loud. Even though your balloon is full, resist the temptation to communicate in any way that undermines the confidence of your team, customers or investors. Confidence does not mean that you are not candid, that you don’t outline challenges or that you create unrealistic expectations. Confidence is about how you deliver the message.
• Never Talk Catastrophe. There will be times you feel that you are on the brink of failure, at your wit’s end, too burned out to go at it. You have no money, and you have hit “the last straw” with a vendor, employee, investor or customer. Marathoners talk about “hitting the wall” at mile twenty. Try hitting the wall at mile 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7…Despite this, your communication can never include words like disaster, catastrophe, quit, falling apart or any of terms associated with the apocalyptic scenario running through your mind. To you, these may simply be expressions of your current emotion and some air coming out of your balloon. To others, these words are warning bells that may lead them to question their commitment to your vision. It’s not uncommon in a moment of frustration to say, “I want to run away and sit on a beach” or “We’re not going to make it.” These may be true emotions. They may persist or they may be fleeting. In either case, keep them to yourself. While the catastrophe of the day may be quickly forgotten, the lasting impression of these words will not. These words will stick in the mind of your constituents like a line from a B-movie you’d like to forget. Worse, it will impact their perspective. When your constituents believe you are successfully moving from point A to point B, they view a challenge or a tough day as only a speed bump to overcome. This can often be a rallying cry for an organization. Overcoming obstacles becomes a source of pride. However, when doubt sets in, this changes. It’s one thing for your people to work through the doubt that naturally comes with building a business. It is another to hear it from the mouth of their leader. Concerns that come with the territory of entrepreneurship, and that used to fall under the category “the nature of the beast” now become deal breakers—reasons to think twice. As hard as it is, eliminate these words from your public vocabulary, and share them only with your bottle of bourbon—and hope that the bottle doesn’t talk back.
• Avoid cockiness. To accomplish many of these lofty goals the job requires, as noted above, confidence. When that confidence shifts to cockiness, you run a great risk. There are times people do business with you because of your business value. There are other times they do business with you because they like you. When you demonstrate cockiness, you make customers and employees think to themselves, “Do I want to do work with this guy/girl?”
• Yelling, Talking Over People and Cutting People Off. I’d be lying if I said I nailed this one. Many times in meetings I felt that we were wasting time and that I was already past the issue. This caused me to cut people off and say “Got it.” It got so common that it became an office joke. Don’t do it. Raising your voice is the same. I know what you are saying, “But we just lost our biggest client.” Your people want to see you calm, cool and collected, especially when things are going wrong. Do your best to keep good manners even in the midst of chaos. That’s where it really counts anyway.
• Romantic Relationships with Company People. I know, you spend every waking hour on the business and these are the only people you see. I don’t care. A great way to screw up a promising business is a personal relationship that goes bad. This includes everyone that works for the company as an employee, as well as all third parties such as customers, vendors, board members, advisors, auditors, lawyers, accountants, distributors, agencies, and vendors. It doesn’t matter that someone doesn’t report to you. It doesn’t matter that they only do a little work for the company. Blurring the lines between being passionate about a business and passionate about a person can happen in the midst of the entrepreneurial venture. It is one thing for the business to be under the influence of the Four Ps, the last thing you need is your personal relationships feeling pressure, passion, pleasure and pain in the middle of the workday. Never, never, never.