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Golden Oldies: Winners and Losers

by Miki Saxon

It still surprises me, but poking through 11+ years of posts I find information that’s as useful now as when it was written.

Golden Oldies is a collection of the most relevant and timeless posts during that time.

“Joe” called to wish me a happy 2018 and update me on what he’s doing. It’s been six years since decided to ignore the pressure pushing him to become an entrepreneur.

Since then he’s changed companies twice and was just promoted to director of advanced engineering. He’s having a great time building a team to work on a totally new product. Joe says he’s having a ball.

Joe is proof of two things

  1. Peer pressure never ends.
  2. Winners do what they want, not what other people think they should want.

Read other Golden Oldies here.

3473500703_fd81a69e0e_m“Joe” called me today. He said he was thinking of leaving his company not because he wanted to, but because everyone thought he should.

He explained that everyone who knew him kept showing him articles and telling him that he was a born entrepreneur and should start his own company.

Joe said he had worked for everything from large companies to startups and as long as he had a good manager and liked the culture he was happy. He worked hard and felt he was fairly compensated.

Joe said he had discussed it with his family and they said he should do what made him happy and they would support that decision.

However, he didn’t want to end up looking like a loser because he didn’t do it.

Boiled down, here is my response.

  • Contrary to current media coverage people who work for companies are not losers and entrepreneurs are not the be all and end all of success.
  • Few, if any, knowledge workers at any level work 8-hour days, disconnect and go home.
  • In the current recession, entrepreneurs are to the 21st Century what consultants were to the recessions of the 20th Century.
  • Having entrepreneurial MAP does not mean you want, or have to be, an entrepreneur.

The last point is especially important.

I saw yet another list of 10 traits of entrepreneurs and I had to chuckle. Here it is

  1. They Are Not Stopped by Fear
  2. They Know When to Ask for Help
  3. They Are Persistent
  4. They Are Passionate About Their Businesses
  5. They Are Willing to Market and Sell
  6. They Know Their Numbers
  7. They’re Disciplined
  8. They Have Integrity
  9. They’re Great Communicators
  10. They Think Long-Term

I chuckled because these are the same traits that all good people have when adjusted for their position and experience.

They are also the traits that the best managers look for when they are hiring. There are, however, many mangers too insecure to appreciate them.

Many years ago I read an article about the guy who invented the tiles used on the Challenger spacecraft to protect it when it reentered the atmosphere.

He wasn’t an entrepreneur, he was a Lockheed engineer. He didn’t get a bonus for his work, it was his job. He didn’t care; he was happy at his company, proud of what he did and liked being part of something larger.

He was a winner.

The lesson here is that great people work for existing companies and great people start companies and both win.

Joe is a winner.

The losers are those who disparage other people’s choice.

Image credit: chokingsun

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