The People-Cause Dilemma.
// July 19th, 2009 // No Comments » // Business, Entrepreneurship
It is an unfortunate reality that any member of the creative class, be it an entrepreneur, an artist, or a creative director has to deal with. You almost have to continously reinvent yourself, and prove yourself over and over again, if you want to remembered. The world has a nasty way of having a short term memory and there are many great achievers who have fallen down the wayside in the trench of being forgotten, and was never again recalled, till they passed away.
Thats the nightmare of everyone in the creative class.
So the bottomline is that we have to strive to be better than the best, and in most times, we are our own enemies – as we try to overdo what we have accomplished in the past. The bigger nightmare is to build one great success followed up with a disaster and have people talking about the second one, more than the first.
With this as a background, one of the biggest dilemmas that entrepreneurs have to deal with, over and over again, is as to how to deal with people. Every one of us, if we have a tint of visionary streak in what we are trying to do, will come across a point when some of those who work alongside with us, dont see us eye-to-eye on what we are trying to accomplish. When that point in time arrives, is it going to be the people, or the cause that you are going to align yourself with? Thats the question.
I have wrecked my head over this dilemma. Most achievements are a matter of the team coming together right? In which case, shouldnt the vision be easy to compromise to accomodate those who have stood by us? Yet, it is also deceiving that if the vision can accomodate the team, then there also is scope for loads of mediocrity to creep in – and thats not one that a visionary can afford to have.
One could argue both ways on this, but I’ve come to the conclusion as such: For most of us, its not the glory in the act, nor the money, but the satisfaction of getting something done that was once deemed impossible – atleast for me it is. So the question to ask, when you are placed in the bridge of having to make a choice between taking that investment money or going bootstrap mode, or letting go of the partner or team lead, or even having to ask a close friend to step down are all a factor of what you really want to accomplish and where your passion lies. If your passion is in making a difference, then dont settle for us – whatever the cost. Because without it, and the vision that is birthed by it, we are just ghosts with no life nor grip on existence.
