The Oft-Forgotten Most Critical Element of Every Business
One of the biggest and earliest errors people make in business is over-focusing on the business and under-focusing on their own selves. It’s only after they have invested huge sums of money, attracted investors into the story, hired dozens or hundreds or more employees, and done the plethora of other things a business owner does before they realize they have a debilitating Achilles heel within themselves that is making success improbable or impossible.
Common Types of Achilles Heels. Wow, this list is almost infinite! Insecurity, anger, rage, shame, impatience, inability to focus, depression, anxiety, condescension, emotional or verbal abuse, overly controlling behavior, or significant complaining or criticizing. That’s just the start of a long list. The best way to picture this is just imagine all the problems one might seek treatment for from a therapist.
Common Types of Effects on the Business. And this list is even longer! Here are some:
· Inconsistent Decision-Making
· Micro-Managing
· Low Resilience
· Toxic Culture
· High Turnover
· Difficulty Attracting Talent
· Short-term Focus
· Risk Aversion
· Recklessness
· Poor Communication
· Low Productivity
· Low Accountability
The Critical Starting Point: Healthy Self-Leadership. What many leaders realize too late is that they cannot lead others effectively unless they can lead themselves effectively.
Given effective leadership is overwhelmingly relational, as opposed to transactional, self-leadership requires learning how to lead from what Lori Jean Glass, Amazon bestselling author of #HealthyAdult, calls one’s “healthy adult.” Not, for example, from their frightened inner child. Not from their angry adolescent. Not from their emotionally abusive adult selves. Rather, from their healthy adult who is able to recognize unhealthy developmental patterns that might prompt them to do, feel, think (the overly anxious leader), to think, do, feel (overly avoidant leader), or to feel, think, feel, think, feel, think…ad nauseam (the ambivalent leader), and instead allow them to think, feel, do in the most rational and emotionally intelligent way.
Of course, you may want to invest in years of psychotherapy to process your particular Achilles heel, but we are sending people to Lori Jean Glass at www.lorijean.com, or coaches in her network, and they are experiencing far more expedient and effective results with what she has branded the “PIVOT Method.” Many A-List entertainment stars, athletes, and businesspeople have found her process and platform profoundly healing.
Bottom Line. If your mental and relational selves are healthy, fantastic! If not, get them healthy so you can reward people with your best leadership self, as opposed to inflicting your defective leadership self on those you want to lead and undermining your business objectives.
GROW and SELL Advisors, wholly-owned by Traversi & Co., LLC, is a premier sell-side M&A advisory firm – a boutique investment bank – serving the lower middle market. Visit us here.
For a short video clip on this topic, click here.