Risk/Reward

After writing yesterday's blog, I had lunch with an old friend of mine, David, who started a company many years ago and essentially sold it 2x over. Pretty damn impressive. We should all be so lucky. That's the upside. The downside is an inherent risk of selling your baby: the new parent may not agree with your vision for and approach to growth. Plus, your real executive/leadership responsibilities may be stripped away from you (regardless of the fancy title you receive). That's a tough one on the ego, if nothing else. I understand if a much larger organization wants to take your small/mid-size company to the next level and management feels you may not have that large-scale experience to handle the job. Totally viable. But, that really wasn't the case with Dave. In his case, I think management just made poor decisions and disregarded the very strategies that made David and his company successes in the first place. I mean, how goofy is that?? Going back to the upside, however, I think the reward of a newly inflated bank account and normal sleep patterns have at least partly assuaged David's bruised ego. Nothing like a shopping spree and some shut-eye to put you on the sunny side of the street...
~ Liz
(P.L.H.H.)