All companies are created twice

If you are an entrepreneur, or you want to be an entrepreneur there is evidence that the most critical determinant of your success or failure is your own personal set of beliefs.

What you believe about personal independence, your views about the validity of the product or service you want someone else to purchase, what you think about the sales process, the quality of service delivery or the value of relationships all will effect how you and your business evolves.

Study any textbook or "guru" writing on success and you'll see a common theme is that
beliefs drive behavior. Translation: The actions you take to initiate and build your business are
pre-determined by the set of beliefs you currently or will come to hold, both conscious and subconscious.

Stephen Covey, well known organizational consultant has said that all things(including companies) are created twice. Our normal, healthy minds craft a vision of what we want to achieve first, and only secondly we are motivated, or inspired to move forward on those thoughts, or to choose another direction.

If we can accept that what we believe is ultimately and always expressed in the actions we choose to take or avoid, then, as entrepreneurs, we can re-trace that logic backwards to help us identify and nuture the beliefs that support our success and then change, minimize or eliminate those beliefs that do not contribute to our vision of success.

A most difficult exercise for any entrepreneur is to discover for themselves, the specific and particularly significant beliefs that will have the greatest effect on the evolution of their companies.

Two of those beliefs that I have personally experienced with dozens of entrepreneurs are:
1) a glaring misunderstanding of the very real differences between organizational growth and
organizational development. The belief is that there is no difference, which frequently leads
to problems that can affect your company's viability, and
2) a phenomenon I've labled Entrepreneurial Arrogance. This is the belief that because
you, as an entrepreneur had the courage and diligence to start a company, you also
believe your own opinions are the best when it comes to making decisions on how the
company should operate.

These two critical beliefs, if they are part of your knowledge base have, in my experience, led entrepreneurs into cash flow problems, poor decisions on personnel selection, the arise and support of the concept of "things slipping through the cracks", bad meeting management, lack of adequate work process standardization...and I could go on.

Let's explore beliefs a bit deeper and the two concepts I've described in the next post.

And if you haven not read "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Dr. Stephen Covey,
you're neglecting your own entrepreneurial development.