Forget what I said before, your business is awesome. There is a trait shared by nearly every business that I have come into contact with as a consultant, and even in most of the roles that I held working for companies in the past, and it’s this: you want me to tell you that your business is awesome.
On one hand, I get it: your company = your baby. This is something into which you have poured your blood sweat and tears, based on your vision. You want me to share your vision, and I can, and I do.
What I do not share (and this is what lies directly between your business and its best chance for success) is the fact that (based on how you react to criticism and suggestions for improvements) for you, criticism of your execution equates to criticism of your vision.
As long as you are unable to separate the two in your mind, you will continue to want people to tell you what you want to hear: Your business is awesome.
And as long as you believe that your business is awesome, your mind will be closed to the improvements that you could make that would truly make your business awesome in actuality, rather than awesome based only on your intentions (your vision).
Do you see the difference?
You are smack dab in the middle of your own way.
The vision of your business – the good that you want to do in the world and in the lives of your customers – is likely awesome and from that standpoint, so is the intent of your business. But to fulfill your vision will ultimately require that you are able to separate the esteem in which you hold this vision from the way that you analyze and view the ways in which you are trying to achieve it.
How your business will become awesome isn’t equivalent to your vision statement. Rather, it’s entirely embodied in the strategies and tactics that you undertake in order to achieve it.
The next time a consultant or even an employee tells you something about the tactics and strategies you have in place that aren’t working, or which need to be put into place, don’t view it as an attack on the awesome-ness of the vision that you have for your business. Instead, embrace constructive criticism from customers, consultants, vendors and your employees—because the truths these individuals care enough to share with you can become the catalyst by which you attain the awesome vision you have for your business.
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