From Executive to Entrepreneur?
by Barbara Reinhold
DEAR COACH: I'm in an old rut, and I can't seem to get out of it. I have lots of friends at work, but I'm afraid I'm not taken very seriously. I've been with my company as a senior customer service manager for four years, and before that I was with a nonprofit for about seven years heading up its community relations initiatives. I have a master's in public administration and would like to move into a real leadership role in this company, but I'm afraid I'm seen as a people person rather than as a businessperson, in part because of having an MPA instead of an MBA. I'm not sure why I chose that degree or why I always end up in situations where I'm supposed to make people feel good. Part of me really wants to get ahead and be successful. Can you help me figure out what my career is supposed to be about and why I don't seem to be getting there? Will I need to leave to be taken seriously?
BRAD
DEAR BRAD: There's no doubt about the fact that, even with the recent big splat on the sidewalk of some high-profile dotcoms, free agency is the way of the future and a terrific way to have real control over your career. If Ted does indeed have some good ideas, which you should vet very carefully, of course, then it might be a workable partnership. You'd bring the business head, and he'd bring the imagination. So as long as you found ways to work together, rather than at cross-purposes, you might be perfect complements to each other.
Investors are usually looking for a great idea, an impressive market analysis and plans to deliver, and then a solid management team. The heightened emphasis on management experience (a strength of yours) in startup organizations is somewhat new. The hard-won business acumen you would bring is what has been so often lacking in recently departed dotcoms.
From what you tell me about yourself and Ted, he could take responsibility for keeping your discussions yeasty, taking risks, thinking about ways out of ticklish situations and reinventing yourselves from time to time. In my forthcoming book about free agents, I refer to entrepreneurs like Ted as "imagineers." But to sustain success, imagineers always need reinforcement from people like you. They need help from professionals who have spent time in the trenches, wrestling with real business problems, staying on task and making disciplined choices. It's clear to me you'd probably be better off together than if either of you were to go it alone.
But of course, we have to deal with the underbelly of your reliability. That is your penchant for predictability. Face it: there isn't anyplace you can go in the 21st century to find the security you expected when you started your career. Your fear of ambiguity could keep you from making an important leap now, when fate has served up this opportunity for the second time in seven years. So the question is not whether executives can generally make the transition to entrepreneurship, but whether they can gather the courage to make careful plans and then actually start the trip. I don't take anxieties lightly, so I think it would be helpful to find yourself a counselor or coach to help you take this journey. It's incredibly comforting to have someone to whom you turn when things get terrifying (as they no doubt will) to help you keep a steady hand on the rudder.
Here are two quotes you might find inspiring at this critical juncture in your life and career:
"To venture causes anxiety. Not to venture is to lose oneself."
- Soren Kierkegaard, philosopher
"When the thumb of fear lifts, we are so alive."
- Mary Oliver, poet
Good luck, Brad.
It will be a great and timely adventure!
CAREER COACH
