in Small Business
Issue No. 1 - July/August 2001
The Bright Ideas Man
Puffed out Entrepreneurs. Does this ring any bells?
It’s no secret that 90 % of CEOs and business owners (‘entrepreneurs’ by definition) are overworked and feel guilty about their own poor quality of life.
They worry about cash flow and competition, or what might go wrong in the corporate world next.
Honest entrepreneurs are often dangerously exposed in the critical areas of health, and personal and company finances. They frequently feel lonely, misunderstood, and burdened with too many details and roles.
The rest of us expect entrepreneurs to withstand the pressures of modern life as if they come with a ‘coping gene’ as a standard feature. If they fail we say they ‘couldn’t cut it’, or they ‘cracked under pressure’.
Entrepreneurs’ lives can go pear—shaped. No doubt you’ve heard about a business person who has had a heart attack; suffered a stroke; had a nervous breakdown; who has become aggressive at home; whose marriage has folded; who has dropped his or her guard and had ‘an affair’, or succumbed to the demon drink.
Some entrepreneurs develop pointless values. We all know people who measure their social status by the number of hours they work. I see them at weekend resorts supposedly holidaying with their families but spending the whole time on their mobile phone. Their children complain that they never see them. Their partners say they can never make them happy. Their employees moan that the boss is ‘driven’.
This has been the way of entrepreneurs since the dawn of time.
The Legend of the Fire Bringer™ is a tale from the dim past with a modern application. The New Entrepreneur Coaching Program weaves itself around The Legend of the Fire Bringer™ – Raminika, a young man of the distant past who sets out on a bold adventure to steal fire from the sun. He returns triumphantly to his village to be feted and known henceforth as Raminika the Fire Bringer™.
The story traces his progress at building a culture and bus...
