How Entrepreneurs Gain Wisdom and Strategic Thinking
I advocate having a “kitchen cabinet” of business resources, including a CPA, a business attorney, a business banker, a commercial insurance agent and a financial planner. Your informal advisors also should include other entrepreneurs, in your industry, in other industries and at different stages of the business life cycle. They can share what worked for them and some of their hard knocks.
Don’t let successful mentors discourage you. As I told an overwhelmed business owner last week, they didn’t emerge fully formed from the head of Zeus. You are seeing the results of many incremental steps, and from this vantage point, it may be hard to imagine the journey your mentor took.
That Zeus metaphor stuck in my head all weekend. I re-read the Greek myth of Athena - she is the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy. She sprang from the head of Zeus as a fully formed adult wearing armor and carrying a shield.
She is an apt metaphor for entrepreneurial skills – wisdom and strategy.
But you won’t spring out fully formed. So rely on your experts as you build your wisdom and strategy.
Provider of IT services to business from the help desk level through C-level forward planning. CIO and CISO services for startups and midlevel companies.
4 年It's also important to have knowledgeable IT support. This is to keep your data secure, and keep your systems functional.
CAROLINA ESTATE COUNSEL: A law firm based on Christian values, morals and ethics
4 年Might add an experienced Elder Law and Estate Planning Attorney to the mix. Poor planning and much of what you worked for might be lost.
Patent Attorney & Legal Counselor helping Emerging Companies located throughout the United States. If an engineer made a tangible thing better, it may be time to talk to an engineer like me about the patent options.
4 年I agree. The entrepreneurs that do well have the humility to know that they do not know everything, in fact, they may not even know what they do not know. Entrepreneurs with a good and giving nature have accumulated trusted contacts over time in different walks of life. Those contacts have contacts. Smart entrepreneurs get input from others. Sometimes that includes having a patent guy in their kitchen cabinet in addition to a smart business attorney.