Your Gut Will Steer You Wrong

Okay okay - don’t shoot me.

But I’m telling you the truth.

Talk to all the business owners who’ve followed their gut and made the wrong decisions.

You don’t have a reliable instinct for business. And neither do I.

That doesn’t mean that your intuition doesn’t matter. It matters greatly.

Listening to what energizes you, what drains you, and what doesn’t feel right is a valuable exercise. 

Giving it weight is wise, because you want your business to align with who you are.

Going off of intuition alone, though, is like changing lanes without checking your blind spot. 

There could be a Ford F150’s worth of damage waiting for you in that blind spot.

I think the current guidance to stay within our zone of genius is making some false promises.

Yes, we want to spend as much time as possible in the center of our strengths.

But as business owners, we have to do a lot of things, and many of those things are very difficult.

Managing a team takes skill - and a lot of practice.

Managing your time as a CEO will require practices and habits you’ve never needed before.

Marketing yourself effectively requires a whole suite of skills - and naturally talented or not, you will need to learn them.

You’ll have to step outside of your current experience and perspectives.

Notice what your intuition is telling you. Ask good questions.

But then, check your blind spots. Get expert guidance. Look at the data. Pay attention to the weaknesses that live on the flip side of your strengths.

Running a business is an incredible privilege, and it’ll ask a lot of you. Your gut can only take you so far.