Text: Brian OliverSmith

He laughed as he described throwing the guy across the bar because he kept bumping into him from behind. Then he laughed some more as he described the same guy walking over with two bouncers and having him escorted out of the bar. You see, the guy who kept “bumping into him” was the bar manager, trying to help clear glasses because they had 2 servers call in sick.

Was I going to take 9m from this guy? 

He was a blustering, insensitive moron who had zero emotional intelligence and didn’t match my values at all. My intuition was screaming at the top of its lungs, “Brian, walk away from this guy; capital is easy, building a company takes character, and investors are always partners, never silent.”  

Well, I was caught up in the New York moment and too busy being successful to listen to my intuition, so I took the capital. It was the most expensive mistake of a long and storied career and company.

Survey after survey I read on CEOs consistently shows that we struggle with “self-awareness.” 

We are so busy being successful, reading the journal, creatively innovating, etc., that the thought of slowing down enough to be aware of who we are, what are our core values, and why we are doing such and such can become overwhelmingly “woo-woo” and even if we start out meditating or walking and striving to “know oneself” these practices are the first to go when capital is tight, and MVP’s are underperforming.

Interestingly, there is an amazing ROI on intuition, and you are only going to be able to listen to and be aware of that little guiding “voice” of Intuition if you do have an increasing practice of self-awareness and self-knowledge. 

What's the problem with early-stage companies, and how to deal with it? 

We are going to spend a ton of time on this at CEO Performance Network for many reasons but primarily because 93% of early-stage companies fail in their first 1-5 years and do so mostly because of 2 reasons: 

1. Cash Flow  

2. Leadership issues. 

I would posit that all fall under reason number 2, Leadership. 

Why?  Because I can show you hundreds of examples of well-financed or cash-generating companies that still crash due to a lack of strong Leadership.

Well, all Leadership starts with “self-leadership.” Period.  No exception. And self-leadership demands a high amount of self-awareness and more just to get started.  If you have self-awareness, then you have a stronger chance of listening to your intuition.  You won’t take 9m from a moron. 

Here’s how Intuition drives such a strong ROI in a company:

• Culture is easy to discuss but hard to build. Intuition can help you determine between 2 excellent candidates who will be a better fit in your culture and with your talented team.
• Intuition will tell you that the investor saying all the right things but is a “bit off” is not worth the risk.
• Intuition can remind you to check with three outstanding clients on the new features you are considering adding versus only talking about the features with teammates.
• Intuition can sense that your top employee is “getting the bug” to start their own company in the future, and you need to have that conversation with them so you can groom and help them, as it helps your company.
• Intuition will tell you that the comment made by your new sales director is NOT something to let slide and is not in line with your company or values.
• Intuition will tell you that you may need to begin a “pivot” 3-6 months before the confirming data comes in.

Look, I’m not telling you to go buy a Yert to put up in the conference room and burn incense every time you need to make an important decision.

But I am telling you that the unseen and unspoken both between your ears and in your gut can be as, or more, informative than a ton of data. However, there is a giant “if” to that statement, and it is “if, and only if, you are self-aware, practicing self-leadership, and constantly striving to Know Thyself and Grow Thyself.

The ROI on Intuition comes forth when a teammate or partner, or client says, “that’s amazing that you sensed that; nice job.”

Get ready for a fun time of both “Know Thyself” and “Grow Thyself” at CEO Performance Network because our CEOs know that their leadership begins with self-leadership so everything they do to help themselves grow helps their company and teams grow.

Let’s go; let’s grow. 

To discuss this or how to build a more powerful life or business. Book a call here.

Brian