When you are building a company, you must believe there is an answer and you cannot pay attention to your odds of finding it. You just have to find it. It matters not whether your chances are nine in ten or one in a thousand; your task is the same. If people ask, "What's the secret to being a successful CEO?", there's one skill that stands out:
It's the ability to focus and make the best move when there are no good moves. It's the moments where you feel most like hiding or dying that you can make the biggest differences as a CEO.
I follow the first principle of Bushido - the way of the warrior: keep death in mind at all times. If a warrior keeps death in mind at all times and lives as though each day might be his last, he will conduct himself properly in all his actions. Similarly, if a CEO keeps the following lessons in mind, she will maintain the proper focus when hiring, training, and building her culture.
The Struggle
Every entrepreneu starts her company with a clear vision for success. You will create an amazing environment and hire the smartest people to join you. Together you will build a beautiful product that delights customers and makes the world jusst a little bit better. Then, after working night and day to make your vision a reality, you wake up to find that things did not go as planned. Your product has issues that will be very hard to fix. The market isn't quite where it was supposed to be. Your employees are losing confidence and some of them have quit. Some of the ones who quit were quite smart and have the remaining ones wondering if staying makes sense. You are running low on cash. You lose a loyal customer. You lose a great employee. The walls start closing in. Where did you go wrong? Why didn't your company perform as envisioned? Are you good enough to do this?
The struggle is when you wonder why you started the company in the first place.
The struggle is when people ask you why you don't quit and you don't know the answer.
The struggle is when your employees think you are lying and you think they may be right.
The struggle is when you don't believe you should be CEO of your company - and when you know that you are over your head and you know that you cannot be replaced.
The struggle is when self doubt becomes self hatred.
The struggle is when you are having a conversation with someone and you can't hear a word that they are saying because all you can hear is the struggle.
The struggle is when you're unhappy.
The struggle is when you go on vacation to feel better and you feel worse.
The struggle is when you are surrounded by. people and you are all alone.
The struggle is the land of broken promises and crushed dreams.
The struggle is not failure, but it causes failure. Especially if you are weak. Always if you are weak. Most people are not strong enough.
Every great entrepreneur from Steve Jobs to Mark Zuckerberg went through the struggle, so you are not alone. But that does not mean that you will make it. You may not make it. That is why it is the struggle. The struggle is where greatness comes from.
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