A Common Thread Among Some Entrepreneurs
In my years of practice, I have seen companies, especially startups and new businesses, make several mistakes and errors that end up costing them in the long run. Whether the company failed to protect their marks or failed to have proper agreements with partners, vendors, or suppliers, the lessons are often harsh and have serious consequences. I can recount several instances where "great friends" decide to form a company only to end up arguing, fighting, and terminating the venture before they started. The culprit is a combination of over-valuing their own importance, as well as that of their unformed company. This bickering often occurs before the entrepreneurs have established a proof of concept or any data regarding the likelihood of success of their proposed products or services.
Most importantly, new entrepreneurs are often highly resistant to change, though they often lack the very experience, know-how, and hard fought life lessons that are instrumental and necessary to better understand the consequences of the decisions they make and the approach they take. To this day, I always listen more than I speak when my mentors and colleagues are offering important suggestions, lessons, experiences, successes, and failures with me.
As Ernest Hemingway eloquently wrote "When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen ... nor do they observe."