Digging a Hole

There is an old saying that when you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you need to do to get out of the hole is to stop digging. I laugh at this now because I think about what that really means in the context of CEOs who just can't admit when they went the wrong direction. They just keep digging. Bankruptcy can be looking right at them, but they just keep digging.

In this case, digging means being right matters far more than being solvent. Ego above everything! That to prove something to the world, you have to end up destroying the very thing you wanted to create in the first place. It's where some use the term, "Creating your own reality."

Success can often be very binary if you strip the emotion out of it. As an example, a market may be growing or shrinking. That's binary. Yet, some CEOs are oblivious to a shrinking market and hang on way too long. There were a few buggy whip companies that probably hung on.

Stop digging!

In my entire professional career, I've rooted for the success of others. It didn't matter if we were friends or not, I'm just not one to wish bad things on others. I've been very generous with advice over the years and will gladly talk to any entrepreneur who asks for help. It's a part of the fun. Naturally, I'd like to see that guidance followed and for them to become a success as it helps us both, right? Yet, there are some out there who have been given great advice, advice they disagreed with at the time, which is okay with me, it's just a disagreement, only to have that same individual