Sometimes, entrepreneurship is an art, or maybe a science, but at times it’s just a matter of being gutsy enough. During some difficult times, running a new endeavor can get really tough. Especially during these times of economic downturn, you get out of bed with the feeling that things might get really bad.
About a week ago, I had a very comprehensive conversation with Santiago, one of my teammates. We were discussing something that has been making our heads spin: Crisis management. We were not just talking about economic downturn, but about crisis in a broad sense. I mean, there is a whole range of different types of crises, from the global markets crisis to a simple but very annoying company leadership crisis.
At some point during the conversation, we defined that being in a crisis could feel like driving a car that is going straight to hit a wall and has no other future than being reduced to a piece of junk. Then again, crisis is not the act of crashing but the period of time before that, when adrenaline takes over your bloodstream and you start making your last prayers.
Our last question before cutting the chat and going back to work was: what is the right thing to do when you’re about to hit a wall? Pull the handbrake? Skid?
Last night, when I was about to start reading before bedtime, I remembered a very cool scene from one of my favorite SciFi movies of all time: Back to the Future. In the scene, Doc Brown tells Marty McFly something like “if my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you’re gonna see some serious shit”. Watch for yourself.
Oh, my goodness, that’s what being an entrepreneur in the middle of a crisis feels like!
Why?
- You feel like a damn freak going out of your mind. You engage in the kind of projects naysayers love. Very few people actually believe you’re going to make it.
- You feel like you’re driving mindblowingly fast. The world seems to be too slow. You’re confident that your machine is going to make it.
- You know that if something goes wrong, you’re going to be blown to pieces.
- You trust your calculations and hunches.
- You’re gutsy enough.
- You don’t pull the brake.
- You don’t skid.
- You just think about going 88 miles per hour, no matter what.
(Here, I think, is where an entrepreneur really steps up.)
So, what’s the answer to the question about the right thing to do when you’re about to hit a wall?
Full throttle until you hit 88 miles per hour!!!
Remember that entrepreneurship is a matter of science (or SciFi if you don’t mind), but also a matter of guts. An entrepreneur is a person who is familiar with the concept of crisis because every day, their future is in jeopardy. If you’re going through bad times, don’t forget to keep accelerating until the gauge reads 88. God knows where you’ll end up.
love this article great spirit. we need it in the music industry.
also…check out my ventures and musica if you have time!
http://www.trueAnthem.com/melissarapp
http://www.melissarapp.com
The more you look at the wall, the greater the probability you will actually make an impression on it – so what sets entrepreneurs apart? It’s their ability to imagine the world beyond (the wall, of course) and place a risky bet on their vision. They don’t try to avoid the wall (they wouldn’t be entrepreneurs if they did) – because after all they know the three possible outcomes: disaster, a big hole and partly wrecked car or – they might find themselves at the time and place they were (more or less) aiming for. In Doc’s words – they’ll find out what serious shit is.
[...] y puntos de vista pueden ser encontrados en: Lo que hacemos o haremos para enfrentar la crisis Neverland Make it 88 miles per hour Berzma Qué hacer para enfrentar la crisis Bachueco ¿Ahora que hago? Ponchorama Como Enfrentar la [...]
It´s a really great apprenticeship in words of a natural born entrepreneur, specially when it´s at this crisis point where leadership turns to be the most important element to find the right actions to take in order to keep accelerating until you hit 88 miles per hour.
Keep accelerating no matter naysayers, shifting emotions, or even the wall is almost there. That`s what makes innovative teams have the capacity to undertake innovative actions while accepting the associated risks.
This kind of entrepreneurship makes our economy develop by finding opportunities that goes trough the wall even in times of crisis. So please keep in mind using plutonium in a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of power it requires your DeLorean DMC-12 upon reaching 88 miles per hour!!!
[...] Neverland Make it 88 miles per hour [...]
[...] Neverland Make it 88 miles per hour [...]