"Pride Will Have A Fall" - About The Risk Of Resting On One's Laurels And The Importance Of Accountability In Business
In general, pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes. - John Auskin
It's easy to get caught up in the experience and let success become a distraction, once your business starts to have the winds at your back. But you should know that pride is able to limit growth.
When things are going well and you have the sensation that your business is at the verge of taking over the world, then this is actually the point in time where you may keep pushing it like never before. Markets can change day-to-day, and if you're not self-aware, then this change may ruin everything.
Especially in crypto markets that are moving fast, it's risky to rest on one's laurels.
Why pride and empty promises are able to ruin your business.
Picture kindly provided by pixabay.com
Be accountable!
When you're an entrepreneur, then you will agree that we're oftentimes pulled in many different directions at the same time. In fact, after many days, you may find yourself thinking 'where the day went'.
That's why we need to assign priorities.
One of the biggest mistakes in business is that we stop focussing on our own priorities once we have the sensation that everything is forging ahead anyways. We start to rest on our laurels, because we're dazzled by the sweet taste of fortune.
Then the expense accounts are getting tapped, we start to celebrate ourselves and the passive income that's supposed to pour into our wallets while we bathe in champagne.
But pride goes before a fall.
Accountability is not something that you can pretend your way through.
Accountability breeds response-ability
As an entrepreneur you don't only need to be answerable to yourself but also to eventual partners and stakeholders that have an equitable interest in your business.
Being accountable means that you're able to provide answers to everybody at any time.
Accountability is an assurance that an individual or an organization are accountable for their activities, accept responsibility for them, and disclose the results in a transparent manner. Corporate accountability involves being answerable to all an organization's stakeholders for all actions and results. - Sources: whatls.com / businessdictionary.com
Getting back to the previously defined 'trap' of self-enhancement: What often happens to these young business owners is that they take their partners' and their customers' trust for granted.
They forget that their stakeholders didn't invest in champagne showers but in a company that was able to solve business problems. They forget that their customers are free market actors that are neither married to them nor bound by any other contract. They forget that they need to work their asses off every day and not just on Mondays.
A healthy corporate business requires an accountable leadership.
It requires an open communication, constructive debate, honest self-criticism and a clear forecast on realistic targets.
If you leave your stakeholders in the dark, then they'll leave you.
The next time before you sarcastically smile at the ones who feed you, think carefully about the possible consequences.
Cause pride will have a fall.
Much love -
Marly -
Thanks for your valuable time!
This blog was launched at the end of July 2016
aiming to provide stories for open-minded
people who enjoy living on the edge of their lives,
stepping out of comfort zones, going on adventure,
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Welcome to the too-much-energy-blog!
PS: Pride will have a fall, humility will rise.
Accountability is key! I truly believe you need others to help keep you more accountable. I’ve battled with this over the years and came to the conclusion that a great accountability partner can turn a daunting project into a fun and successful one! Thanks for the share! Resteem
Thank you very much for the kindness and support @brettcalloway!
I've read a couple of articles about accountability before writing this one here, and all of them said that most entrepreneurs - especially when they get started - struggle with accountability. Then they often seek advice from 'accountability partners' who help them in having a clear and unprejudiced view on their own doings. Obviously, both the self-managed and the team-playing way require a good portion of coolness. It's not always easy to face your own weaknesses and address them accordingly. It's furthermore not easy to be honest about your mistakes, but well that's how solid business works in the end :-)
Again, I'm happy you enjoyed the read in such way!
Have a great Sunday
You're reminding me of what happened when I had my first mid-6-figures year in my business and was able to qualify for a mortgage on a dream home. I don't think I was consciously being prideful at all, but I simply lost a lot of my drive for growing the business. I just wanted to enjoy living in the new home, and when problems occurred with my 2 biggest clients, I didn't feel a lot of incentive to even try to work them out. I was relaxing in a beautiful place of my own for the first time in my life, growing a garden, meeting new neighbors, learning to slow down. I had made so much money in the previous years, while working myself straight into the emergency room from nervous system exhaustion, that I felt like I deserved a break.
Problem is, dream homes come with big mortgage payments. And eventually you've got to replace the income from large clients who walk. I made a lot of decisions that made life more and more enjoyable over the last few years, while letting the money cards fall wherever they may.
Then about a year ago it became clear that this wasn't working. I then had to go back to working non-stop like right before I got this place, just to keep it. But this time, some years older and quite a bit wiser, I realized that going back wasn't the answer. I needed to move forward in a new way. So now I'm selling this dream home to someone who can more easily afford this dream, and recreating my dream someplace where I can afford to retire.
It's true that I've entered a life phase that isn't about ambition or building a business, but then I have to also make choices about where to live that are consistent with that. I think some of the folks who previously had a lot of energy for building something who have been "resting on their laurels" maybe do need a rest. They just need to restructure their lives to support that and go all in on what that means. Otherwise, despair!
Oh I love this comment, @indigoocean! Thank you so much for taking the time to comment in detail and provide us with such an interesting insight into your own life.
I like to say that life behaves in circles and waves. We have to navigate ourselves through ups and down, and oftentimes we find ourselves coming back to a point where we had been before - but under different circumstances. We're actually like a hurricane over the wide Ocean, doing circles but moving forward at high speed.
By the way, I'm one of these people who did need a rest - and completely restructured their lives.
I'm very happy you found your way into my blog, I'll be following yours now :-)
❤️
Accountability counts for all parts of life, if you take accountability for your actions and teach this your kids, then life will be a completely different experience. It's something I've always told my teams in hotels, 'that table is your responsibility, from the moment they sit down until the leave', the same for the quest checking in. This is how you create loyal customers by making your staff realise their responsibility but the ultimate accountability lies with you as departmental head.
Companies have to do this on all levels in their organisation and the same goes for steem(it). If you stagnate or stop listening to the people who made you 1 of 2 things will happen, 1 business stagnates and hopefully you realise in time and take remedial action or 2 business declines, customers complain and leave and this has a knock-on effect and you won't be able to recover anymore.
Great post!
Thank you very much for the insight, @wolfje. I think the hotel - where a good working service is one of the key assets - is a great example in that context. Working with customers always means to both have a thick skin and an incredibly kind attitude. It's there were you actually learn how to be 100% self-critical and humble.
Agreed. It's key to realize how important accountability is as long as you have the chance to demonstrate it. Customers and users are merciless - not because they're complicated characters, but because they know that their time is extraordinarily valuable. So if they can't spend it wisely at one place, they move on to another one.
Again, thanks for the great adding. I'm glad you stopped by :-)
Have a nice weekend!
Especially in the digital world we live in ... customers give their feedback left, right and center, so potentially millions of people see/read it!
You have a great weekend as well!
That's true! It's almost impossible to hide a thing. This is quite challenging for the one that offers, but also extraordinarily benefitial to the one that purchases :-)
I had a very nice weekend, thanks!!
enjoyed reading this! great work on this one @sufermarly 👍
Thank you so much! Hearing it from you means a lot @doitvoluntarily.
I hope you're enjoying a great weekend :-)
Good points taken, I know with your fresh and open thoughts, this never will be a problem for you! Both feed on the board and look every situation from different angles.
Thank you! Self-criticism is evident as well as these different angles you mention here. If one is not able to a step back and look at the own product from different perspectives, then we can always ask 'accountability partners' to help us.
Have a great day and #livelifetothefullest :-)
For you the same ! Thank you much.
Great post. You're right that whenever you start to feel "comfortable" and take your foot off the accelerator, the universe seems to have this amazing knack of slowly but surely taking away what you've achieved.... Until you realise that you've got to keep on keeping on!
I couldn't have said this any better, Steve!
It's risky to feel comfortable and believe that everything is going to be exactly as it has ever been.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing the same point of view :-)
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When i was at school i read a story with the moral lesson " Pride hath a fall". Since then i was injected in my mind through my environment that PRIDE is a Devil's slogan, you should have to avoid of it.
Off course accountability boosts the honesty and make the situation even ore clear.
Thank you so much for providing the wonderful blog to minimize this mental disorder, MARLY :)
Exactly, accountability is an honesty booster! :-) It makes us being more honest with ourselves and our doings. Success has a complicated character, it tends to make us blind once we have too much of it.
Self-perception and self-reflection are key not only in business but in life.
Enjoy your Sunday!
Beautiful Advise, Noted :) :)
Wow! This was exactly what I needed to read today. I started my business not long ago and is going great, but since is 100% online is really easy to stop focussing and forget our ‘true purpose’. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us! Have an Awesome Weekend😉
You're more than welcome! I thank YOU for stopping by @naturald and am really happy my article inspired you in such way. Have a great weekend, too!!
Accountability is very important if you want to be successful not just in business but also in life.
This is a great reminder of not to get into that comfort zone once you think you are on top.
Thanks @surfermarly
I couldn't have said this any better, @joalvarez! You're pretty right: this doesn't only apply for business but also for life in general. People tend to forget everything around them once they're at the top. But that's exactly the point when their true self is going to be revealed and they need to prove that they really deserve it in the long run.
Hope you're having a great weekend!