Tag: small business

Further Scientific Evidence of the Entrepreneurial Bug


Over a month ago, in my post Your Boss: Value & Madness of an Entrepreneur I wrote about quirkiness and impatience of people who have brilliance to come up with original start-up ideas and guts to build a company from scratch – people who provide us, CFO's and Controllers, with new job opportunities beyond "Big Business." 

I also discussed how their peculiar and difficult qualities are the main source of our frustrations.  I called the sum of these character traits the Entrepreneurial Bug.

As if to support my point of view, September 18th issue of New York Times featured this article in their Business Day section – Just Manic Enough: Seeking Perfect Entrepreneurs by David Segal.  I highly recommend that everyone interested in the subject of entrepreneurship, start-ups and venture capital investment should read it. 

Of course, my own primary interest was the excursion into psychology of the indicators so characteristic of our bosses difficult behavior.  Needless to say, the article confirms that not every subject is afflicted with the entire spectrum of symptoms and displays them with the same intensity.  Nevertheless, the author clearly states that only "a thin line separates" an entrepreneur from a psychiatric candidate with a hypomanic syndrome.

One of the article's subjects, Seth Priebatsch, echoes my post from 08/19/2010, when he "describes anything that distracts him… even for minutes, as 'evil.'"  No surprise here – I've heard this before many-many times from various CEO's.  The difficulties of working with people like that on daily basis, especially for CFO's and Controllers, whose job is to keep businesses in order and under control, is basically one of the main themes of this blog.

Mr. Segal goes out of his way explaining that the degree of craziness is what matters: some Venture Capital firms give personality tests to their prospects in order to determine if they are not completely bonkers.  But I couldn't help myself thinking that these tests may be also designed to weed out people who are not crazy enough to be satisfactory material for future transition from idea generators into screw tighteners.

Strangely enough, the New York Times' confirmation that my extrapolation of personal experience dealing with business owners to the rest of the entrepreneurial world is completely justified, did not bring any intellectual satisfaction.  It's kind of discouraging that if you choose to build your career in dynamic growing businesses, you will always have to deal with bosses who cannot help themselves not to be assholes.  

Why Are Ex-Bosses Mad at Us?


Daruma People complain to me about not being able to get in touch with their old bosses.  This means they are talking about business owners. 

I have not heard of anybody having problems like that with their former supervisors from large companies.  After all, those people are subordinates of their own bosses too.  Unless you have spat into his coffee mug or slept with his wife, the two of you should still be on good terms.

It's a different story with Owners/CEOs.  Some may ask, why do you want to be in touch with them?  As the matter of fact, for many reasons.  I've already addressed the references issue (see my post from a month ago CFO's References Trap).  He (I am talking about an archetypal boss now) may have a networking connection you crave.  He may know someone you need to contact for your new business.  You liked his attorney and now you need one.

There could be a million reasons.  But you cannot reach him.  You emailed, you left messages with his assistant and/or wife, you tried to contact him via mutual relation…  No response!  And that fucking hurts! 

You have toiled 60-hours a week for him, you grew his business, you made him richer, you saved his ass from troubles numerous times.  Hey, you pulled him from the verge of bankruptcy and complete destruction!  Hell, it's his fault you are not his CFO/Controller anymore.  You are the one who should be mad at him!

And the funny things is – other people who worked there adore you.  They tell you how great and important you were to the entire company, how much they've learned from you.  Yet, the person who benefited the most from it, doesn't even want to acknowledge your existence.

Now, let's put emotions aside and think about it with our cool, rational financial minds.  There are obvious reasons for your ex-boss to be mad at you:

1.  You warned him about troubles that may befall his business and did your best trying to cover the risks, but he didn't listen to you.  Now, history proved you right.  Do you really expect him to talk to you and acknowledge that?

2.  Even before your ways parted, subconsciously he knew your were the smarter one.  Secretly he hated you for that.

3.  In his mind he expects to hear, "I told you so."  He has no clue that your decency would never let you do that.

4.  If he contracted and managed to save the smaller version of his business, in his head he probably blames your absence for his inability to grow back. 

5.  He had to hire three people to replace you and still they cannot keep up.  Whose fault is that?  Yours.

6.  And that secretary of his…  Well, let's not go there.

If any of these scenarios apply to your case, I guarantee, he will never talk to you, even if he needs you desperately.  He is the BOSS – he cannot put the ego aside the way we always do.     

Illustration to the Recurring Subject of CFO’s Many Hats


These are just the transformations the small-business financial execs experience on daily basis: from CFO to Policy Enforcer to Strategist to Forensics Pro to Computer Geek to Legal Authority. 

If you are interested to read more on the subject, please, go back to my very first two-part post:

CFO’s Many Hats: Etiology of Affliction, Part I.

CFO’s Many Hats:Etiology of Affliction, Part II.

Readers who have stories to share, as always, welcomed to contact me.

 

CFO (or Controller) Puts on Her Recruitment Hat


It is difficult to look for a job – I already talked about it several times and even have a "Job Search" category to keep the related posts in one place.  Every time I encounter information that may help job-hunting CFOs and Controllers, I make sure that it finds its way into this blog.

But what about my peers and myself who are in an active headhunter mode?  Truth: we dislike looking for people nearly as much as job-searching.  I guess, being a seeker is not as enjoyable to us as it is to Harry Potter.  

Pitching yourself to prospective employers and recruiters is nerve-straining.  Dealing with unfairness, randomness and subjectivity is frustrating.  Facing rejection is disheartening.  That's all true.  However, after each attempt you collect yourself, you move on.  

On the other hand, recruiting people who will work for you, who will carry out functions you delegate to them, but for which you are ultimately responsible, is not just an excruciatingly difficult and tedious work.  When that stage is over, you are not done -  this is just the start.  Now you have to ease the new hire into his functions, fill him with missing knowledge, perfect his ability to perform the tasks, i.e. develop your new staff member into an asset. 

Here is what frequently happens.  After spending your preciously scarce time looking through hundreds of resumes, interviewing candidates by the score, all you want is to get this damned recruitment issue off your agenda.  If you cave in and make a mistake of hiring a wrong person simply because you are tired of the process,  you will still go through the remaining steps without a chance of achieving the desirable result.   So, all that time will be completely wasted.  Moreover, it is damaging to the company, to your own success, to your staff's morale.  It leads to enormous amounts of the worst type of frustration – the one that's based on guilt.

Why do we end up falling into this trap?  If you are not a giant corporation that can afford to fill departments with bodies and let the most ambitious and talented ones to surface, every person you hire needs to be the best you can find.  And of course, you are somewhat handicapped by the fact that you are not a household name. 

Still, it is shocking really how difficult it is to find good candidates considering how many people are out there unemployed.  On one hand, it is a buyer's market, on the other hand, the shelves are stocked with generic products who are limited, unfocused, and dull. 

And I am actually very flexible.  I don't hold industry-specific experience in much regard.  I believe that it depends on a person, and not the school,  whether he is well educated or not.  What I am looking for is that spark in the eyes showing intelligence; the ability of systematic thinking; the foundation I can build on.  And that's hard to come by.   

Help!!! The frustration is chocking me!


Yes, frequently the frustration heats your blood up to the boiling point.  You can physically feel it: adrenaline rushes through your body, your air intakes come faster, your temples are throbbing.  You feel as if you are about to choke.  You want to scream, you want to destroy the obstacle, the cause!  You want to hit the roof!

But you cannot!  You are a Financial Executive – the CFO or the Controller of this company.  You have to control yourself.  There is no way you can throw your boss out of your office.  You can fire your inadequate employee on the spot, but that would mean spending months on search and training of someone new.  And the VP, who drives you insane with his inability to improve sales and at the very least to show up on time for the meeting, is your CEO's son.

So000, you have to control yourself in the face of these frustrating circumstances.  You have to present your most composed self on the outside and act constructively like a seasoned professional you are.  At the right moment you mention some urgent marketing matter that only your boss can resolve and he obediently runs out while being convinced that it was his idea in the first place. You calmly ask your employee to get off the Internet and start her on the project with recommendations for the best solutions.  You explain again to the VP of Sales why it is important to concentrate on distribution of more profitable, but not necessarily most expensive  products.  And next time, if you want to meet with him at 2 pm, you ask him to come at 1:30 pm. 

Well, that's all good for the business and your authority position, but it does not stop the chocking feeling, and the throbbing, and the anger.  As the matter of fact, the symptoms are getting worth, because you bottled that Molotov cocktail inside and it threatens to explode.

There is a need for release.  In my post on Tuesday, the 31st, I will share with you my few tricks.