The Failing Image of Success in Entrepreneurs

It is all about image? Is it about having that attitude of success? Is it for the good of your peers, employees, customers, and investors?

Let me back up a step with this observation:

Many young entrepreneurs (that I admire), seem to put on an external image of success even thought it later turns out that their business isn’t doing so great during that period of time.

Why does this happen? Are we afraid of failure? Of showing weakness? Failure can sometimes be a positive thing, so why do we do everything in our power to sweep it underneath the rug and we don’t even share it with some of the closest people in our lives?

To be honest, I have been guilty of this myself. There have been times over the last couple of years, where things weren’t going all that great, yet I made sure to keep on smiling and showing off a positive attitude. So why did I do it? I don’t think it was to help me internally. Sure being positive is great, but I didn’t benefit from covering up my true emotions. On the contrary, I actually felt significantly better when I shared some of the negative things that were happening in my life with others.

Does it have something to do with age? Out of the cases that I have observed (including my own), the entrepreneurs were relatively young. Do veteran entrepreneurs embrace failure? As young, confident, and ambitious people are we worried about the hit that our ego will take if we reveal any sign of weakness?

Regardless of why it happens, I know that the result can’t be good. While I understand some of the motives, it is discouraging to see hidden emotions in the entrepreneurial community. I believe that by being more open, we can be more supportive to each other, helping one another through the rough times, and creating an environment that is more welcoming for those aren’t as strong.

Some of closest mentors have revealed to me after the fact that they were dealing with some pretty difficult situations, even thought I would have never known by the way that they appeared and acted. As a result, I’ve decided to write this post and ask them why they believe this trend is happening and what (if anything) should we do to change things around. I’m meeting with a few people in the coming week to discuss this topic, but I would love to get some discussion going in the comments.

  • http://twitter.com/_anoop Anoop

    Failure often adds to credibility. It’s hard to accuse someone of being arrogant or fake if they’re very open about their setbacks. Everyone likes an underdog.

    As the saying goes: Fail fast, fail often

  • Alex

    @Anoop Does it really build credibility? Aren’t investors reluctant to invest in people with a failing record? The media likes underdogs but what about the people that we work with daily? Why is it hard to preach what we say?
    (Just playing Devil’s Advocate…)

  • http://www.wdca.ca jay

    I see no benefit in saying your failures while they’re happening. Having people want to do what we’re doing is highly motivational demotivational towards getting out of the gutter.

    I’ve been there before. After you’ve solved your issue(s), there is definitely a benefit to reflect and boast about how well you recovered… but then I guess that would be boasting about an achievement as well.

  • http://www.wdca.ca jay

    woops just noticed the typo I meant to say **highly demotivational

  • Minna

    I think you are asking two questions – should they speak about difficulties and are they afraid of showing failure? They are two separate situations. I want to say that facing a difficult challenge doesn’t mean it will inevitably lead to a failure. So it is not necessarily that they are afraid of speaking about their difficulties, it is that they are not down for the count yet. Also for companies with employees, it is not good for moral for the employees if the CEO has not had the courage to disclose this company-wide. With regard to failure, well this is why Silicon Valley has the ability to innovate as it does, it embraces failure. It treats it like a badge of honor but you can’t always blame the culture, the person too has to acknowledge the failure was a great learning experience otherwise they won’t learn from it. Perhaps it might come with age too when we are bored of posturing and who cares if people can see us completely exposed. 🙂

    Here is a great article from a entrepreneur turned VC about this http://ow.ly/wLiX

  • Mike

    Great post Alex!

    Entrepreneurship, though it is very rewarding, is never an easy journey. There are so many times as entrepreneurs that we are tested, that we think we should quit, that we are told by others that we have failed and we should quit. And for those reasons many entrepreneurs do quit.

    But when I look at my mentors and other entrepreneurs that have succeeded, they have all faced very tough and challenging times. And though many people told them they should quit, they persevered and continued to pursue their dreams and vision. Similar to what Jack Welch mentions in his book Winning (I don’t have the exact quote in front of me), they were realistic and saw the challenges that existed, but they also all had unwavering faith that were going to succeed in the future.

    My mentors didn’t keep these challenges to themselves. However, just like sharing personal goals and dreams, they were careful over who they shared their challenges with. They carefully chose “solution-focused” people, rather than people who would normally just focus and dwell on the problems and negative issues. They had business partners, a close friends, mastermind groups, or someone at home who they trusted, could go to, and candidly share their challenges with and figure out ways to overcome them. So it may appear that they were hiding their failures or perhaps putting on an image, but rather they were selective over who they shared their challenges with and actively working on overcoming their challenges.

    What I also learned from my mentors was that they had no concept of failure, but rather lessons that made them wiser, stronger, and better entrepreneurs. Veteran entrepreneurs don’t embrace failure they learn from it and more importantly they adapt.

    As one of my mentors often tells me when I’m down on myself, “why focus on the mistakes you’ve made, when you can focus on the vast amount of opportunity that surrounds us everyday?”

  • Alex

    @Minna – Thanks for your response and questions. I believe that the question that I am referring to has to do with entrepreneurs putting up a “screen” of success even thought things aren’t going as well. You describe it as showing failure.

    Someone just sent me a note that said: “I’ve heard from an entrepreneur that things are always “good” .. never “great” nor “bad”..”