Don't be an "Enron" Owner

I was doing a project for a small business once and the owner said, It's nice just to have someone to bounce ideas off of. Folks who have a steady job or work for large organizations surrounded by lots of smart colleagues may not understand how lonely it can be running a small business. You have these 10 or 20 or 50 employees who are counting on you to keep the momentum going and you have to be the expert in everything from finding the customers, to servicing them, to all the back of the house functions like finance, HR, safety and marketing. 

Success for these small business owners so often is expanded by or limited by whom they choose to surround themselves. I once called on a prospect who told me in no uncertain terms that he was not going to have any outsiders looking at or involved with his business. I understand he was protecting his cash by shunning consultants and people who sell business services. There are lots of us out there and you can't engage everyone. The problem was, he wasn't large enough to have the internal expertise he needed to be successful and was simultaneously averse to engaging anyone who could help him. Not surprisingly, I was unable to find that business two years later.

While all business owners feel pressure to become knowledgable in several functional areas, some of these owners, like the owner above, actually convince themselves that they are experts in everything. Every consultant or B2B sales rep has run across that owner that knows more about taxes than their CPA, knows more about the law than their attorney, and they are smarter than every consultant, coach or rep in every specialty field out there. I call these Enron Owners, a reference to the documentary film about the fall of Enron which was titled, The Smartest Guys in the Room. 

Thankfully, Enron Owners are in the minority. Most small business owners are simply trying to find those 2-4 key advisors from whom they can get wise counsel. They're looking for people who have experienced what they are going through or about to go through and can help them navigate the rapids along the river that leads them from where they are to where they want to be. They're not looking for people to tell them what to do. They're looking for people to appropriately affirm what they're doing when it's right or challenge their thinking when there may be better alternatives.

The partners of The Davidson Group fill this role for many of our clients. Yes, some just hire us to write an employee handbook or teach a training class, but many of our clients are happy to have someone to bounce ideas off of relative to their workforce strategies. We've been there and done that and can generally help them avoid hitting rocks such as a significant compliance risk or making a management move that may cripple their employee engagement levels.

The important thing for small business owners is to avoid isolating themselves and becoming overly dependent on their own skill and knowledge set. They should find a few key partners they can trust and be willing to listen.