Cant you see it?
I live, breath and sleep SecurityLab. It is my only focus these days and I am 100% committed to seeing it succeed. So it can be frustrating when trying to explain my vision of the company to others who don’t have the same level of dedication that I do. Sometimes I just want to shout “can’t you see it? its right there! open your eyes and take a step back.”
Of course the problem is usually not others but me and my ability to clearly explain my vision. So I am working on this. It has been a process and I think I’m getting better. The benefit is that even if someone doesn’t agree with my vision they can give me feedback on how to shape it and that has been helpful.
Sometimes people just don’t give a crap about my vision and are only concerned with how I can improve their financial situation. Initially this was upsetting to me, but I am working on this too. After all if my vision is great or if it sucks the bottom line is how do they benefit. So I am working on clearly explaining the benefits.
When I first came to Boston I worked at another security startup called CORE Security. They had and still have an amazing CEO named Paul Paget. Since the Boston office was small I had a chance to work closely with Paul. I was constantly amazed at his ability to lead the company and reinsure all of the employees that what we were doing was right, necessary and progressing the company’s vision. I eventually left the company but I learned from Paul that leadership positions at startups require so much more then number crunching. It requires the ability to constantly convince those around you to see the long term vision.
Perhaps my frustration is not from the lack of long term vision from some of those around me but the fact that I wasn’t able to convince them to see it. But I am relaxing and becoming content with the belief that some will see it and others will not. Thats just the nature of vision.