To Succeed More In Your Business Or Career, Get Rid of This Thing!
By Anubhav Srivastava ( Register for his Workshop – Build Super Confidence For Super Success!)
Most employees and even many established companies need to get rid of a mentality that holds them back immensely. Most employees subscribe to this mentality by default, which is why they seek out stable corporate jobs. But what is said is that many established companies have over a period of time adopted and encouraged a culture which pretty much subscribes to this sort of mentality.
Employees think, they are entitled to this sort of mentality because they are employed by a big business. Many Big Businesses think that they are entitled to have this sort of mentality because, well, they are BIG and nothing can hurt them now!
The saddest part, however, is that even many new businesses that have raised millions of dollars in funding think they have already made it big and act like a big corporation before they have made a single dollar in profit.
They have swanky offices in the most expensive of areas. Most of their top executives are handsomely compensated (from the investment money, not the revenue) and they all fly first class. Unsurprisingly, almost all of these new companies go out of business shortly thereafter.
You maybe wondering what sort of mentality I am talking about that is SO important to get rid of if you want your career to thrive or to make your business survive. Well, here is the what you need to get rid off – A Corporate Mentality. You need to adopt a startup mentality instead, even if you are a big, well established business or a senior executive.
At the most basic level the difference between a Corporate Mentality and a Startup mentality is the difference between babysitting for someone else’s baby versus taking care of your own baby that you created or adopted.
It’s the difference between taking care of a baby for a few hours versus imagining an entire future where your baby has grown up and you achieve all of your dreams through your child.
It is the difference between getting paid for what you do and leaving versus caring about something intensely even if you were paid very little or nothing at all.
If you are a corporate executive, happy with your corporate mentality, doing just enough so that you are not fired, you may make regular money for now but you will slow down your progress tremendously and will never get to the top. And when recession hits, you will be the one of the first ones to be showed the exit door.
If you are a big business or a small business that has become too comfortable, your good times may last now, but as soon as the economy experiences a downturn, or some major unexpected event happens, things will get uncomfortable very quickly. And if something new or more innovative is created by a hungrier competitor, you are at a risk of going obsolete very very fast. Just like Apple almost killed Blackberry and Nokia.
If you are a new business that has been heavily funded by an investor and you have already adopted the corporate mentality, you are screwed from the beginning. You are not going to make it. Rewards are enjoyed after you have won the game, not when you are still trying to learn it. Besides, if you are acting like a big hot shot off the money meant to fund your company and not actual profit your company makes, that’s like cutting off your arm and fulfilling your caloric needs by eating it.
A startup mentality fuels innovation because most genuine startups are hungry. They are fighting for their very survival. They are up against huge rivals so in order to take them down, their attitudes and strategies are completely different. They have the burning desire and the enthusiasm to make their mark. It’s true that many of them fail for a variety of reasons, but amongst them, a few go on to disrupt industries or even kill old industries and create new ones all together.
Strategies on how to act like a Startup:
(For Employees)
1 ) Stop acting like a babysitter, treat it as your own baby. Stop thinking about the job as something you need to do 9 to 5. Consider taking care of the business your responsibility, just like you would take care of your own child.
2) Do things that are good for the business instead of doing things that make you look important (Flying first class/ having a swanky office, pointless meetings that make you feel like an authority figure but serve no value)
3) Become an indispensable employee – Become so important for your organization’s bottom line that you become their money maker. Take on all the important responsibilities that your important for your organization’s profits that they are left with no choice but to reward you handsomely or risk losing you to a competitor. This also pretty much ensures you are going to be safe if things take downturn and most employees are fired. They will not be letting you go unless they die, because frankly, they need you to survive.
4) Give more than what you get and eventually you will get back more than what you gave.. In the worst case scenario, even if your company closes down, you will have become so skilled at your job that you will be an invaluable asset for any organization and can get a deserving job easily.
Strategies For Companies or Business Owners
1) Hire people who think like entrepreneurs They don’t necessarily need to be the best skilled but they need to be the most enthusiastic and truly care about your vision and purpose.
2) Have the courage to admit when you are wrong and hire people that have the courage to tell you when you are wrong. They are the ones that will save your company. Having sycophants around feels good, until it ruins you.
3) Stay Paranoid, in a good way. Educate yourself on all the trends around your industry as well as future predictions that can disrupt your industry and ruin your business. Then adapt and adjust.
4) Always always always keep trying to get better and never get too comfortable. The wisest person is the one who knows he knows nothing. The greatest business innovators are the ones that have the eagerness and curiosity of a beginner (startup) even when they have become a huge company.
When Steve Jobs was kicked out of Apple, the company lost its edge and began acting in a typical corporate way and stopped being innovative. That is what brought it near bankruptcy. When Steve Jobs came back, they re-adopted the mentality of a beginner and focused on innovation and customer experience above everything else. That one shift in thinking is what made Apple worth hundreds of billions of dollars today and they are going keep growing till they lose the edge and someone hungrier comes along!
About the Author
The author of this article, Anubhav Srivastava is an author, motivational speaker and the director of Carve Your Destiny, a first of its kind inspirational documentary featuring some of the most famous personalities from diverse fields, who teach the viewers how they too can make all of their dreams come true. The movie itself has been seen on Youtube by almost 1.5 Million people. Anubhav has also been featured in numerous International and India Media outlets such as BBC , The Times of India, Hindustan Times, Rediff.com, Leicester Mercury and many others.
Email Anubhav Srivastava for coaching, consulting or motivational speaking queries at anubhav101@gmail.com. Facebook Profile: http://facebook.com/anubhav981
Watch Carve Your Destiny, the super inspirational movie by Anubhav Srivastava for Free at