A critical step in building the future valuation of your company for a successful exit event
Ask yourself this question - who I do have in my network of family, friends and colleagues that helps me keep my strategic level of thinking from getting stale?
It makes sense that over time our network becomes filled with individuals we enjoy being with as we share common interests and even values. But it also makes sense that this network could mean we have surrounded ourselves with a network of like-minded individuals, those who drink from the same Kool-aid so to speak as we do, and this is where the cognitive rut resides. It’s in this rut where can hold ourselves back personally and professionally and it can certainly impede building the long term net worth of our company as our historically innovative and fresh thinking may be getting stale.
It’s called a cognitive rut because no one within our network is challenging our thinking anymore or helping us vet issues and opportunities with fresh new thinking. Being in a cognitive rut means we don’t have people in our lives who will:
- Ask us questions but frame them in insightful ways that enable or even force us to think differently
- Be willing to discuss our questions and tell us what they truly believe and not just what we might want to hear
If you’re already in a cognitive rut or want to ensure you never are, here are options to consider:
- Stay within your current network but reinvigorate the dialog by infusing new topics you’re discussing. In other words, freshen the dialog with new topics. Maybe it’s the topics that need refreshing more than the network.
- Expand your network to include individuals that can help you generate new thinking and help you challenge paradigms and perspectives that could be holding you back. Join an area Think Tank group, connect with a local University that conducts research in your industry or join a business owner group.
- Review the books, articles, podcasts, blog posts, etc., that you’re following to determine if they are stale or too like-minded with your own and complement them with new sources that might provide you alternative ideas.
Avoiding a cognitive rut is a gift we owe ourselves personally and professionally. And for those company owners that one day want to achieve their personal euphoric exit event, avoiding the cognitive rut will pay handsome dividends when the acquirer sees the innovative, strategic business you’ve built and that they can now benefit from. Preparing for your future euphoric exit event requires you take many key steps years prior to selling your business and having the right network around you today that helps keep your thinking fresh is one of these key steps.
