This first appeared on LinkedIn.
Nowadays, when I hear CXOs speaking of a ‘consumption pick up’, or a ‘bounce back’ or ‘green shoots’ or whatever, I see that mostly they are verbalising their opinions and hopes, not stating some objectively data-driven, empirically tested, statistically valid, provable prediction about the future.
The only reason the mainstream and social media, as well as their professional and personal connections, take them seriously is that somehow the layperson thinks (or rather, hopes) that they know something s/he doesn’t.
The truth is that nobody knows. And success and failure aren’t as pretty, predictable, or inevitable as they seem in hindsight.
We should all be careful that we don’t start being blind to data, and hence reality, that does not fit into our mental worldview, hopes, fears, and wishful thinking.
It is all right to believe ‘Aal izz well’ and to keep the faith in the face of daunting odds. In fact, that is a distinguishing character trait of an entrepreneur, a trait that can only be either a fatal flaw or the winning edge depending on whether or not the person succeeded (and was seen to have succeeded) eventually, with ‘eventually’ being this vague length of time that could be anywhere between 3 months to 300 years. Based on where you land up, you could either be an unhinged dreamer or an eccentric visionary, without much change in where and what you started with. No one will know until the future is already the present. In that sense, all success or failure are Schrödinger’s bitches…or cats, if you please.
That being said, it is not at all practical, nor desirable, to be a dreamer sitting with your head in the clouds, mistaking foolishly that what one wishes the future to be is how the future will be purely because one wishes it to be so and not because one has any control or hand in making it so.
So, ladies & gentlemen, to all the entrepreneurs on my list, here’s to all the dreamers/visionaries here: Do wish for a brighter, more vibrant, more interesting, more prosperous, more happy, more fruitful future worth looking forward to. But remember: It won’t come just because you think that’ll be a nice thing to have. Some things that you control, make them so that the future of your dreams is more probable. And some things you cannot, learn that your wishful thinking is not going to change that.
Have a great day!
