I do a lot of my thinking whilst writing, often trying to develop Points of View (PoV) on a topic. When I write a PoV where I have enough conviction on the direction, each point and the outcome, I generally look to invest, start, change, or just act accordingly.
This PoV drove such a change;
I have spent my life investing my time and money building value from companies
And whilst I have gained financial freedom from doing that, I discovered those investments, the companies, were a means to an end.
The end, it seems, was the value I got from working with good people along the way.
Hence, I am increasingly valuing my time with people who are solving interesting problems.
While there are numerous investment opportunities to spend my time on, I am choosing to spend time with people and problems where I feel I can add value to them
And, if I am to add value and there is a value exchange, I will be charging for any service. More on that here
This will be a service that I have wanted for myself my whole career.
I craved a mentor, a coach, a confidante, and a friend who actively understood what I did and why I did it.
Who could remain objective on the rollercoaster, catch me when I was acting fearful, listen with the pathos of experience, direct if necessary, and hold me accountable.
Over the years, I have had coaches, therapists and great mentors, but I never really found what I was looking for, possibly I was too busy to realise what I wanted.
In the busyness, you often don’t realise how lonely or burdensome it is as CEO / founder. Until you do!
And then it hits hard;
You can't confess to your board of directors or they'll lose faith in you, possibly fire you eventually,
You can't confess to your employees because they'll stop following your vision
Your co-founders and shareholders will lose trust in you, making any future fundraising harder
You're the one in charge. You took that on and it's an incredibly lonely job.
And all too often that loneliness can degrade into depression.
So I decided to design a service that I would have wanted. I have conversed, studied, researched and read, and whilst I have much to learn, I feel this is what I have been working towards.
A service that looks to ensure the CEO is focussed, empowered and enjoying the experience, to give all investors optimal return on capital.
A service that is active enough to understand the nuances of team dynamics, but abstracted enough to provide objective frameworks, coaching and advice so the CEO feels supported to drive optimal return for all parties.
A service I will call Active Mentoring.
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