The Dangerous Story Founders Tell Themselves About Success
By Cheryl Powers
Most business owners explain success through effort. The real story is often far more complicated and far more useful.
Timing is one of the most powerful forces in business and one of the least acknowledged.
Not simply because founders often don't see it. But because acknowledging it threatens the story you most want to believe about yourself. Success feels better when it appears fully earned. It reinforces the idea that outcomes were the direct result of intelligence, discip...
You Get Luckier When the Business Stops Bleeding in Places You Don’t See
By Cheryl Powers
Founders talk about luck as if it comes from outside the business. In reality, a surprising amount of luck is built from the inside through cleaner systems, better people, tighter priorities, stronger margins, and fewer invisible leaks in cash flow, compliance, and execution.
Luck Doesn't Just Arrive as Opportunity
A lot of owners say they want to get lucky.
What they usually mean is that they want the right customer, the right hire, the right buyer, the right market window,...
Hard Work Becomes Dangerous When It Turns Into the Only Explanation
By Cheryl Powers
Hard work is one of the easiest things for founders to overcredit because it's one of the few things they know with certainty was real.
They remember the long hours they spent building the business. The payroll stress. The customer problems they absorbed before anyone else saw them. The quarters they held together through force of will. The years they carried too much because no one else was ready to.
That part is real. Which is exactly why it becomes dangerous.
The probl...
