We were a
few weeks away from completing two years of hard work, celebrating our
graduation and starting a new chapter in our careers. It’s a time when hopes
are high, confidence is up the roof and students look forward to pushing the
frontiers of their career development, with what they earned.
Some pursue
career changes or growth in the corporate world; others consider starting up
businesses, depending on their aspirations and risk appetites. Entrepreneurs
consider starting up businesses for various distinct reasons. Some of them like
the notion of independence and autonomy.
Others find happiness in the
knowledge, experience and reward that come from leading new endeavors and
pursuing new challenges. And a special few graduates startup businesses, because
they are bored from what they do or hate the company they work for, hence they
seek a change…to these few, being bored
from what you do or hating the company you work for is not a success factor in
a business startup!
Like most
MBA graduates, I had enough reasons to justify my business pursuit, so I
planned for it and met my manager to request for a one year sabbatical to startup
a company, go through the business experience and utilize the capabilities I
developed and knowledge I acquired deliver value and realize gain. He was
tolerant, wise and savvy enough, not to carelessly turn down my request, before
he understood my motives. His attitude surged the level of my comfort and ease,
which gave me a fair chance to reconsider my idea and business plan, objectively.
He asked me about the nature of business I’m considering, its prospects, my
strategy to capture market share, its enablers and my readiness. I shared my market
findings, value preposition, prospect clients and an outline to my business
model for delivery. I felt enthusiastic, confident and persuasive, until he
asked me why I didn’t resign.
Hmmm…A sensible question that led to a moment of
truth!…Given, the sabbatical’s relatively short duration to resolve start-up
and growth challenges, I think I’m trying to limit my business exposure, by
securing my current position. In other words, I’m preparing the option of
treating my business threats and managing my startup issues, by aborting the
endeavor. Why am I doing this? How hard will I work to make it successful,
knowing that I’m safe and secure if it fails? This is as awkward as preparing my
divorce plan, as I write my vows! How dedicated, trustworthy and sincere can I
be to this relationship?!
Certainly, the
meeting was insightful and instigated a second level of thoughts that I needed
to digest, reflect upon and consider in my business plan. I was skeptical about
the limits of my business agility, strategies for growth, business continuity
and sustainability plans. Clearly, I needed to focus my thoughts on the business
life cycle as a whole and plan for the business maturity and development stages,
to avoid systematic decline. I needed to think deeper about what protects my
company’s competitive edge, what retains early adopters and majorities from
market entry and what keeps the market leaders from integrating similar services/
products to their offerings and developing them faster than I can, leveraging
on their market shares and unlimited resources.
Theoretically,
the answers to these questions are straight forward. Yet,
understanding the different enablers and their correlations in every phase of
the business life cycle, studying the economies of transition from one phase to
another and planning resources accordingly are what, practically, make the
difference between winning and losing. We all know that it takes more time to
turn an oil tanker than to turn a fishing boat. However, knowing the resources
and time needed to make the turn and understanding how variables correlate with
the vessels’ loads is what makes a good captain do the right thing at the right
time. Building on that, it was safe to conclude that maybe my vision, business
plan and first couple of deals were enough to secure success of the my
company’s start-up and growth phases, but probably not sufficient to take it further
than that.
Accepting
the truth, helped me understand where I stand and put things in the right
perspective. The way schools and people talk about MBA, makes students and
candidates believe that graduation is an achievement that entitles degree
holders for a better life. But the real achievement is using what we learn to
come up with innovative ideas and incubate them long enough to be successful
and useful.
Ahmed Sharawy is a Risk Management Specialist, MBA 2013
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