So you want to launch a business...

Who you know is what you know.

It's not what you know, it's who you know...  because who you know is what you know.

Jim Flowers just become a real fan of Karl Fisch.  Read what follows and you may, too.  Here's a excerpt from a recent post on Karl's blog.

As I was thinking about this the other day for some reason an old phrase popped into my head.

    It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.

Now, I’ve never really liked that phrase because it seemed to elevate connections over competence, but I’ve also always realized that there has been some truth in it (whether I liked it or not). But for some reason my brain connected it with my musings about an “elevator pitch” for PLNs, [personal learning networks] and what came out was:

    Who you know is what you know.

Let me be clear, I’m not saying that there’s no need to know things – we all still need to know quite a few things, and how to do quite a few things. But I think that phrase is increasingly becoming true, that who you know – your PLN – more and more defines what you “know” and are able to do.

If you have a well-developed, well-nurtured learning network, and you have the access and the skills necessary to utilize it, then you “know” more than someone who does not. You truly have the ability for “just in time” learning. You can reach out to your PLN with a question, with something you want to know more about, and they can help you learn about it. Even if someone in your network isn’t an “expert” on the topic, more than likely someone in your network knows someone who is.

Thank you, Karl, for this incredibly useful clarification.  It bears directly on something I recently blogged on Startup Professionals Musings.  Relationships are unbelievably powerful tools for entrepreneurs - and for the rest of us, too, of course.  Every relationship is a potential Mentor, someone from whom I can receive interpreted information - not instructions, mind you - but the information I need to make better decisions.

Karl echoes and amplifies what my friend and colleague Anne Clelland says in her Handshake 2.0 tag line, "It's still who you know!"

Success - Ten Traits Supporting Four Fundamental Factors

"Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship."

                                                                        - Peter Drucker

"I'm convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance."

                                                                        - Steve Jobs

"Success or failure of a new venture is determined very early, on the strength or weakness of only a few fundamental factors, four to be exact.  Those four factors are Moxie, Market, Magic, and Mentors."

                                                                        - Jim Flowers

Entrepreneurship definitely does not equal innovation, but they sure do complement each other in powerful ways.

Here are some behaviors/traits/skills that support innovation, according to Professors Jeff Dyer of Brigham Young University and Hal Gregersen of Insead...

• Associating - a cognitive skill that supports connections across seemingly unrelated questions, problems, or ideas.
• Questioning - an inclination to ask "what if", "why", and "why not" questions that challenge the status quo and open up the bigger picture.
• Observing - the propensity to closely observe details, particularly the details of people's behavior.
• Experimenting - regularly trying on new experiences and exploring new worlds.
• Networking - connecting with smart people who have little in common with them, but from whom they can learn.

These do not match up well with the various lists of entrepreneurial traits that pop up in online investigation of the topic.  Recurring themes in definitions of an entrepreneur include...

• Clarity - true entrepreneurs absolutely "know" where they are headed.
• Focus - successful entrepreneurs stay on task - period.
• Persistence - they refuse to give up. 
• Self-confidence - they never doubt their ability to succeed.
• Courage - they take risks that most others would not take.

These entrepreneurial traits may be applied to an innovative vision, to be sure.  Apple, for example, was both innovative and entrepreneurial.  They may also be applied, on the other hand, to a perfectly common vision, such as opening a snack bar or an auto repair shop.

My simple-minded shorthand for all the entrepreneurial traits is MOXIE.  And the innovative traits relate directly to the other three Fundamental Factors: Market, Magic, and Mentors.

Secret Revealed! How to Get What You Want...

It's really quite simple.  Not easy, not by a long stretch.  But simple, annoyingly simple.

It annoyed me anyway.  Somewhere, somehow, I came to the realization that I was faithfully following the American yuppie rule book.  I was nailing "the agenda."  Good job, nice house, two cars, wife, kids, church membership, everybody healthy.  The trouble was that I couldn't manage to feel fulfilled or contented.

So I set out to fix my life.  Getting off the agenda actually proved to be relatively easy.  It was expensive, and seriously painful; but it was easy.  Quit the job.  Get divorced.  Find some new friends.

Then reality set in.  I didn't have a fresh agenda to replace the one I had discarded.

Possibly the most challenging obstacle on the path to fulfillment and contentment is the requirement to figure out what the heck fulfillment and contentment look like.  Achievement is do-able, but the other two are elusive.  You can test my bold assertion quite easily.  Define those two terms for yourself.

If you can do it easily, I salute your unusual self-awareness.  Stop reading this post immediately.  You've already wasted some valuable time.

I see that you're still reading.  Ha!  I was right - for once anyway.

It appears to me that most people can easily name a particular near-term change that would improve their situation; but they struggle mightily with describing a situation that would qualify as ideal. 

The most common quick fix is money.  Duh.  Close, but probably second is love.  But what if you could live anywhere in the world?  Where would you choose to live?  How would you spend your days?  How would you value yourself?  What sorts of people would surround you?  What relationship would you have with each of them?  How would you dress?  What would you eat?

Too many choices!!  Too many options!!  My head hurts.  Barry Schwartz talks about this in The Paradox of Choice. Jonathan Mead offers help to the most adventurous in Reclaim Your Dreams.

Well, guess what, my friendly entrepreneur.  If you can't figure out what you want, that is precisely what you will get.  If you let your startup business take you where it wants to go, you have a rather slim chance of arriving at the world headquarters of fulfillment and contentment.

One of the most common reasons given for pursuit of entrepreneurship is the need for autonomy, the need to be in charge.  Over and over again, unfortunately, I meet people who have become slaves to the businesses that were supposed to give them freedom.  That's just plain sad.

And I suspect it's because they hadn't figured out where they really intended to go.

Four really useful habits

I'm pretty darned sure that these four things will take most anybody a long way down the road to achievement and contentment: clarity of vision, commitment to relevant action, adherence to noble principles, and focus. 

1. I try to stay in touch with what really matters. 

What really matters to me is not what other people tell me should matter.  It's what my own deepest inner voice tells me.  It's what I think about when I find myself awake in the middle of the night.  It's what I want to share with the people I love.  It's my vision of an ideal world.  It's how I want my life to work out.

2. I commit to relevant actions, not outcomes. 

I can control the actions I take.  But, except in trivial cases, I can't control the outcomes they will produce.  Life is simply too complicated.  There are too many uncontrollable outside influences.  If I arbitrarily decide that I will sell 100 widgets, I may or may not succeed.  If, on the other hand, I commit to improving the specific skills, techniques, and work habits related to selling, my effectiveness will definitely increase.  If I can master the details, I will then sell as many widgets as the marketplace permits me to sell.

3. I constantly test my vision and my actions against my fundamental principles. 

I assume you have principles.  I do.  Most people appear to have at least a few.  Some wise person once told me this.  "If you can't talk about your vision with your grandmother, think it over just one more time.  If you wouldn't want your action to appear on national television, reconsider your commitment to that action."

4. I do my best to stay focused. 

Just say no to more good ideas!!  I like Jonathan Mead's take on this.  He says that people who can ignore their good ideas "don’t chase the stuff that seems to have potential, but doesn’t really matter. They only do the stuff they must do: what they’re insanely passionate about and what they were born to do."  Focus also preserves a person's precious supply of MOXIE.  That's a big, big deal for an entrepreneur trying to succeed in a risky startup situation.