How Entrepreneurs Gain Wisdom and Strategic Thinking

I advocate having a “kitchen cabinet” of business resources, including a CPA, a business attorney, a business banker, a commercial insurance agent and a financial planner. Your informal advisors also should include other entrepreneurs, in your industry, in other industries and at different stages of the business life cycle. They can share what worked for them and some of their hard knocks.

Don’t let successful mentors discourage you. As I told an overwhelmed business owner last week, they didn’t emerge fully formed from the head of Zeus. You are seeing the results of many incremental steps, and from this vantage point, it may be hard to imagine the journey your mentor took.

That Zeus metaphor stuck in my head all weekend. I re-read the Greek myth of Athena - she is the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy. She sprang from the head of Zeus as a fully formed adult wearing armor and carrying a shield.

She is an apt metaphor for entrepreneurial skills – wisdom and strategy.

But you won’t spring out fully formed. So rely on your experts as you build your wisdom and strategy.