The Entrepreneurial Conspiracy: Six Behaviors That Conspire to Derail Your Company

Description

Most of the problems small businesses experience have more to do with the business owner's behaviors than they do with markets, competitors, or having the right processes in place. This is because small businesses are reflections of their owners and frequently take on the owner's behavioral characteristics. Addressing a business problem without addressing the underlying behavior that causes it is like trying to correct a building's structural defect by applying a fresh coat of paint. It may look better, but the underlying problem is still there. It will eventually resurface, and when it returns, the problem is usually bigger and more costly to correct. This insightful book explores six common behaviors entrepreneurs and small business leaders subconsciously bring to their businesses; behaviors that limit growth, undermine effectiveness, and keep them from realizing the dreams they went into business to pursue. The behaviors explored in this book are: Blurred Vision, No Accountability, Heroic Managing, E-Drift, Hiding Out, and Swollen Ego. Rarely do these behaviors exist by themselves. Instead, the presence of one behavior frequently signals the presence of another. What's more, these behaviors are found in owners of all ages leading companies of all sizes.

Chuck Violand is the founder and principal of Violand Management Associates LLC, a consulting company working internationally throughout the United States, Canada, and Australia, whose focus is on small businesses. Chuck started Violand Management in 1987 to help small businesses achieve sustained profitable growth and to help their owners and management teams to achieve long-term professional and personal success. As an author and popular keynote speaker, Chuck is a respected authority on the unique challenges faced by entrepreneurial small businesses, having spent over thirty years as a business consultant and executive coach. He is a regular contributor to trade publications and newsletters in addition to authoring his popular, weekly leadership series Monday Morning Notes. In his 50 years of business, Chuck's varied experience includes having owned nightclubs, a food processing company, and contracting companies. Today, he remains active at Violand Management. Chuck and his wife, Karen, are the parents of four adult children and reside in Northeast Ohio.