JULY 2007           

Executive Growth Parallels Deeper Personal Growth,

Psychoanalyst Says

By Tony Mulkern

             Why do some successful entrepreneurs make the transition from founder and pioneer of a start-up to chief executive of a large enterprise while so many do not?  From Andrew Carnegie, David Rockefeller, J. P. Morgan and other great industrialists of the 19th century, up to Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Fred Smith and Michael Dell today, history is full of those who started very small and ended up running an empire.  Countless others, however, who would like to grow with the firm, make an earnest attempt to fit the new situation, but eventually have to step aside, sometimes with great regrets, to allow a “professional executive” or corporate acquirer to guide the enterprise to its next stage of success.

              One very intriguing set of answers to this question is provided by Morris Shechtman, a psychoanalyst and author who has worked with entrepreneurs intensely and with whom I had the privilege of speaking recently.  The first part of Shechtman’s views is fairly familiar—each entrepreneur owes the initial success to behaviors which become obsolete at a certain stage in the firm’s growth and which must be exchanged for others if the success is to continue. The startling point that Shechtman makes, however, is that it is insufficient for the entrepreneur to simply become aware of the need for new behaviors and then to undertake strenuous action plans to change.  Such action plans, he holds, typically fail.

              Shechtman’s dramatic claim is that when human beings choose a course of action, replicating the Familiar Way of Experiencing The World trumps all other considerations—including what is most rational, most profitable, what will make us most happy!  Especially in times of stress each of us is likely to revert to the old, familiar ways of responding. We have all known people who seem to be their own worst enemy, and no amount of evidence or appeals seems to sway them from old, self-defeating habits of perception and behavior, in spite of their best resolutions.

              So what path out of this maze of the Familiar does Shechtman recommend?

              The first step is to recognize the Familiar patterns or “archetypes” that entrepreneurs tend to adopt.  They are four—The Fixer, The Avoider, The Bully, and the Schmoozer.  Each is rooted in early childhood development, and typically one more than others becomes a core part of the personality.  Space and readers’ patience prevent a detailed description of the four, but a few of the associated personality traits can be described.  For example, someone who is a combination of the Bully and the Avoider will tend to be someone who has a deep need to constantly be in some kind of struggle. Conflict and crisis will seem to surround them, and others may marvel at the person’s capacity to thrive in their midst, however emotionally exhausting this may be for their teams.  I think of them as bulls that carry their own china shops with them!

              When the firm needs to struggle for its survival in its early years, this particular Familiar pattern can be extremely useful.  But at some point, for all entrepreneurs, the Familiar will impede the growth of the firm.  At that point, the entrepreneur-founder either changes profoundly, steps aside as obsolete, or the firm dies.

              The second step to escaping the dominance of the Familiar comes from a unique insight of Shechtman.  Any change, even from something we desperately want to discard, involves loss.  And in order for the change to stick the loss must be acknowledged and in his words, “grieved.”  We cannot simply say “good riddance” to deeply rooted patterns of behavior and expect them simply to go away.  In a sense, they will haunt us until we admit how comfortable and reassuring they were by their familiarity and how tough and sad it is to give them up.  Once we discover the source of the Familiar in childhood experience, it is easier to experience the sadness connected with saying good-bye to self-concepts that became old friends.

              This is no mere pop psychology, coming as it does from a psychoanalyst who has observed these principles in action repeatedly in his own executive consulting and coaching practice. What is fundamentally being said is that growth as a leader of a growing enterprise requires profound personal growth, which may be even more challenging than the marketing, financial, and human capital issues. 

              If Shechtman’s model is accurate—and I question why there are only four archetypes—this  means that the successful entrepreneur must ask him or herself a very fundamental question before trying to become CEO of an industry leader.  Would I be willing to lose those more colorful aspects of my personality that may have contributed to my success thus far?  Sometimes, the transition can be gained only through great pain, as when founder Steve Jobs was essentially fired by his Board at Apple Computer, only to be later hired back a few years later as CEO.  For others, the best answer may be to sell and do it all over again, which many entrepreneurs love to do.

              Prior to facing this question of willingness to change, the entrepreneur needs to become aware of when the Familiar patterns of behaving are no longer useful but have been begun to hold the enterprise back.  At that point, decision time is fast approaching to either change or exit.  In my experience, some of the signs are the following:

• Sense of a loss of control.  A certain level of chaos and ferment are signs of creativity and growth.  But if after all the best efforts at team building, executive development and strategic planning, you are left with an increasing feeling that you are on a runaway train, something fundamental needs changing.

              If changes in the Familiar are needed, how might one go about accomplishing the inner process of awareness, experience of loss, and grieving, if outward action plans are not enough? While there is no one right answer, the following have proved helpful for some:

              Many psychoanalysts and spiritual teachers alike have held that personal growth in the deepest sense is a fundamental impulse of all human beings and that whatever profession or vocation we choose in life can be either a path or an impediment to it. If correct, this means that there is no escaping our innermost need to grow and develop.  Your choice is to seize the opportunity when it arises or to surely face the issue again elsewhere in the future.

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Copyright, Mulkern Associates, 2007