The CEAG is an entrepreneur by desire and resources operating in uncharted waters.  Generally this fairly rare situation (preliminarily under 1% in the business population) occurs where a venturer strays outside his or her "target zone of extraordinary capability" in an expansion or diversification effort.  Where entrepreneurial instincts served well in a familiar target zone, they are of little use in an area which requires additional or radically different expertise.  Accordingly, the CEAG resorts to guesswork instead of discernment, which is handicapped by compelling but contradictory knowledge.

As Will Rogers is reputed to have said, "It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you know that ain't so!"  CEAG's are subject to thinking errors of this type, exacerbated by frustration, discouragement and genuine surprise that the old formula doesn't work in the new territory, all of which are obstacles to completing a re-write of the expert script required for navigating in these new waters. 

WHAT TO DO:

If you're already there -- chin up and keep swimming -- tenacity and persistence have great value in such situations.  If you're not there -- don't jump in at all, at least until you have developed the knowledge framework necessary for you to be able to discern when the type of venture you are interested in has "strayed off course".

A note for those who are "swimming" already: call in an experienced strategic expert to help you to determine the boundary of your own target zone, and the appropriate strategic moves to either optimize the situation (create the expert script for a success), or to cut your losses (abandon the venture).  If you are, for example, an expert in another field, consider getting back to your own "knitting", where the coordinates for success are clear and all the guesswork is not required.
 

©Copyright 1998-2003 Ron K. Mitchell under license to Wayne Brown Institute