Failing as an entrepreneur is okay. But not having purpose means the chances of success are scarce.
That was one of the chief takeaways on Monday as three business leaders spoke at Game On: Winning in Sports, Technology, and Business in San Jose.
Fred Kofman, a business consultant and author, doubled down on Smoller’s sentiment, noting that for entrepreneurs, talent is important, but it’s secondary to having a clear purpose–something that can give them strength even as they confront adversity. “Without a reason to get through . . . failure,” Kofman said, “a reason that is bigger than ‘I just want to succeed.’ You [gain] resilience based on higher purpose.”
Kofman, Smoller, and Forerunner Ventures founder and managing partner Kirsten Green shared their insights from decades in the trenches of business and entrepreneurship. They kept coming back to the concept of purpose as a key ingredient to overcoming the kind of adversity that foils less-focused people.
For Kofman, the key is being ready to make moves, even when things do go haywire, as they always will. He said he bases his personal life philosophy and his business coaching on the principle of what he calls conditional responsibility. That is, he says, “No matter what happens, life is playing chess with you, and it’s your move. You have to respond. Even not playing is a response. You can deny that and pretend you’re a victim, [but] 99% of what is happening is out of your control” and the best thing you can do is act purposefully on the 1% you can control.
Being ready for what comes next, and knowing what you’ll do regardless of how things go, is also vital. Smoller says she goes into any situation thinking about the worst-case scenario and planning ahead about what she’ll do if things blow up. Knowing how to do that, and what levers to push to navigate such situations, helps her “set the playing field to help the people I’m working with be the best they can be [and] have the cleanest, clearest playing field.”
That philosophy dovetails with another of Smoller’s: the way to tell someone’s makeup, she says, is to examine how they function when things are falling apart.
Choosing to only do business with people who keep it together and whom you trust in such situations is likely to lead to more success. Further, you want to work with people who have the same ethical code as you, Smoller says. “You don’t have to be an asshole to be successful,” she says, “and I wish that would come into play a little more.”