Commitment and Stubbornness look rather similar on the surface. Commitment happens when you have a sense of dedication or loyalty to a cause, activity or person. Stubborness is more of a dogged determination not to change your attitude or position in spite of good arguments or reasons to do so. Commitment is not the same as stubbornness. Commitment requires tenacity to see something through. Stubbornness can often lead to foolish decisions and outcomes.
Kenny Rogers (going back in time here) sang a famous song:
“You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em; know when to fold ‘em
know when to walk away, know when to run.
You never count your money, while you’re sittin’ at the table
They’ll be time enough for countin’, when the dealings done.”
Some success is Lucky Stubbornness
We’ve all heard of success stories in business where the (now successful) entrepreneur has overcome nearly impossible odds to achieve some great success. The meta-message is that success is mainly about perseverance – “staying the course” beyond all reasonable measures and after everyone else has given up on the new business. In fact – so the thinking goes – it’s usually when the entrepreneur becomes unreasonable that success is likely to find its’ way to her doorstep.
But for every success story we hear, there are probably 100 or more failures.
Business fail for a variety of reasons. It is estimated that 90% will fail within the first 10 years and 50% will fail within the first three years. Without going through all of the reasons for failures – which can be found in abundance by a simple online search, I believe one of the core reasons for failure is that the business owner confuses being foolishly stubborn with tenaciously committed.
Know When to Walk Away
Every owner has a vision – she can see into the future and be “there” as if her vision is reality in the present. That success – that vision – is what drives her and every other entrepreneur to risk starting a business and then “stay at it” until she is successful.
But when she becomes foolishly stubborn to “stay the course”, that’s when her business is likely to fail.
The difference between being foolishly stubborn or tenaciously committed has to do with making reality your friend. While circumstances can never tell you what you should or should not do, they sure can tell you what you can and cannot do. Foolishly stubborn entrepreneurs read and understand the danger signs within their business, but they simply choose to ignore them.
When they face into those difficult problems, it may mean modifying the vision and that is not acceptable to them – it will feel like failure – the loss of a dream. So she “stays the course”, believing that “it will work out”. It’s a bit like a parent who knows her teen-age son is doing drugs but doesn’t have the intestinal fortitude to face into the truth, so she simply ignores it. The warning signs and problems don’t go away – she simply ignores them. For the entrepreneur, the warning signs are ignored until it is too late.
Vision must always be tempered by reality. Vision is a wish – perhaps a strong wish – but just a wish nevertheless. Entrepreneurs will need tenacious commitment to start a business and see it through to success – especially after ten years. But over those ten years, the chances are pretty high that some part (or even most) of the original vision will need to have been modified and difficult problems will need to have been solved in order to meet the demands of reality. Those who are foolishly stubborn will stick with the original vision and ignore the problems. Those who are tenaciously committed will allow reality to modify their vision. They will face into the problems and conflict and get them resolved. The latter will be successful. The former will be bankrupt.
Bill English, Founder
Bible and Business
