I was reminded last week how critical it is to step back and reassess difficult or challenging situations when a simple technology problem at home took far too long to resolve. This is true for your personal relationships, family life, and, most certainly, any efforts to build and run a startup.
What drove home this reminder was the fact that after switching to Comcast phone service at home, I could not get the new voicemail system to work right. No matter what we did, it picked up after 2 rings, had a default message despite recording many new ones, and our test voice messages weren’t there. Comcast worked on it, I worked on it, and ultimately, to make a long story short, they asked me to confirm whether or not our home answering machine was picking up before the Comcast voicemail. The answer was no, it was not…but in truth, it was.
Our home answering machine was turned off and clearly not picking up. However, what both the installer and I had not noticed was that when he added the new phone service, he had connected a second phone in the basement that apparently had a digital answering machine and it was the culprit.
Why share this story? Besides showing how even technology people can be flummoxed by relatively simple gadgets, it highlights how critical it is to step back and look at things from a thirty-thousand foot view. I was so certain that the problem was on their end, I never bothered to reassess the situation and see if it could have been anything else.
When someone is absolutely certain about something in their business (their model, their marketing, their product), that “certainty” becomes a blind spot that will most often lead to failure. I’ve learned a lot over the past 15 years building and running companies and I would have to say that this is one of the most important things I and other entrepreneurs need to remember.
It is okay to be passionate and steadfast in your beliefs, but you must remember to constantly step back and view the big picture; otherwise, all too often, you are likely to miss the forest for the trees.
