One of my former SCORE colleagues, Tuck Aikin, wrote the following article about the difference between corporate or military experience and what it takes to start a new business several decades ago. It is as true today as it was then. I hope you enjoy it.
I like this: “All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance,” T. S. Eliot, and this: “An optimist is a guy that has never had much experience,” D. R. P. Marquis. If these bits of wisdom are true, they might explain why so often those who have spent a considerable part of their adult careers in government service, especially the military, optimistically launch into the topsy-turvy world of for-profit small business ownership.
What’s interesting is that uniformly (pun intended), all such hopeful entrepreneurs truly believe that their past professions have fully prepared them for the disorderly world of the free marketplace. In the management section of their business plans, they catalog an impressive-sounding list of previous authorities and responsibilities they’ve exercised in their jobs:
Had a command with a $300 million in payroll
Managed a $150 million government/civilian purchasing contract
Commanded a military police unit
Oversaw a $500 million equipment maintenance battalion
Supervised all communication and associated computer equipment system
Of course, such knowledge and experience are quite valuable and can be useful in a large corporate business setting, but they can also lead to overconfidence in the launch of a small business. Why? Because the sheer size of the scope of authority in prior work often gives the individual an unrealistic view of their importance and power, and there’s little else that’s as big a threat to survival in the open marketplace than an idea that the new business owner is “in charge.” In reality, the marketplace is in charge, and it’s a tough and often fickle boss.
Undoubtedly, the crucial part of small business ownership that is missing in government and large corporate experience is responsibility for revenues – and sales. When “the suits” (or uniforms) hand your department a budget for the year, your job is simply to spend it in ways that will achieve the established objectives without jeopardizing ample funding for next year! Yes, dealing with financial constraints is hard work, but it is many times tougher to have to generate those resources as well.
In government, revenues are generated by laws – taxation. In the private sector, you have to earn those revenues by providing a product or service at the right competitive price, in the right quantity and variety, at the right availability, and with the right quality to attract enough buyers to sustain your enterprise. It’s only then that you can take advantage of your prior administrative experience, and even at that, if you revert to a “command and control” managerial style rather than a more inclusive, participatory approach, you could be headed for trouble. Employees, or “associates” as is the term currently in vogue, work in a free labor marketplace and are under no legal or moral obligation to stay put. They need TLC to keep them focused and constructive.
Ironically, this idea that a large organizational work experience translates sufficiently to the small business world when often it doesn’t has company in the entrepreneurial world: the man or woman who is a self-made multi-millionaire and who aspires to migrate in the opposite direction, to ‘public service’, to government work, to politics! From time immemorial, we’ve heard candidates proclaim that government should be run like a business (intending to mean realistically, efficiently, rationally, with discipline and vision), only to see them retreat from such an approach once they’re in office. The reason is simple: government is politics, it isn’t business, it’s the art of the possible, and everyone’s got a voice and a vested interest in it.
So, consider this to be an advisory – don’t let your large corporate or government experience fool you into “…boldly going where no one has gone before.” Proceed with caution.
Tuck Aikin was a former SCORE colleague of mine for many years until his retirement. Tuck is a prolific writer and wrote small business-themed articles for the Colorado Springs Gazette for many years. As a co-mentor, Tuck was my inspiration for me starting this blog. The preceding post is reproduced with permission from the author.
