The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

September 2Congruence

No person for any considerable period can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.

Nathaniel Hawthorne—The Scarlet Letter (1850)

Quite often the very thing that leads many to strike out on their own is an attempt to bring their business and personal lives in alignment—the corporate culture they had entered and adopted no longer feels congruent with their personal goals.

Congruence by definition implies sameness, agreement, harmony, or compatibility—all concepts made wholly real by following an entrepreneurial vision.

So, it's terribly ironic then that when the amazing, fresh opportunity afforded the entrepreneur is coupled with the day-to-day pressure to build a business, people are easily pushed further and faster out of congruence than when they started. Remember playing crack the whip at the ice-skating rink as a kid? Kind of feels like that.

This looks like working more hours than is healthy or necessary, promoting products and services you don't use or believe in, asking others to do things you are unwilling to do, or worse, wearing one face to yourself and another to your team, your employees, and your loved ones.

In geometry, when stating that two triangles are congruent, you might use a congruence statement that looks something like AB ≅ LM, BC ≅ MN, AC ≅ LN.

In your entrepreneurial quest, it's even more complex.

Challenge Question

1. How is your life a reflection of ...