Why Good Advice Usually Doesn’t Work 

“Who’s this guy?” I asked Giovanna.

“He’s the brother of a person that used to work for you. You said you’d take his call.”

“What brother?”

“I can check.”

“Don’t bother. Put him through.”

We spent an hour talking. He was courteous, intelligent, and affable. I was happy to help him. His question: How to grow his business from $2 million, where it was hovering, up to the next level – $5 million to $10 million.

I asked him the usual questions I ask for a business of that size. He had good answers for some of them, and didn’t pretend to know what he didn’t know. That sort of humility – coupled with intelligence, persistence, and self-confidence – is a formula for success. I gave him some advice and said, “Call me when you hit $5 million.”

After I hung up, I had the same hopeful-cynical thoughts I always have after these sorts of conversations: “I hope he implements my suggestions, but he probably won’t. I’ll be happily surprised if he hits his target.”

I’ve developed this perspective from 20 years of advising entrepreneurs. If they have what it takes, success should be a lay-up. But that is a highly unlikely outcome from informal “consultations” like this one. For two reasons:

First, because my advice was free – i.e., it didn’t cost him anything except a half-hour of his time. The first rule of mentoring is that anything gotten for free is valued cheaply. The value of the “gift” doesn’t matter. The receiver discounts it unconsciously because he didn’t have to do/pay anything to get it.

Second, because my advice was given without any obligation on my part. The second rule of mentoring is that advice given without a commitment by the mentor to follow through with the advisee is likely to be rejected (or forgotten or ignored) when obstacles arise. In this case, I’m quite sure that this young man will put a good initial effort into effectuating one or even several of the suggestions I made. But when he discovers that they aren’t working for him, he’ll conclude that the advice was wrong, and shift his attention and energies in some other direction.

Of course, if this person were an employee or family member, I would have been personally invested in the outcome and our conversation would not have ended the same way. I would have insisted that he initiate a plan of action immediately – within 24 hours. I would have also insisted that he check back with me on a regular basis until he had accomplished his goal.

But in this case, I have neither the time nor motivation to commit myself to doing all that work. So, as I said, I am doubtful that our conversation will do him much good.

But I am not without hope. At least several times a year, I hear from someone with whom I’ve had such short counseling sessions who did, in fact, follow my advice and achieve what they set out to achieve. And that’s why I continue to provide free entrepreneurial advice on occasion. It’s like playing the quarter slot machines when I’m drinking tequila. My investment is de minimis. But the reward, however unlikely, is exhilarating.

Making It Happen… or Not 

The number one reason that most entrepreneurial businesses fail is not because of weak ideas or lack of market research or insufficient capital.  It is because founders/CEOs fail to move forward quickly enough after they have landed on their ideas.

As someone that’s been involved in dozens of start-ups over the years, I feel very strongly about this claim. In fact, in 2008, John Wiley published a book I wrote about it (Ready, Fire, Aim) that became a bestseller.

There is a corollary to this that applies to growing businesses from, say, $1 million to $10 million, from $10 million to $100 million, or from $100 million to $1 billion. It’s basically the same idea: The reason businesses often hit revenue ceilings is that they fail to move quickly enough on testing new product and marketing ideas.

That is the problem my young advisee is going to run into the moment he goes back to his business and lays out some of the ideas that we agreed could bring his business to the next level.

He may begin with all the enthusiasm and determination he seemed to have at the end of our conversation. But his employees – the people he will need to implement those ideas – will not be so enthusiastic.

This is almost universally true. Great employees are always great at doing what they know works well. But they are skeptical of initiating new projects and/or protocols because they aren’t so sure they will work as well as the founder/CEO believes they will. And so, they will raise questions and voice concerns. As they feel they should.

And since these are capable and smart employees, many of their questions will be difficult to answer. And many of their concerns will be well-founded. And because the founder/CEO respects their concerns and can’t easily answer their questions, the process of moving forward will slow down.

That’s not always a bad thing. But smart founders/CEOs should treat it like it is. Because the alternative is the gradual asphyxiation of an idea that could work.

I am going through this exercise now with one of my clients. I’m trying to put into motion an idea I have that will add $10+ million to the bottom line. Not once, but every year into the future.

It’s not a complicated idea. To me, it’s a no-brainer. There is zero chance it will fail. There is a chance it won’t hit the $10 million mark, but – even if problems arise that I am not anticipating now – it will definitely make at least several million.

But a month has gone by since we agreed to work on this objective. In my view, we should be at the point where we are already testing the idea and bringing in dollars. Instead, we are stuck in the think-it-over phase.

I know that if I don’t push this thing through, it’s going to die on the vine. So, I’m going to do what I always do when I find myself in this situation.

It usually goes like this:

* I suggest the idea the moment it comes to me. (Because I know I will forget it if I don’t.)

* The reaction: Silence. Nobody gets it.

* The next time we meet, I suggest it again, but shaped better, to make it easier to  understand.

* They sort of get it, but they have doubts. They express them. I answer them as well as I can, but not to their satisfaction. Silence.

* The third time we meet, I remind them that we should already be moving on the idea, and guarantee them that it will work. I put a number out there (“$10 million net a year in perpetuity!”).

* They don’t know exactly what to say. Maybe I’m right. They don’t know. So, they give me a tepid go-ahead.

* I get to work on it, forming a team and setting an agenda. The first time we meet, the team is excited. They buy in. They want to be a part of it.

* In the weeks that follow, at every juncture there are questions and concerns, which I view, perhaps incorrectly, as passive resistance.

* I say, “Don’t worry. Let’s keep moving. We can solve these problems later.”

* They agree. Sort of. So, they move forward, but slowly and carefully. They are worried about failure. And my confidence makes them even less sure, because they see me as impulsive and possibly reckless.

* I keep pushing until we get the idea ready enough to test. We test it.

* If it fails, game over. If it is a huge success, everyone’s happy. If it’s a modest success, it is met with further doubts and concerns.

* We work through those doubts and concerns, one at a time. Then we test the improved idea. And this time, it usually works better.

* I try not to, but sometimes I can’t resist telling them: “I told you so.” They don’t understand. In their minds, they’ve been supporting me all along.

* We roll out the idea, making refinements as needed. Eventually, it becomes a staple of our business.

* Years later, nobody remembers all the questions and criticism.  In their minds, they always knew it would work.