No, I’m not talking about Star Trek but rather a common drive amongst leaders that can get them in trouble.  I’ve seen this drive recently in a couple of different business-owning customers.  My definition of it is a fast-acting, emotionally-driven decision.

I think there is some value to it especially in the early, entrepreneurial stages of a company.  Start-ups certainly need to be nimble to compete against larger, established competitors with deeper pockets.  However, the impulse drive can outlive its value if the owner/founder overuses it as his/her company grows larger.

One example is an owner who developed an idea for a new service offering and went full out to establish it.  He paid lawyers to help formulate the legal side of the offering, operations people to put it into practice and advertising people to promote it.  Unfortunately, he pursued these expensive resources before getting any market feedback or sales feedback on the viability of the offering.  Once he reached out for that information, he received data that didn’t support his impulsive decision.

He rejected the feedback and pressed on anyway.  He felt this offering would be wildly successful.

It wasn’t.  In fact, he sold zero.  It has now disappeared from his service offerings.

That is a painful lesson in costs, time, effort, etc.  The impulse drive has to be tempered has companies mature and grow.  Owners have to cede some control to the people they have hired to take the company to the next level.  Resist the impulsive decisions that masquerade as entrepreneurial initiatives.

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