Elmer (Gast)
| | Have you read any good books lately? debt busters IâÂÂd say about the way everybody takes that type of criticism. Well enough, I guess. But itâÂÂs very important and itâÂÂs hard to do and it is our job as active investors to tell entrepreneurs the truth. You have to do it in a way that is helpful without seeming overly critical. ItâÂÂs great having kids. Having kids have made me a much better investor because IâÂÂve learned from my kids how to be constructively critical. They need to know that you love them and that no matter what they do youâÂÂre going to be there for them and that you support them but by the way, theyâÂÂre screwing up in math and theyâÂÂve got to fix that. When thereâÂÂs no question about all those things that I started with theyâÂÂre more open to hear that criticism. But if youâÂÂre just beating them up all the time and theyâÂÂre not getting that reassurance itâÂÂs not productive. ItâÂÂs the same thing with entrepreneurs; they need to know that youâÂÂre there for them and youâÂÂre giving them this feedback because you want them to be successful not because you want to throw them out of their company.
|