They say the media corrupts and feeding the ego of a ‘successful’ entrepreneur is surely one of the worst examples. Ultimately a business founder has a vested interest in making their company successful, and giving them a platform on which they can shamelessly promote their company or achievements while giving ‘advice’ or support to fledgling entrepreneurs and business owners doesn’t help anyone.
Never has this been truer than at a talk that one CEO gave where he spoke purely about his own achievements and success in the media at an awards dinner. Now I don’t want to single him out specifically but it was a good example where the media hype had overtaken reality and while I am sure he is very successful with his business, it certainly hasn’t delivered the kind of success yet I would expect from someone to be a Dragon or on Secret Millionaire.
I for one have been asked many times to appear on the Secret Millionaire, and while such a call strokes ones ego, I did explain to the researcher than one I was not a millionaire and two I didn’t feel I had achieved a level of success to contribute effectively to the program and the people it helps. But really there didn’t seem to be a huge focus around helping a part of society and more around gaining personal publicity and promotion. I thought at the time the publicity would be fantastic for Fluidata and I but in the end I would have felt like a fraud, and so continue to turn them down.
Don’t get me wrong we need to talk about successful entrepreneurs and give people the confidence to start their own businesses but we need to be careful who gets pushed into the limelight and why they are there. There are too many examples of nearly successful entrepreneurs being pushed into the media talking about success which is greater than the reality, rather than those who have done it and have been full circle with their companies.
Anyway I am sure I will come to regret this post as success in the UK seems to only go hand in hand with publicity and media attention. Hopefully my business will continue to grow and become successful, but at the same time I keep my feet firmly on the ground.
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