Entrepreneurship: To be King, or to be Rich?

In my last post, I talked about two styles of entrepreneurship, "Lifestyle" and "Impact". There is another way to look at entrepreneurship and what you want from it. This is not so different from the last discussion, but has a different view point of the same thing.

When engaging an entrepreneur, I ask them the question, "Do you want to be King, or do you want to be Rich?" Most reply that they want to be Rich, without hesitation, but when I look at their business, I see that they are King, which prevents them from being Rich.

Undoubtedly, every entrepreneur has a bit of each. It takes ego to be an entrepreneur, and ego likes to be King. However, it is only through the discipline of suppressing the King ego can we become Rich.

Kings, at least in the old days, had absolute control of their kingdom. They were the end-all of decision making and had absolutely power. Most small business today is run in such a way. This is not to say it is inefficient or unprofitable, but that profit's growth is limited by the organizational structure. Without delegation of power, an organization's growth is limited to only what the King can handle. Different Kings has different limitations, but the limitation exists none-the-less.

Kings often hold all the expertise and believe that they alone know the best way to rule their kingdom. Again, this has growth limitations that are obvious. Kings are often married to one goal as well. That their kingdom will be most successful doing X and Y in the Z market. And they know this better than anyone.

To become truly Rich, one must let go of all these limitations. Responsibility and expertise must be delegated. Control must be relinquished. Others must be allowed to participate in the growth and the rewards. Bill Gates did not become the wealthiest man in the world alone. Microsoft created dozens of billionaires, each with ownership of one piece of that success.

Here is the key distinction: Is it more important to you that you be successful or that your company is successful? Do you want to be King, or do you want your company to be King? Are you willing to give up some Kingship to be Rich?