It's Harder to Be Kind than Clever in Business + Life

Starting your own business is rife with uncertainty, fear, doubt, pain, sometimes, even a little regret. But what's most painful is the decision not to follow your passion for fear of failure.

Having started a business in vain some time ago, I go through daily mental conversations that go something like this:

Are you crazy? You're going to do this again? - Yes.

You're smart, you can do this, right? - Yes

Ok, let's do this. Ok, wait, hold on. Ok, now I'm ready.

It can be mentally exhaustive to go through this, but I feel it is necessary reality check. See, when I started my first consultancy, I was armed with my cleverness and ego - not much else. And after a few years of ups and downs, missteps and burned bridges, I've learned that it takes more to run a business. A lot more. Including hefty doses of integrity.

Why do I bring this up? Because during one of my midnight web crawls (yes I do those, and no, not those kind of web crawls), I came across a TED video of Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com speaking at a Princeton graduation. His 18-minute speech was dripping with paternal anecdotes, but the main point was this: "Dont regret trying and failing. Take the less safe path. What matters in the end are your choices, your kindness". He goes on to explain that it requires a lot more mental and emotional acumen to walk the path of passion and integrity.

I hold this lesson very near to my heart as I set out to conquer the world of marketing and advertising, not wanting to make the same unbalanced decisions again.

Jeff Bezos: What Matters More Than Talent, TED