My father Don, who founded EllisDon at 27, lived to be 89. He got to be pretty frail, but was always very sharp. And he never changed. If you’d like to know
something of the ‘pure entrepreneur’, here’s a big clue (I think):
A few years ago, when my father was 88 and my mother was 84, my mom tripped and busted up her kneecap. My mother was the same — very strong
mentally, not so much physically, and both of them were very (very) independent. When my mom went to the Doctor about her knee, he fixed her up with an
immobilizing brace, a wheel chair, and told her not to put any weight on it (i.e., walk).
Leaving the doctor, my Dad said ‘Well, let’s drive to the cottage.’ My Mom said, quite logically, ‘Hold on, bucko. How are we going to get from the car, up the
hill, to the cottage? I can’t walk and you can’t push me. We will be stuck.’ The 88 year old replied ‘Don’t worry about it, we’ll figure it out when we get there.’
The 84 year old said ‘What’s to figure? I can’t walk up that hill. You can’t push me. We will be stuck and that’s a real bad thing.’ But my Dad would not be
deterred: They got in the car and drove to their cottage. As they pulled in the driveway, a couple of young guys just happened to be walking by, and my Dad
called them and said ‘I’ll give you both twenty bucks if you help me get this old lady up into our cottage.’ Five minutes later, they were exactly where they
I just think that’s a hugely great and very human story. Entrepreneurs have this sense of optimism and determination that succeeds against logic. They just
know it will work out, and they make it work out, in the face of all the reasons it shouldn’t work out. They count on some luck, even though they know they
won’t always get it. Rational thinkers plan, figure out all the details, make lists of pros and cons, strengths and weaknesses, blah blah, and most often decide
to stay put: They never get to the cottage.
It’s a balance, obviously. But most companies (and many people) lose the very entrepreneurial spark that made them great in the first place because, very
sensibly and logically, they’re afraid of getting stuck in the car (and looking foolish doing it).
So here’s the entrepreneurial test: What’s your greatest fear: Getting stuck in the car? Or never getting to the cottage?
