Member-only story
ONE QUESTION
Should You Say No to That Big Job Offer?
Going after what you want may not get you what you need
Q: Should I leave my own consulting practice and join another firm as their CEO? I know I can bring a lot of value, as my Rolodex is strong and I have big ideas, but I’d have to convince one of the 3 co-founders of this (he’s skeptical, to say the least). I’d own 20% of the new company and I think it would be a real relief to be in partnership with other people.
A: Wow, that’s a heck of a role, and 20% sounds like a lot. I can see why you’d be excited by it.
But, let’s do the math, shall we?
You’d go from owning 100% of your own work to owning one-fifth of shared work. If their company is worth 5x what yours is worth now, then you’ve gained… absolutely nothing. As CEO, your job would be doing the revenue generation of this entity, so you’d be nearly 100% responsible for driving the growth of the shared company, but only partaking of one-fifth of the upside. That 20% seems smaller by the second because you are doing most of the work to make it something, financially.
Even if the math were better, what’s important here is the messy landmine of a social situation you’d be willingly stepping onto.
Your desire to be “with other people” is blinding you to the impending implosion. You’d be “partnering” with someone who isn’t on board with you joining, so you get to do what you already do, but with a critic sitting in the corner. A critic who because of his precedence on the team, and his higher ownership of the company will have a bigger vote than yours, maybe even a veto vote on everything you want to do. So, ask yourself… What does that cost you in time and energy and general hassle factor?
Pshaw, you’re thinking. You’re strong and capable and determined and so — obviously — you can handle the conflict!
But, I’m asking, should you?
When any of us enter situations where we have little to no social support, when we work with people who don’t get us, when we willingly step into situations where the knife is already out, there is a real cost. It’s a social isolation tax.
