From my weekend reading:
- Peggy Noonan in the WSJ wrote about recent hurricane disasters and the Johnstown flood of 1889. It seems Johnstown residents were, rightfully so, worried about an old dam breaching and collapsing. Nobody in government listened and it collapsed, killing thousands. Noonan wrote, “When you’ve got a feeling about something, when your mind keeps going to it, unbidden…listen to it, even if you don’t understand it.”
- One of the books I’m reading is Heed Your Call by David Howitt (Atria Books, 2014) and Howitt makes strong points about when something feels right or feels wrong, trust your instinct and go with it. Thus, heed your call and go with your feelings.
For years I’ve told business buyers and sellers to trust their gut feel about the other side. At the same time, calm the buyer/seller fever to make sure your feelings are right.
When buyers don’t have warm fuzzy feelings about the seller, i.e., don’t trust him or her, move on. When sellers don’t think this is the right buyer to take care of their employees and preserve their legacy, move on. In either case, it’s not worth it.
My estimate is 90% of business sellers care about selling to the right buyer versus getting every last dollar (and we’ve seen many deals where the highest offer didn’t get the deal because of relationship).
“Being slightly paranoid is like being slightly pregnant – it tends to get worse.” Molly Ivins
“I want AI to do my laundry and dishes so that I can do art and writing, not for AI to do my art and writing so that I can do my laundry and dishes.” Joanna Maciejewska
