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Apr

2009

Confessions of an Entrepreneur's Wife | Printer-friendly version

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I had originally thought of this as his company, his work, his life. But now Lily and I were also paying a price. With Bill rarely home, I soon lost the time and energy to focus on my work. Left with no profession, and essentially no husband, I became frustrated and resentful. I found myself thinking that it might be easier if Lily and I lived alone, with no illusions about being able to depend on Bill. Fortunately we found a good therapist and held our marriage together, but it became clear that Bill just didn't have the mental or physical energy to maintain much of a personal relationship. I knew he wanted me to be happy, but I couldn't stop picking fights about his lack of time at home. I wanted him to succeed, but I hadn't expected the company to so deeply invade our personal lives.
A CEO sells everyone. When he asks suppliers for better terms he's also selling them on why they should do it. When he convinces a new hire to join a super-risky venture, he's selling her on the potential the job offers. When he convinces me to stay married to him, he's selling me on the better future we will have together.
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- By the same token, Bill fits another classic CEO profile: He has weak people-managing skills. When he's driving that start-up train at top speed, all he sees is the urgency of reaching the depot. He expects his teammates to put their heads down and shovel coal, not slow things down with questions, discussions, or arguments. He is impatient with many personnel issues and doesn't take the time to apply his sales skills to those situations.
- From the day Bill started The Switch we knew something like this could happen--I kept saying that on any given day we could be millionaires or bankrupt. He didn't choose to end the dream this way, but even he agrees that by the end it was sucking too much out of him for too little return. We're better people, and a stronger family, for what we've been through. And that's a good thing, because I'm betting that before too long, Bill will decide to do it all again.