Michael Gerber’s “E-Myth Revisited”

Michael Gerber’s E-Myth Revisited is one of the books we recommend to our EOS client leadership teams. You can buy a copy here on Amazon in your preferred media.

One of the three key nuggets we glean from this book is Gerber’s assertion that all business people have three components to their personality. I’ll talk about the other two in later posts.

The three personality components are:
• The Entrepreneur – This is our creative personality; the visionary, dreamer and innovator. It lives in the future, pondering “what if” scenarios and is the catalyst for change.
• The Manager – This is our pragmatic personality; the part of us that craves order, planning and consistency. It lives in the past, clinging to the status quo, and abhors change.
• The Technician – This is the doer, the worker, in all of us. It lives in the present and only sees the work that needs to be done at the moment.

You should read the entire book to appreciate the nuance of what Gerber means in the context of the fable he tells about a woman who opens a bakery. The idea of the three personality types also deserves to be seen in the context of the greater set of principles Gerber espouses.

The three personality types represent an interesting lens when viewing ourselves and our leadership teams in terms of the roles all of you are being asked to play in your business. Gerber posits that one of these personality types are dominant in all of us. He, and we EOS Implementers, ask that you acknowledge which personality type is your dominant one and make sure that the role you are playing matches your business personality type. If it doesn’t, you will burn yourself out trying to succeed in the wrong role and you, at best, won’t be happy, and, at worst, may do serious harm to your business.

Does this resonate with you? Are you in the wrong seat? Don’t despair. If you are an entrepreneur who has great ideas and gets bored with detail, bring in a partner who loves to steer your business on a daily basis. This holds true as a business owner even if at heart you are a technician who loves doing the work; you can bring in a professional manager.

Let me know if I can help in any way.

Image Credit: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/0887307280"><b>Amazon</b></a>