What if I'm the Best (but don't know it)?

I think I may be the world’s greatest concert pianist.

The only issue is — I’ve never played the piano.

I’m not just being provocative with that statement. I genuinely believe it might be true. Not because I've been secretly toiling away at the next great concerto — but because becoming a Founder taught me I’m capable of becoming (almost) anything.

Becoming a Founder is one of the greatest exercises in self-transformation and fulfillment because we’re required to do so many things our natural path would have never challenged us with.

Once I realized how powerful this transformation could be, I learned how to use this ability to become an expert writer, architect, programmer, podcaster, designer, carpenter, lecturer, CFO, electrician, 3D modeler, teacher, parent… you get the idea.

But it only happened because of my journey in becoming a Founder.

The Value of a Forced Path

I love that being a Founder is a force function for new paths.

Initially, I was resistant. I hated math, so the fact that I had to do “finance” drove me insane. But once you put dollar signs in front of those numbers, and those dollar signs involved my personal outcome, it turned out I still hated math, but I loved finance!

Not only did I learn to love finance, but it also turned out to be one of my secret weapons. I had the ability in a sales call or an investor pitch to model every financial outcome in my head while I was presenting. That allowed me to up my sales game significantly, because I knew exactly how every word out of my mouth would have a specific financial outcome, which would let me successfully negotiate in real time.

But if I were working in sales for a company, there’s no way in hell I would have ever invested in that skill. I wouldn’t have needed it. Which means I would have never unlocked this incredible skill I happen to be really good at — finance.

I’ve been a startup CFO for almost 30 years. I also have never made it past freshman algebra in high school. Who would have guessed?

The Unfortunate Cost of Chance

I love the fact that I’ve become a CFO, but I also think of how easily a small turn of events could have cost me so many opportunities.

For me, this definitely started with being a Founder at a young age. One day, I woke up as the CEO of a large startup company in my mid-20’s and thought, “I’m actually pretty good at this, but what if life had just changed a tiny bit and I never had the opportunity to try? What would I have artificially capped my potential at?”

I think of how much latent potential would have been wasted if not for an incidental number of events that made it possible. What if Tiger Wood’s dad, Earl, never handed him a golf club at 2 years old? What if Mozart’s dad, the composer, wasn’t into music?

Those were chance moments of the right child born to the right parent at the right moment.

I wasn’t born into any of this. I would have never had any of these life-changing, transformative moments to become the best at anything if not for becoming a Founder. The fact that being a Founder makes us the center of our own universe means we get a shot at completely reinventing our chances to become something great, even in a field unknown to us.

The Compounding Value of Transformation

Yet something compounds when we awaken this beast of discovery — we start to look at everything with a *“Why **can’t *I be the best at that?” approach, which is intoxicatingly dangerous.

When I started to learn to be a CEO, and then a CFO, I started to think “How many other skills could I be great at, but I haven’t given myself the opportunity to find out?”

So I went headlong into every single aspect of building a company, from sales and marketing to design and development, to operations and legal. Every. single. aspect. That’s a ton to say I was great at all of them, but when I started breaking down big enough barriers, I simply lost the natural hesitation that comes with the unfamiliar.

I now find myself simply asking, “Is there anything about that human, some gift that they were given, that would prevent me from doing exactly what they can do with the right amount of time and attention?”

You know what? 90% of the time, the answer is “Not really.” The difference between being great at something (or not) is rarely just natural talent; it’s raw willingness to achieve competency. What’s beautiful about being a Founder is that our motivation to achieve competency is largely built into the job description!

Backup (Dancer) Plan

Now that said, it doesn’t always work. To illustrate, I’ll leave you with this little gem:

In the mid-2000’s I was running a casting agency in LA. One night at dinner with a group, I ran into a guy sitting next to me who happened to be a serious professional backup dancer. He asked what I did, and I was bored, so I responded “Funny as it is, I’m also a professional backup dancer!” And I spent the rest of the evening complaining about how the profession isn’t what it used to be, and how I was looking to do something new instead.

As the night progressed and drinks were had, our group wound up at a brand new club that had just opened up in LA. As this new backup dancer and I were talking, he spotted some other backup dancers and — this actually happened — he challenged them to a dance off in the middle of the entire club. I thought he was joking, so I enthusiastically agreed!

Within minutes, a giant circle had opened up, and each of the other backup dancers put on an incredible show. My new friend did as well, and then turned to me to “jump in and turn it up.”

I did not hesitate.

In my mind, I thought, “What if I really am one of the world’s best dancers, but I’ve never had a moment until now to show the world?” Maybe it was my overconfidence in having succeeded as a Founder, maybe it was the countless tequila shots I had before that, but I went all in.

Now, I can’t accurately describe the horror on literally everyone’s face when my performance was over, but I do distinctly recall two hands grabbing my shoulders and quickly escorting me out of the club with the words “It’s time to go.”

Let’s just say I may still be the world’s greatest pianist — and time will tell.

But I am certifiably not a backup dancer.

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