When you tie your identity to your business, your self-worth rises and falls with it. Every win boosts your ego; every setback feels like a personal failure. This emotional entanglement clouds your judgment and decision-making.
Good decision-making blends data with emotion. You need both. But when your identity is on the line, emotion tends to dominate. Instead of responding to what the numbers say, you start reacting to how you feel.
Fundamentally, a business solves a problem. It continues to operate as long as it solves that problem at a profit. When sound decisions are made, it continues to fulfill these two criteria. But if the business becomes your identity, you might get too focused on satisfying or protecting your ego that you forget the fundamentals of a business.
Don’t let the business be about you. Your customers don’t care about you. They care about whether your business solves their problem.
Focus and obsess on solving your customer’s problem. This naturally removes you and your ego from the equation.