And So It Happens, Even When It Does Not
This was the week we were to announce a JV for Ripple100. Instead, we’re looking back at the best thing that’s never happened to us. Right guys, wrong time. We walk away having made intimate connections, and friends, with a team we know will be good for many partnerships in the long road ahead. Dave, Pete: thank you and look forward to next time - the right time!
As every CEO knows, the worst part is not the deal that didn’t get done; it’s the wait-and-see distraction that got in the way of execution. In our case it was 6 weeks. But a well-invested 6 weeks. Now we know what we don’t know - and that is my sweet spot. In the 5 days since it clarified that un-JV was imminent, we’ve managed to fill 2 key gaps. The news broke Sunday night. Monday afternoon, Dave, Pete and I agreed to disagree and walk away with finality. Tuesday night, Amy and I sealed the deal that would fill one of the major infusions the JV would have brought, on the tech side. That discussion was only 1 week old. By end of business Friday, the other missing piece was accounted for – design. That was 2 days old.
When things are meant to be, they happen easy. Like magic, not at all by design. It’s a certified fluke, or miracle, that we’re where we are only 5 days since our 6-week JV blew up. But we kept on punching, we never hung our head. And what was meant to be has happened.
So now we’re in the homestretch. The cast is never complete when you’re a startup (not even when you’re GE). But as I look with excitement on our 5-person team, I know the cast is now complete that will get us to launch. We have 6 weeks. We know what we have to do, each one and as a team.
As CEO my job is to make it happen. Not by forcing the issue, as I could have with the JV, but by listening. To what the situation – life – is saying. And following. To lead, I must follow.
The best way I can explain is via Friday’s scripture. 2 Corinthians 4: 7-15, with my paraphrase. We hold this treasure in pots of earthenware, so that the immensity of the power is God’s and not our own. We are subjected to every kind of hardship, but never distressed; we see no way out but we never despair; we are pursued but never cut off; knocked down, but still have life in us. Indeed, while we are still alive we are continually being handed over to death…so that LIFE may be visible in us.