Architecture

If you read the literature for the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it might inspire you to think of your small business as a sort of Egyptian temple, and of yourself as a designer, architect and builder of said temple. As you read about the Temple of Dendur, you will learn that “Egyptian temples were not simply houses for a cult image but also represented, in their design and decoration, a variety of religious and mythological concepts.”

When constructing a small business, from its microscopic DNA to its macrobiotic evolution as a successful and profitable enterprise, it might be useful to keep in mind that what you are trying to build is not necessarily the next Google, or some other entity of mythic renown, but something that incorporates your own sense of values, your worldview and honor code. Structurally, your company should reflect, in its design and “décor” those concepts, issues and qualities that will shape your brand image for years to come.

In reading about the Temple of Dendur during one of my recent visits to the MET, I was intrigued to learn that “one important symbolic aspect was based on the understanding of the temple as an image of the natural world as the Egyptians knew it.” The Egyptians understood about following the trends of their times; they knew that in constructing the Temple, it would be more relatable to their audience if they incorporated images and concepts into the infrastructure that are readily identifiable. Thus, in constructing a small business and building up, and building up your “Temple of business” it is important to consider who your target market is, and what and how they identify in and to their environment.

The Egyptians, in building the Temple of Dendur, “lined the temple base with carvings of papyrus and lotus plants that seem to grow from water, symbolized by figures of the Nile god Hapy.” As a small business person, you may have no idea who the Nile god Hapy is and what he stood for. And that is fine. But it is important that as a small business owner you know what your clients and customers value and you find ways to build a company that reflects what your customers want, and who and what they hold sacrosanct.

It is not just the customers’ needs that you have to consider when defining your mission and setting your strategies. The Egyptians were concerned with more than just their gods and friends. “Above the gate and temple entrance are images of the sun disk flanked by the outspread wings of Horus, the sky god. The sky is also represented by the vultures, wings outspread, that appear on the ceiling of the entrance porch.” As a small business owner, you have to keep in mind that your competitors, too, are a part of the calculus and must be factored into the blueprints you draw up for the construction of a successful company. As they say on the street, keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

DNA

I once knew a guy who I will call “Wall Street Tycoon.” He had dreams of starting a hedge fund on Wall Street. So what did he do? First, he got really good stationary. And then he went out and he recruited about ten of his friends, acquaintances and associates from his private club and then he asked them to come aboard his newly formed corporation. Now, the only vetting criteria he used is where they went to school and what their resumes sounded like. PHD in French Literature from Standford? Check. BA in political science from Yale? Check. Former Harvard Law School Dean of Students? Check. You name it, he got every elite school grad he could find and he asked them to join his company.

And he got really good stationary and really good paper. Then he proceeded to set up a hedge fund that traded heavily in real estate. Sounds good so far? It was. The only problem is, for all their PHDs and impressive educational pedigree, not one of these people understood the fundamentals about starting or running a hedge fund. Many of them did not know for sure what a hedge fund did. Actually, the only person who knew anything about hedge funds was Wall Street Tycoon.

I was getting pretty fed up hearing him bad mouth everybody when deal after deal fell through. “But why did you bring this guy aboard in the first place?” I asked one day in exasperation. “He knows nothing about what you are doing and you knew that from the start.” Wall Street Tycoon got really angry and impatient with my ignorance. “This guy is a PHD!” he rasped.
“Yes," I concurred. "But PHD in what?!”

He was a real genius this guy, Wall Street Tycoon. He personally guaranteed about $5 million dollars using his house as collateral for the debt, and proceeded to spend money, a lot of money on things like sponsoring scholarship funds for major universities in the city in an effort to get on “the Board” so that he could be in the right circles, and get investors for his fund.

But when you really got down to asking him what exactly his company does and what his vision was for the firm and what his strategy was for accomplishing his vision and how any of these people fit into the mold other than to add impressive resumes, he got defensive and told you things like “this is very creative. You are not going to get it. I know what I am doing. This is what I do. I am a financial engineer.”

Well, I was not an engineer but I got a bad feeling about this company from the start. I told him he needed to sit down and do some root canal and figure out what it was his company was about, and give everyone clear goals, and surround himself with some people who knew how to run and maintain a hedge fund. In short, I was asking him to figure out the company’s DNA before going one step further.

Do I need to recount in numbing detail how this story ended?

The moral is, before you take a step further, figure out the DNA of your company. Believe me it is a lot more complex than fancy resumes and stock paper.