In an interview with MinotConsulting’s Gregory Boquist, ALPHA CEO Gene Waddy talks about starting companies and entrepreneuring while Black. Here’s part 1 of that interview.
Gregory: Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts about entrepreneurship. To start, I’m wondering why do you start a company instead of working for one?
Gene: Great question. So personally, I started my first company out of necessity. I was a mid-level manager who found himself without a job, basically due to a reduction in force. I’m proud to say that I started the company because I had to. I had to think for myself and think about my own future. And now that I have taken that step, I know that I could never work for anyone else because it’s too difficult to go backwards, to change your mindset, to be able to fit within a certain predefined and constrained role.
The other part of it is that I like the responsibility of leading and inspiring others and helping them to achieve their business goals, personally and professionally. Plus, when you start your own firm, it’s easier to work for yourself!
And you know, I love the chase. I like being in control, being captain of the ship and the responsibility that comes with it. Every day it’s sink or swim- it’s addictive. That’s why I start companies. I can’t work for anybody else. I’d be a terrible employee, right?
But, in a way, I am an employee because I’m a servant of my employees, and a servant of my customers. And I’m a servant of The Community. So I am working for other people. But in a very different, much more fulfilling way.
Gregory: What do you think it means to be an entrepreneur? Are you born that way, or is it circumstance that causes one to become that way?
Gene: I’ve heard it both ways: Entrepreneurs are born… Entrepreneurs are trained… I will say that I was not born to be an entrepreneur. Like most things in my life, I taught myself how to be one. And, of course, I supplemented that with mentorship and in training from others who have been down this road before me. But I was not born an entrepreneur; I was born to be a kind of a career middle management kind of guy because that’s what I saw growing up. When I found out that the things that make an entrepreneur successful; I realized I was born with those traits. I just didn’t know it at first.
I also did not realize, until later on, that I am very, very competitive. I realized, as I got you certain age, that I didn’t like to come in second to anybody because I took it personally. Not because I didn’t know how to lose. I know how to lose with grace, but I took it personally. Losing to someone else made me feel as if I wasn’t as good as them. Which, of course, wasn’t the case; wasn’t true. But that’s the way I saw the world and that drives me.
I don’t like to lose not because I want to win all the time just for winnings sake. It’s almost like a personal grade that I give myself. That’s my internal voice. Nobody told me that; it’s something that I ended up learning how to harnessing to drive business.
As a business owner, I try to soak up the weaknesses of my competitors. I look around and I see what they’re good at, what they’re not good at, what mistakes do they make and where they’re vulnerable. And for me, it was about self-affirmation. not to sound shallow, but I like the feeling of winning and being on top, and it made me feel like, better things were coming. Winning is a good thing. Like don’t feel like you’re like you’re being rude or you’re not being a nice person because you like to win. I had to teach myself that like it’s okay just to be noticed, it’s okay to stand up and be counted. That came later; those skills I had to learn.
End of Part One