Article: The Future Farm Glossary
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The Glossary
We’ve created a growing, continuously evolving and not exhaustive glossary to guide you through the words you will see and hear us use.
There are multiple definitions for each of these words and phrases, these are our definitions at The Future Farm.
Adversity
Adversity is a scenario or ongoing situation of great difficulty. In the world of entrepreneurs, adversity can occur in many forms such as financial and funding difficulties, conflict with co-founders or change in business landscape.
Anti-fragility
Coined by Professor Nassim Nicholas Taleb. It is the ability to grow when exposed to volatility and stressors. Growing through adversity. What’s the opposite of a person or organisation that’s fragile? If you ask most people this question, they’ll likely say “robust” or “resilient.” Taleb would say that’s not the right answer. He argues that if fragile items break when exposed to stress, something that’s the opposite of fragile wouldn’t simply not break (thus staying the same) when put under pressure; rather, it should actually get stronger. We don’t really have a word to describe such a person or organisation, so Taleb created one: antifragile.
Resources:
Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder, Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Business Health
Business health refers to the holistic health of the company including the mental, emotional and physical health of its team and founders/leaders. A business health assessment helps to decode the key emotional and mental health challenges for entrepreneurs and their teams. Through confidential conversations and anonymised data collection, this is a way to identify the key challenges and opportunities for improvement through thorough data-driven analysis.
Burnout
Burnout is the state of complete emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion as a result of excessive insidious stress. People experiencing burnout may become cynical, feel their own inefficacy as they feel overwhelmed and unable to meet constant demands. In its severest form, it manifests physically in individuals as chronic fatigue, insomnia, forgetfulness, impaired concentration, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness and headaches. The problem of burnout is very real and is estimated to cost the global economy US$1 trillion each year in lost productivity.
Co-Founder Divorce
Similar to the breakdown of a marriage, divorcing a business co-founder can be emotionally, psychologically and physically traumatic. Co-founder divorce may be a result of one or both partners having changed their priorities or the direction they want to continue the business in.
Company Leaders
These are the individuals at the helm of the organisation, the persistent innovators who are leading the brand. Business leaders are glorified and celebrated as confident, high-achieving and successful people, however they are also regularly under an undue amount of stress and pressure. The lonely side of leadership is rarely discussed.
Emotional Health
Emotional health involves a person’s ability to manage and express the emotions that arise from what they have learned and experienced. It is the ability to be in control of their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. Emotional health of entrepreneurs and leaders is just as important as physical and mental health and well-being, and there are ways to train emotional fitness.
Resources:
Hit the Emotional Gym — The Founder's Framework for Emotional Fitness, First Round Review
Emotional Loneliness
Emotional loneliness is an increasing phenomenon, the cause here isn’t the number of relationships a person has, but the quality of them. This is a feeling that you lack fulfilment from a relationship or attachment. Emotional loneliness can occur when you are not experiencing nurturing or support from the relationships that you are currently in.
Emotional Resilience
Emotional resilience refers to one's ability to adapt to stressful situations or crises. It is the ability to bounce back from adversity and the emotional capacity to adapt in the face of challenging circumstances. Resilience is like a muscle: it can be built, trained and strengthened.
Entrepreneurship
An entrepreneur is an individual who creates a new business solving identified needs and problems. Entrepreneurs account for 8% of the global population (that’s 582 million people!). Considered an innovator, entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship is glorified by the media and in turn, the struggles entrepreneurs face are largely ignored.
In 2019, the World Economic Forum recognised a global health crisis in entrepreneurship.
Resources:
There is a mental health crisis in entrepreneurship. Here’s how to tackle it, World Economic Forum
Founder’s Blues
This is a commonly used phrase, coined to capture the rising mental health concerns faced in the entrepreneurship landscape. The causes for the Founder's Blues include founders experiencing immense pressure when starting and attempting to build their own businesses. A constant state of anxiety, extremely high expectations, long hours and a lack of time taken for their mental and physical well-being are what affect the leaders behind these companies most. The larger the gap between the reality and the expectations a founder had, the higher their level of stress. The desire to do whatever it takes to succeed combined with having to project a confident image to investors, customers, and employees makes it especially difficult for individuals to discuss their struggles.
Resources:
Founder’s Blues, The Economist
Genius in Madness? 72% of Entrepreneurs Affected by Mental Health Conditions, Startup Grind
Imposter Syndrome
An internalised belief in which an individual doubts their earnt status, accomplishments or talents and has an irrational fear of being exposed as a "fraud" and not being good enough.
Investor Portfolio Health
Refers to the holistic health of the companies under the management of an investors’ fund and portfolio. It is important to identify the key health challenges of the companies and across the portfolio as well as suggests ways to cope with those. A portfolio health assessment can also identify the strategic ambition and role of individual investment funds, accelerators and other entrepreneurial communities in supporting their portfolio through emotional challenges and resilience struggles.
NAKED
One of the first podcasts sharing open stories of founders and the ways they have coped or not coped with the challenges that arise when building a business. Listen in as we strip entrepreneurship to its vulnerable core. Available to listen to here.
Psychological Safety
A safe space can be a place or environment where an individual or a group of people can be their authentic selves without fear of judgement, discrimination or harassment. Space of psychological safety. Psychologically safe workplace culture means “one where people are not full of fear, and not trying to cover their tracks to avoid being embarrassed or pushed.”
Resources:
Stress
Stress manifests in many different symptoms. It is the body's way of responding to any kind of demand or threat. The stress response is the body's way of protecting itself. Prolonged stress will lead to burnout. Entrepreneurial stress is often caused by high workload, work intensity, as well as financial problems.
Resources:
9 Ways High-Performing Entrepreneurs Handle Stress, Entrepreneur
How entrepreneurs have the most stressful – yet most satisfying – jobs, The Conversation
Toolkits
We refer to toolkits as practical guidelines of targeted interventions to address key emotional and mental health challenges within individual companies as well as the entrepreneurs within a portfolio, under the umbrella of investment funds, accelerators and other entrepreneurial communities. Toolkits often include an Interventions Roadmap, a clear blueprint of actions and best practices for better health of entrepreneurs and leaders.
The Future Farm
The Future Farm was born out of the experience of its founders building, supporting and investing in businesses over the last decade. One of the most obvious but hugely underserved needs that we observed has been the lack of support targeted towards individual entrepreneurs and leaders, particularly in support of their emotional and mental health. It’s a topic rarely talked about and even less so addressed. We are entrepreneurs, coaches and founders on a mission to help the wider ecosystem create a safer and resilient space for entrepreneurs and leaders.
Vulnerability
An emotional and physical state where you are susceptible or more exposed to being hurt or uncomfortable. Being vulnerable is not to be confused with being weak. Being vulnerable is also being open to growth through facing the uncomfortable.
Become a contributor and engage with The Future Farm
Are you interested in contributing on the topic of entrepreneur health and emotional resilience with us? Or interested in inviting The Future Farm to contribute to your initiatives or event? Drop us a note.
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