Every company and entrepreneur needs a narrative to tell to the world. A good narrative is almost as important as an excellent product.

These narratives are forward-looking. They highlight the big opportunity and why the company is poised to capture it.

However, in an attempt to create a compelling narrative, entrepreneurs often knowingly or unknowingly exaggerate the company’s strength and hide the challenges or risks.

The biggest trouble happens when everybody in the company starts believing that narrative as reality. Mid-level managers and employees fall for this more given they hear it regularly in pep-talks. Companies become over-confident, underestimate the challenges they face, neglect org culture, forget about customer experience, build unnecessary & complex features, and get into mega-hiring spree.

This lack of self-awareness and humility prevents them from achieving their real potential.

This is a chasm that even most of the successful companies never cross. They never become truly glorious.