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Growing a Business Requires Us to Suppress This 1 Primitive Urge. Now I Know Better.

5 min readApr 15, 2025

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A firefigher backfacing the camera.
In business, there will be fires everywhere. Photo by Jay Heike on Unsplash

I remember what it was like working with an entrepreneurial consulting managing director 10 years ago.

Terry, like many high-performing achievers, is always on the move. He pitched 3 times a day when his peers averaged 1. He chairs 4 meetings a day and attends 2. We die by the third one. He is sharp as a tack and is always alert.

Many of us in our late 20s and early 30s could not sustain running at his tempo. One of my peers [an analyst] offered to buy back her notice period so she could leave the firm immediately. It was no joke.

Deep down, I found Terry entrepreneurial and impressive in his day job. He was running a small business on the side. Yet, burning the candle at both ends did not take him down.

He rose with the tide.

And that got me wondering.

How did he cope with his demanding day… day after day?

The chat

Grabbing Terry for a coffee chat is next to impossible.

He had 3 executive assistants. They worked hard to prevent anyone from reaching Terry. There was no open-door policy. Terry closed his.

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Aldric Chen
Aldric Chen

Written by Aldric Chen

Singaporean. 24x Top Writer (as of June 2023). Eavesdropper. I uncover interesting stories around me.

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