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Becker Private Equity & Business Podcast
Navigating the Middle: Staying Committed Through the Toughest Part of the Journey with Liz Hutson 5-19-25
00:08:55
In this episode, Liz Hutson, Principal Consultant and Owner at EGH, LLC, joins Scott Becker to explore the often-overlooked “middle” phase of projects and businesses.
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- [00:00]
Unknown Speaker 1
Jayaro Los nuevos make crispy strips Listos paraventurace in la mescla de Mayo Ketchup La barbecue Que quettono el fondo de la cajita Hot fudge sundae and la Nueva Creamy Chili McCrispy Strip Dip Los Nuevos McCrispy strips out in McDonald's Ba Da Ba ba ba.
- [00:15]
Scott Becker
This is Scott Becker with the Becker Private Equity Business Podcast. We're joined today by Glis Hudson, who's one of our most listened to guests. We're going to talk today about a topic that that's near and dear to everybody who's ever founded a business or even beyond founding a business. The topic is one that resonates with people going through any effort they're trying to get through into improving and so forth. Liz, let me ask you to tee up the subject and we'll start to talk about it. Why don't you go ahead and tee it up?
- [00:45]
Liz Hudson
Sounds great. Thanks, Scott. Yes, today's topic is Navigating the Middle. When I say that recently I was reading about a company called Ideo. They were their design and innovation company and they talk about this V shaped curve that they call the project mood chart. And what it is is basically imagine a V at the beginning of the V. You're very positive, very excited, very hopeful. Things are, things are just, you know, you have these ideas that are cooking. And of course, once you make it through the project or make it through the kickoff of a company, of a project, of a product development, at the end of it, you also feel very excited because you're confident that you just solved it. But the middle, from the beginning to the end, that middle part of the here to there can have some negative hard parts on this. And so I found myself really just kind of reflecting on this idea of that middle and how do we get through that slog, because that's actually where we spend most of our time is in that middle. So there were three tips that came to mind, Scott, that I felt like would be worthwhile to share with you and with, with your audience.
- [02:05]
Scott Becker
And thank you very much. We've seen there's been a lot of discussion and I've read a couple of books on it. This concept in building a business of the middle zone or the gray zone or whatever you want to call it. And this is the point where you built a team, you started to get enough revenues, things are going okay, but you've not quite gotten to that sustainability spot where you've built a big enough team, enough clients, enough business going on that you really feel secure and stable. And that's that middle zone of going from smaller to a little bit larger to feel a bit more secure and stable. And I think it resonates with projects, with products, with all kinds of efforts. And so now talk about this middle zone, this gray zone in either product development or what you're doing and how you get to that next stage and some of the thoughts on it and tips on it.
- [02:57]
Liz Hudson
Perfect. That's great. So there's three ideas here that I want to talk through. So the first one is when you're in the middle and you're just kind of spinning and it feels frustrating, and that's where most of the work is. First thing is remind yourself of why you're there. Your why is really important because I think that helps with context. What problem are you trying to solve? If it's product development, what can you visualize the ideal future state of what you're trying to do? So if it's a new company that you're starting, if it's an integration that you're doing, if it's navigating a manufacturing transition, whatever that is, can you visualize that ideal future state and then almost manifest that ending? Right. What. What is it that you're trying to do in all of that? And when you can focus on the why, when you can focus on the bigger context, it gives value to the hours, to the debates, to the frustrations, to the dollars that you're spending on it. It gives it some sense of purpose. So that's. That's the first thing is just reminding yourself why you're there.
- [04:03]
Scott Becker
I think this concept, but I think this concept, when you're going through difficult times in anything or trying to get through, call, fight through, or something else, this concept of remembering why you're doing something is so important. So I love that thought. And tip. So everybody's in that middle zone at times and everything they do, and they can either quit or keep at it. And to keep at it, you sort of got to know why you're doing it.
- [04:29]
Liz Hudson
That's exactly right. That's exactly right. The second thing is to remind ourselves that in that depth of that V shape that I was just talking about in the beginning is to remember that the journey itself has great value. Because not only are we moving our way towards the end or to the ideal future state, but we're learning things that we probably didn't expect we were going to learn. So it's not just about getting to the end. It's not Just about the win, but it's about that growth mindset that we have that's really critical to success because it's about the process of learning and discovery and really having this open handed sort of posture of willingness to curiosity and discovery, not just thinking, okay, I've got to the end and so I win and it's done, but really having that growth mindset of I'm learning something and maybe it's not exactly how I thought it was going to shake out, but there's value in that as well. So the second idea is the journey.
- [05:27]
Scott Becker
Itself has great value and I love that. And I also think there's this fine line. There is so much written about it's not the result, it's the process, it's the journey, not the process. And I think there is so much not the result, it's the journey, not just the result. I think there's so much truth in that. And I think there's also a reminder that for some of these things you've got to take that journey with some urgency if you actually want to get results too. And that often, if you just don't want to flow through life, then this combination of loving the process, loving the journey, plus having some urgency to it to actually get results is such an important sort of contradiction and synergy you've got to put together. Both loving the journey, loving the process, but also bringing some urgency to it. But I think there's so much there, I think. Thank you so much, Liz. Let me let you continue on.
- [06:24]
Liz Hudson
Yeah. And the third and final point, and this is a hard one because I think when we get into something exciting, new company, new product, new, something new, wherever that project, we're excited when we start and we can anticipate the excitement when we'll be done. But in the middle, it is a slog, as I said. And it's. We have to remember it's not about the feeling, it's really about a commitment. Because if we quit the first time we didn't feel like it, or we encounter some kind of pushback or argument or debate or whatever that is, some kind of thing that gets in the way, most of our projects would be abandoned right. The middle isn't fun, it's oftentimes annoying, it's tedious. It's a process of experimentation where you're failing and failing and failing. But it's something that takes persistence. And so I would say, of course, we want to make sure that we're, you know, pulling the plug on something where, you know, it doesn't longer make sense. Right. We want to check context and check strategy. But once we are sure, yes, this is still a good idea. It's just hard right now, then commit to finding a solution, even when it's not fun, even when you don't feel like it. So that's the third idea. Not about a feeling. It's not about having that excitement, enthusiastic feeling through this log of it, but really committing to saying, I'm going to figure this out. I'm going to work through this even when I don't feel like it.
- [07:55]
Scott Becker
Stephen, I think this is a wonderful, wonderful point because every time you're starting something, there's a fire, there's an excitement. I'm working on a new book, aiming for 50,000 words. We're three to 4,000 words in, and that's just a daunting period of time. Very exciting. The first couple thousand, now you're in, started getting to the meat of having to write, and you're looking at 50,000 words. You're like, oh, my goodness. And, and trying to find that daily discipline, that daily excitement, to persevere even when you get past that initial lick of excitement is so, so important. So I love these concepts. Liz, let me give you one chance to summarize these three again. Give us these three keys again real quickly.
- [08:36]
Liz Hudson
You got it. So when we're navigating the middle three ideas, one, remind yourself of why you're there. Number two, the journey itself has great value because we learn things that we did not expect. And number three, it's not about a feeling. It's really about a commitment to success.
- [08:57]
Scott Becker
Liz, I want to thank you, as always, for joining us on the Becker Private Equity Business Podcast. Always a pleasure to visit with you. Thank you so much for joining us.
- [09:06]
Liz Hudson
Thank you, Scott. Great to talk with you.
- [09:17]
Unknown Speaker 1
Pita hot fudge sundae, E. Elanueva Creamy Chili McCrispy Strip Dip, Los Nuevos McCripy strips out in McDonald's.