In a recent blog post “And so it begins… (again)” Rachel Elnaugh drew attention to a review of her new book “Business Nightmares” written by Jonathan Guthrie of the Financial Times saying:

Basically he has used the book as an excuse to slag me off (yet again) for being that business failure who is now simply a whining bitch. And it’s clear from the review that he’s only bothered to read the first chapter!!!

Which makes me wonder if Elnaugh has done precisely what she accuses Guthrie of - only reading the first paragraph (chapter) of his review - as his second paragraph consists largely of a quote from chapter six of her book, not to mention various other references to the content of other chapters, not least the mention of her being “photographed naked for PR purposes”. She then goes on to say:

Interestingly, reading Jonathan’s article (and the ferocity of his venom against me) you really have to wonder what kind of person HE actually is.

After all, as the old saying goes, people criticise in others what they secretly despise most about themselves.

An interesting observation from Elnaugh given that she’s written the post to criticise Guthrie and openly criticises many others in her book. Personally I think he’s written a fairly good piece. As a review of the book it drifts rather off topic, dismissing the book as “not very good” in the third paragraph, but he does go on to draw out some important issues for entrepreneurs saying:

Business failure attracts considerable stigma in the UK. Jerry Blackett, who lectures on the subject at Warwick University, says: “Britons have a very negative perception of [business] people who fail. It is very little discussed.” One consequence is that the popular media rarely portray entrepreneurs except as wealthy profiteers lolling on their yachts. The resentment this inspires would be less if another essential ingredient for successful capitalism - failed business people - were depicted too.

Which is very true, in this country we tend to look down on failure in business when we should be congratulating people for trying. Building on this point he goes on to say:

Another consequence of the taboo is that entrepreneurs can feel peculiarly isolated when their venture goes belly up. It also stands in the way of their learning from their mistakes. Chris Argyris, the management theorist, argued that smart, motivated people are often bad at this, preferring to blame failure on external factors. Mr Blackett says bosses need instead “to look in the mirror and ask: what am I doing that is causing these problems?“. This requires personal detachment.

I’ve added the emphasis above because it’s an important point. As an entrepreneur you will make mistakes, so instead of blaming others, try to detach yourself from the situation, step back from things and ask yourself honestly what you have done to cause the problem and how you can reasonably fix it. It’s not easy, believe me - I’m still learning to do so myself!

It’s a shame that as Guthrie puts it “Elnaugh has not achieved that transcendental state” as I believe there are a lot of positive lessons to be learned from her experience and she could better share them by accepting more responsibility for what happened rather than blaming others.

I’ll have my own review of Business Nightmares posted in the next day or two (unlike Guthrie I think it’s a good book). In the meantime Elnaugh has sent out this email:

Just a reminder that my new book ‘Business Nightmares’ is officially launched this Thursday 8 May at 6.30pm at Borders in Oxford Street. Exciting times!

If you would like to come to the launch party but haven’t yet done so please email Ella at ellag -at- crimsonpublishing .co .uk to get on the guest list.

If you can’t make it but are in the Essex area I’ll also be doing a signing in my home town of Chelmsford on 13 May at 12.30pm at Waterstones in the High Street

So if you’re in the area why not email Ella and pop along.

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