When I was thirteen years old, my Dad came home and told us that he had just received orders to go to Vietnam. Even as a boy, I knew that this was very bad news. I knew other kids who had fathers in “Nam”, and I understood what a scary, difficult struggle it was for them and their families.

Recently, I was turning the whole concept of courage over in my mind while driving to work. Suddenly something happened that gave me a totally new perspective. It came in the form of a turtle.

As entrepreneurs, we are faced with a variety of constantly changing priorities. Personnel problems, vendor issues, customer complaints and dozens of other factors combine to rob us of our time and drown out our joy.

For the entrepreneur, fear is a two-edged sword.

On the one edge it is fear of the unknown that motivates us to do our due-diligence before moving forward in a business deal. It is fear of loss that drives us forward when our hope of gain has been completely exhausted. In this sense, if properly understood, fear can be a useful tool.

There is a subtle truth about how we motivate others that every entrepreneur must understand to be effective.

The first part of this truth is that most companies motivate people by fear of loss rather than by hope of gain. You can confirm this opinion for yourself by simply watching TV or picking up a magazine.

Completely isolating ourselves from the personal issues of our employees causes them to adopt a “them and us” mentality that spills over into their work performance and attitudes. It also works against our ability to build a culture of trust and mutual support. Company owners that adopt this model tend to have high turnover, increased theft, low job satisfaction, and poor productivity.