Why I am always trumped with ‘where do you see yourself 5 years from now?’

Who is this guy? Why is he staring at the stairs? How long will he stand here? These are all good questions for which I don’t have answers. Photo by yang miao on Unsplash

“Where do you see the company 5 years from now?”

This question is thrown in my face quite often, and I bet, it’s the same for any other entrepreneur. Most of the time, the expected response is blue-sky thinking accompanied by big dollar signs — a vision so bold that the entire organization believes it and follows its leader into the promised land.

But, I don’t have a coherent answer that checks all points off the ‘smart business plan’ list. It’s not that I’m dumb. Neither I’m averse to big numbers, more employees, more clients, or whatever other metrics through which one defines a company’s growth. Honestly, who would be? But, is that the sole framework of gauging the success of a company?

I think not.

Does that make me less of a leader? Is it required that your goal always be tied to dollars and cents? What if one doesn’t have the vision of the future in revenue numbers and the number of people?

The question of revenue growth makes my mind go blank and ties up my tongue in knots. All I feel like doing is shrugging off my shoulders with the proverbial ‘Fuck that shit’.

I don’t believe in these glorified so-called indicators of the future because most of the time these numbers are extrapolated…