Balancing reality and vision

When working with entrepreneurs, one of the most difficult things consultants, advisors, and mentors must do is tell their hopeful visionaries when an idea does not have a reasonable chance of success, or simply is not viable. Such advice isn’t meant to demotivate or squash the dream, but rather to ground what is likely a rose-colored-glasses perspective in the realities of the marketplace.

The horns on this dilemma, as you might imagine, are reality and vision. And the challenge for advisors...