My path as an entrepreneur has been shaped by self-education, experimentation, relationships, and difficult operational lessons. I do not think leaders need to pretend they had all the answers from the beginning. What matters is whether they are willing to examine results and redesign what is not working.
The deeper issue
I did not arrive at my operating philosophy by reading one perfect management book and following a ready-made playbook. I learned through selling, hiring, managing, building relationships, making mistakes, and confronting the difference between a company that earns revenue and one that retains strength.
My experience taught me that hustle is a capability, but it is not an operating system. Relationships can open doors. Persistence can win contracts. Neither automatically creates clear ownership, healthy cash management, disciplined follow-up, or a workforce that can perform without constant intervention. Those capabilities have to be designed and practiced.
Self-taught does not mean refusing expertise. Self-educated does not mean never changing your mind. Self-approved does not mean avoiding accountability. To me, the phrase means accepting responsibility for learning what the next level of leadership requires, whether or not someone has given you permission to begin. I want the organizations I build to reflect that philosophy: test assumptions, listen to the people doing the work, measure consequences, protect the people affected by decisions, and improve what evidence shows is weak. Authority becomes meaningful when it is matched by responsibility.
What this means inside a behavioral health organization
Leadership in behavioral health asks a great deal: responsibility for people, services, and organizations that communities depend on. No leader arrives fully prepared for all of it. The question is how leaders learn once they are in the role.
Learning from experience is not automatic. It requires naming assumptions, gathering evidence, listening to the people closest to the work, and being willing to change course. Without that discipline, experience can simply reinforce old habits.
A practical move for employers
Choose one recurring organizational failure. Write down the assumption behind the current process, gather evidence, involve the people doing the work, and test a specific improvement.
What I would watch
Review what changed, what did not, and what you would teach a new leader. The value of measurement is not the report itself; it is the decision that follows and whether the underlying condition improves.
My position
The strongest authority comes from responsibility, learning, and evidence.
If your organization is facing this challenge, begin with an honest diagnosis of the operating conditions and the people affected. BeIDT Health can discuss which workforce approach fits the evidence, rather than assuming every problem needs the same service.