People are supposedly driven by only 2 things: our attraction to pleasure and our fear of pain. Sadly, the fear of pain is usually the stronger of the two. Which means, we’ll work harder to avoid pain than we will to gain pleasure. 
These are big, broad and sweeping generalizations that can encompass many things. For CEOs and business owners, the desire to grow the business means we generate more revenue, which means we generate greater profits, which means we reap bigger financial rewards. Hello, Pleasure. It may also mean we work hard to avoid hitting a sales slump because that brings with it a slower flow of cash, more restricted resources (aka cash) and the risk of losing our business if it continues. 
Some people claim to have a fear of failure while others vow they’re more afraid of success. I’m not quite sure about all that, but I’ve come to believe that these 2 reasons – pleasure and pain – are likely at the heart of every motivation we’ve got. Professionally and personally.
Pain, and the avoidance of it, maybe among failure’s strongest weapons. But it’s inevitable. If we press on we’re going to experience pain. It’s a given. And only a matter of time. 
Pleasure and the pursuit of it are often very temporary. We hit a certain sales goal only to realize we now must chase something higher in order to feel good about ourselves, and our company. Such is life. 
A short time ago I began to help a friend out with some live streaming. Miguel Dias operates ScaleupAcademy.io. He’s in Portugal and wanted to start a new live streaming show, Scaleup Heroes. It’s the first European live show on scaling up a company (for instance, growing a company from $10M to $100M). As companies scale up they encounter new challenges and new opportunities. What once worked, may stop working. Companies, including their C-Suite leaders, must learn along the way so they can continue to grow. These are especially true for European companies where markets may be much smaller than here in America. 
The interesting thing I’ve found as I’ve interacted with a variety of business people from Europe is that a common problem continues to resurface. Communication. And along with it, culture.
And each person readily admits that intentional incorporation of diversity is not just important, but urgent. Companies devoted to growth and scaling up are finding that diversity is crucial as they continue to innovate. It’s also how communication and culture can best be improved. 
Companies intent on scaling up are searching for the pleasure of success – higher revenues, more customers, more resources and bigger profits. Simultaneously, they’re working hard to avoid the pain of losing in the market. Fear of lower sales, laying off employees and potentially closing their doors are all daily drivers behind their decisions. 
It doesn’t matter where we are – North America or Europe. Our desires and fears are common. Ditto with our problems and challenges. Not necessarily true with our opportunities, but we’ve got plenty of those, too. 
CEOs and business owners are by nature stubborn. We have to be. Our stubbornness helps us succeed. And overcome all the adversity. But we’re all different. I suppose some of us pursue the pleasures of success and achievement more than we pursue escaping pain, but every CEO and business owner I’ve ever known has a healthy drive regarding them both. 
From engineering to marketing to sales to top-level leadership…that diversity issue comes up over and over again. People in every area of a company can speak to how valuable it is when we’re talking about communication, culture, and INNOVATION. Fact is,