SMKYCEO, thank you for sharing your perspective on this topic - especially since you must have known full well that you would "take a few shots on the chin" for it. The opinion you expressed is strikingly similar to many managers I know or have interviewed, so I was not "shocked" or "awed" when I read your post. Setting the verbiage and syntax aside, I think one reason for such a broad disparity between these two positions is perspective.
Upper management has (or should have) a clear direction of where they are headed with well-defined steps of how they plan to arrive at those objectives; they are driven and highly motivated. Forfeiture/delay of salaries, investing capital in their own companies and a work ethic which almost borders on insanity are often signs that they are supremely confident of future success.
The investor only knows what they have bothered to read (which, amazingly, is often very little) or what has been publicly provided. They have not witnessed the meetings with financiers, read the unsigned documents or interacted with companies which have signed an NDA. They haven't seen what management has seen, so they are incapable of possessing that perspective. Compounding their limited view is also the unfortunate fact that far too many investors are incapable of divorcing emotion from reason and buy or sell on impulse.
The other factor is control. Management has the ability to be active (hopefully pro-active) while shareholders are relatively inactive. They are selling, producing, building, expanding, signing - in charge and creating the momentum and direction of the company.
On the other hand, the average investor often purchases shares with the "dread" that he is no longer in control of his money. It is common knowledge that fear is a stronger motivation than greed in the stock market - it may take one a couple weeks or longer to decide to buy, but that same person may be convinced to sell in less than five minutes.
Perspective and control.
You are driving while we are passengers. Some are so confident in your abilities that they will sleep the entire way and wake up asking, "Where are we? How did we get here?" Others enjoy the sights and/or the fellowship during the trip and occasionally take a peek at a road sign here and there. A few passengers stay in constant contact with you checking that you are still awake, reading a map (old school) to remind you where you have been and tell you where are headed or providing you snacks or coffee. There are always some who are convinced you are lost, worried the vehicle will break down or lamenting the entire trip that you didn't follow the route they are convinced was much better.
In the long run, all that really matters is that we get to the expected destination safely, with as little wear and tear as possible.
Still looking forward to big things here!
All The Best
