PRACTICAL PARANOIA No matter how useful it is, paranoia may be too loaded a label for some entrepreneurs. If so, critical evaluation or critical analysis are the preferred terms of Stephen Markowitz, director of governmental and political relations of the Small Business Association of Delaware Valley, a 5,000-member trade group. The distinction is more than name-deep. “When I say ‘critically evaluate, ‘that means look at everything, “Markowitz explains. “If you’re totally paranoid, the danger is not being able to critically evaluate everything For example, Markowitz says a small retailer threatened by the impending arrival of a superstore in the market would be better served by critically evaluating the potential for benefit as well as harm, instead of merely worrying about it. “If you’re paranoid, “he says, “you’re not going to critically evaluate how it might help you.” Whatever name it goes by, few entrepreneurs are likely to stop worrying anytime soon. In fact, experience tends to make them more confirmed in their paranoia as they go along. Paine recalls the time a formless fear led her to insist on going to a client meeting where no trouble was expected. She lost the account anyway. “The good news is, my paranoia kicked in, “she says. “The bad news is, it was too late. That made me much more paranoid in the future.”