1. Novice (Analyst)

a. Everything looks good, the world is covered in rainbows.
b. Numbers just go up.
c. Best technology wins

2. Apprentice (Associate)

a. Nothing looks good
b. Every Entrepreneur is wrong about their assumptions
c. Saying "No" is easy

3. Master (Partner)

a. Can say "No", Wants to say "Yes"
b. This isn't an easy job, it takes work to make good returns
c. Change what you can, Accept what you can't, and make good decisions

Where are you along this time line?

More importantly, where are your funders along this growth path?

Me, I'm not there yet.

There's one more level that's been suggested.
When you first enter the "Master" level, some successes will come about because of your personal actions/influence. This gives rise to the idea you can do "anything" with just a touch of your fingers. This is the mentality that created drive-by VC's. Pop in for one meeting, get introduced to the problem, give a simple answer, and move on. Most of the time, the simple problems required more complex solutions. The early successes also caused people to believe they could do MORE deals, and have the bad ones get washed out in the mix. Again, we saw this mentality in the late 90's, with larger funds, chasing too many deals, and just about every idea getting funded.

This will cause most funds to go broke.
The survivors of this mentality will know that the work is hard, it is possible to help a company succeed, but the battles need to be picked carefully. The companies need to be selected, and it's easier to know what approaches to use, when the investor has domain experience, not when he's out of his element. It makes for a great underdog story when you get a success in a brand new industry. But most successes come from the people who know what they're doing.