The father, the son and the great opportunity
There is absolutely no doubt that a father and son combo in business can be a fabulous formula for success. But just one thing has to happen first.
We were in the living room, father, mother, son and daughter. The business like many in this rural part of the country is a third generation, family, agriculture sector – mainly crops and some stock. Grandfather had been killed in World War Two so dad had been brought up on the farm by an assortment of relatives. He had learned everything the hard way with little in the way of formal education. Yet here we were, 60 years on, wondering what to do with a multi million pound business and two children, in their twenties, that are half in it and half out of it, depending on the day of the week.
Parent relating to Child is the inevitable axis for communication from the very earliest of days. Even if it is “Make sure you look right, and then left, and then right again before you cross the road.”
But one day the pattern has to shift from Parent Child to Adult Adult. There will be a jugular issue that father wants to do one way and son or daughter wants to do the other. And there will be many other little tests on the way to this defining moment that hardly anyone will have noticed, because that is the way it has always been.
The wise father will know when it is time to move over, when it is time for the next generation to move into pole position.
Labels: family business integrity, the generations
posted by Tim @ 11:50 PM
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