First and foremost, hopefully your family will take time this weekend to remember any of your family members who served and made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.
In our family, my Uncle Richard Walsh graduated from Wharton before he served in World War II and gave his life as a torpedo bomber in the South Pacific.
As a family, we often thought about “what if” he had not gone to war and he a chance to be the successor and run our family business. As it turned out, his younger brother served as our president for over 35 years.
Uncle Tim would joke and say, “I wanted to just have fun and have it easy! Instead I had to become the president and be responsible for 100s of employees and their families.” Uncle Tim rose to the occasion and did a great job for the family and the business.
The lesson? You never know when the family may need you. That’s why it’s so important to keep growing and developing the talent within the family. Life brings lots of curve balls.
A family meeting or family retreat can be a great venue to build family communication and talent. It can also be a great time to remember and applaud family members who made big sacrifices in the family business.
I often help set up a session where the founder can share his or her best life lessons to the next generation. Founders usually have a hard time being mentors (rather than preachers).
Does your family ever have a family meeting or retreat?
If not, why not? What’s getting in the way of that?
What happens if you don’t develop and strengthen your talent and team?
If you have a meeting how can you make it even better?
Summer is upon us and it’s not too late to schedule and execute a great family meeting. In my Family Business Playbook, we have a chapter called, “How to Have a Great Family Meeting.” Email me and I’ll be glad to share a free copy of the chapter with you.
Also, consider having me come and facilitate your meeting. I’ll help you engage your team and help you learn how to communicate and work together. I still have a couple open dates this summer.
Play to your potential!
Coach Pete
Pete Walsh is a demanding, courageous and playful Master Coach in Phoenix, Arizona. He is the founder of Peak Workout Business Coaching and the Family Business Performance Center. He can be reached at pete@peakcoach.com.
