“Sharing”: My Theme Word for 2018
Happy New Year 2018
The fact that this blog would be going out to subscribers on Monday, January 1, helped spark the idea for this post.
I’ve been working with a coach for a long time now, and I recently had my last Skype of the year with her. As usual for this time of year, she asked me some questions about my accomplishments in 2017, as well as my intentions for 2018.
Her final request is for one single word that will be my theme for the coming year. I thought about it for over a day (she had sent the questions to me in advance, from her blog) and I came up with “sharing”.
“Spreading the Gospel”
Back in 2013, when I was actually just starting to discover this field, I wrote a blog entitled Spreading the Gospel vs. Cornering the Market and my feeling about this subject has only become stronger.
Not only has my belief in the importance of sharing grown, thankfully my ability to share useful ideas has also increased.
Just today I was involved with two separate groups of colleagues on calls as we prepare to submit proposals for the 2018 conferences of some of the major organizations in the family business/legacy space.
Content Creation and Dissemination
I’ve developed a bit of a reputation as a content creation machine in this space and I wear that badge with pride.
So I recognize that “sharing” may not seem like a new theme for me, but there are a few other things I have planned going forward to hopefully “kick it up a notch”.
In addition to possibly presenting at some of the conferences that I attend regularly, I’m now looking at other ways to get in front of other advisors in the family business space to share some of my ideas and tools as well.
This is still in the embryonic stage for now, so I’ll just leave this here as a bit of a tease, but there are some other aspects of sharing that I’d like to highlight here too.
These thoughts about sharing are directed at the enterprising families themselves.
Business Families Should Share More
Most business families could also stand to share more too. You may think that I’m talking about being more philanthropic, but that’s not my angle here.
The more I learn about the subject of philanthropy, the more I realize to what extent business families are already among the leading givers in our society.
No, I’m talking about sharing internally, family member to family member. So what kinds of things should they be sharing?
I put these into two major categories; Past and Future. Those labels are pretty good for conceptualizing the differences, but aren’t very descriptive.
How about “History” and “Dreams”?
FamBiz History Lessons
Leaders of a family business often take for granted that because they lived the beginning of the company and its growth, and came home every night and shared their day with the family around the dinner table, well, everyone already knows the company “story”.
But most of the key events from 20 years ago will be lost today on those who were teenagers at the time. An occasional sharing of how we got to where we are today can be helpful.
Naturally, it’s nice when the audience plays along and is in an accepting mood to hear the stories, so don’t forget the word “occasional” I used above.
Dreams of What’s Possible
Having family members share their dreams is also something most business families could stand to do more of from time to time.
The rising generation may not be enthralled by the particular business that Mom or Grandpa started, and they may have their own entrepreneurial dreams.
Asking them to share those in a safe space can be very enlightening, and provide future growth paths for the family to invest in.
Family Interdependence
I’ll end here with a word on “interdependence”, which I might suggest any business family use as their “Theme word for 2018”.
The “NextGen” and the “NowGen” depend on each other for different things, and the balance of that equation changes over time.
Realize this, share the history, share the dreams, and build the future together.
The balance will shift some day, if only due to ageing. Sharing nicely now will beget sharing nicely later.
