Strong Families, Strong Businesses: Recognize the Power of External Guidance, Embrace Growth Mindset, Overcome Challenges.
“Even a well-managed family business will, over time, have to deal with death, incapacity, recessions, and the fading of the entrepreneurial spark. Despite these obstacles, some businesses have shown a remarkable ability to survive within family ownership.”
- Charles Batchelor, Financial Times, July 2007.
Family businesses possess something that doesn't exist in conventional ones. The unique family bond. The blood ties that fuel innovation and build resilience in difficult times.
Indeed, when the business and the family work in harmony, the family business thrives.
But it's not an easy thing to accomplish.
Many family businesses are rooted in tradition, and it may be a struggle to adapt to evolving markets.
There are different opinions too. Different generations. Family members resistant to change.
So how do successful family businesses achieve their full potential?
Here are a few ways:
Embrace the power of a growth mindset
How does your family business react to adversity? Deal with obstacles? Overcome unexpected challenges?
Having a 'growth mindset' means seeing the opportunity when things get tough. Using difficult times to learn. To adapt and overcome. And embrace the possibility that it's a time for growth.
Share. Collaborate. Unite.
A successful family business is not the result of one person’s work. Instead, it’s the combination of three crucial elements - shared goals, unity, and collaboration.
Providing an environment where everyone has a say makes each family member feel valued. Feeling valued makes people a harmonizing force for good. And when a family and a business pull towards the same common goal, they’re sure to enjoy success.
Acknowledge the benefits of external guidance
Everything only looks the way it does because of where we’re looking at it from. We think the whole world sees everything the way we do. Especially when it comes to business.
That's why it can be helpful to look outside of the business. To tap into a wealth of knowledge, strategies, and fresh perspectives.
As Lao Tzu said “The wise man knows he doesn’t know, the fool doesn’t know he doesn’t know.’
How can you achieve these three steps and fulfil your family business' potential?
Embrace the strength in seeking help - reach out for a consultation or further information