5 Years
After 5 years, I'm finally going to write about what I've learned from running a family business: the top 5 things I couldn't just copy-paste from the corporate world into an SME, and the top 5 things I could.
Here's a teaser.
First off, it's been a rough journey for me. The whole idea of "managing up" changes completely when "up" is my Dad. All those data-driven presentations I'm so used to, the facts and analysis I've come to appreciate deeply, and the structured discussions I've been trained to lead—they all went out the window.
Suddenly, I found myself dealing with passion, emotions, and relationships above all else.
Sure, those elements mattered in the corporate world too, but there's a threshold there where people would eventually say, "Okay, you make sense. Let's do it your way."
But in this family setup, the more "facts" I presented, the more I got told I lacked "experience," that I was being "arrogant," and that I was just "arguing."
It's not all an uphill battle, though. There are times when I have to admit I was wrong, and with enough time, new information emerged in ways I couldn't have predicted. So, this story is about how I learned lessons the hard way when I could, how I was "protected" in situations where I had no choice, and all those fine lines in between where the real magic happened.
Here's a teaser.
First off, it's been a rough journey for me. The whole idea of "managing up" changes completely when "up" is my Dad. All those data-driven presentations I'm so used to, the facts and analysis I've come to appreciate deeply, and the structured discussions I've been trained to lead—they all went out the window.
Suddenly, I found myself dealing with passion, emotions, and relationships above all else.
Sure, those elements mattered in the corporate world too, but there's a threshold there where people would eventually say, "Okay, you make sense. Let's do it your way."
But in this family setup, the more "facts" I presented, the more I got told I lacked "experience," that I was being "arrogant," and that I was just "arguing."
It's not all an uphill battle, though. There are times when I have to admit I was wrong, and with enough time, new information emerged in ways I couldn't have predicted. So, this story is about how I learned lessons the hard way when I could, how I was "protected" in situations where I had no choice, and all those fine lines in between where the real magic happened.
Comments
Post a Comment