As of March 2024, eighty percent of New Year’s Resolutions already failed. You will fall into those statistics if you are basing real change on a calendar date. A resolution, priority, or whatever you call your goal needs to have real meaning. It is the “why” that is important to the achievement. Although you might have a heartfelt commitment to change, here are some suggestions to increase the probability of success.

When a family enterprise is created, it starts with the entrepreneurial founder (s) who have an idea and a vision. A small business evolved after hard work, sacrifice, and mistakes along the way. They invested and grew the company, leading to an established, structured entity. But businesses need to change over time to meet challenges, expand into new markets or products, seize new opportunities or make an existing product better, more relevant, or attractive for the prevailing market. How can prior generations instill the entrepreneurial spirit into the next generations? The answer is an intentional plan to develop the upcoming leaders, an educational strategy.

Do you have a life list? Sometimes it is called a bucket list after the movie with the same name. The definition is a compilation of priorities for you and your family for one year, three years, ten years, or more. As we prepare this December for New Year's resolutions, let us plan to increase the probability of success. Most resolutions fail by the end of January. However, according to research in the book Creating Your Best Life, accomplishments in your life strongly relate to how happy you are in life. Those without a priority list are not only less happy; they accomplish less than people who have written goals. Even with the high failure rate, the fact that the plans are written down increases the likelihood of moving the flag forward.

Schooling is only part of having a growth mindset.  If you have a degree but didn't learn anything, you aren't growing.  I know young adults who spent 5, 6, or 7 years getting a piece of paper only to be left unemployable and in debt.  Growing in knowledge is the objective.  Knowledge incorporates skill, understanding, and acumen.  It comes from learning and experiencing inside and outside a formal environment.  Recognize that the core values of resilience, persistence, and making mistakes are part of gaining knowledge.  Creating a growth mindset in your family must begin with a plan.

My passion is hardcover, paperback, audiobooks, Kindle, and new and old books. Books open up the world of knowledge. Books on Family Businesses specifically create an opportunity to learn and enhance the family enterprise and gain what is called Intellectual Capital. Governance, Family Council, Philanthropy, Succession, and NextGen are topics in my extensive library. Learn real stories and life lessons with autobiographies and biographies. Historic books give perspective on life during those times. Here are some of my top recommendations. 

Individuation is a term coined by Carl Jung, a Swiss psychologist, defined as a process of psychological integration. According to Wikipedia, Individuation is a process of transforming the personal and collective unconscious and bringing it into consciousness using dreams, active imagination, or free association to be assimilated into a person’s whole personality. What does Individuation mean for the rising generation?

When I was entering college and deciding on a major, I received guidance from my dad that I should always include business lessons no matter what I choose.  Great advice for any young adult, but especially true if they are part of a family business or stewards of family wealth.  As we sat down with our children during a family council meeting, some members realized their shortcomings of lacking knowledge about balance sheets and cash flow statements.  What should the education criteria be for family members responsible for managing family wealth in the future?

Growing up in a family business is a beneficial educational experience for any young child family member if done well.  Exposure to day-to-day interworking and challenges that family firms face gives children a perspective their peers may never see. When I was in kindergarten, I learned math basics on a cash register in my family’s small business, Ratajacks.  Although I could barely see over the counter, I worked side by side with my mom, who taught me the art of customer service while building family relationships.  Being exposed to mounds of cash taught me the value of trustworthiness.  But not all family businesses operate smoothly.  Some family businesses become intertwined in family turmoil, as depicted in the movie Boss Baby: Family Business.  How do you prepare a family business's heirs to function successfully over time while maintaining family harmony?

As of January 10, 2021, eighty percent of New Year’s Resolutions failed. If you are basing real change on a calendar date, you are sure to fall into those statistics. A resolution, priority or whatever you call your goal, needs to have real meaning. It is the “why” that is important to the achievement. Although you might have a heartfelt commitment to change, here are some suggestions to increase the probability of success.

On December 21, 2020, the Christmas Star was visible to those who had a clear sky. Those who did not have the opportunity to view the astronomical phenomenon, due to cloudy skies, light pollution, or smog, still experienced the feeling of hope for the future. Even if the sky was not clear, the guiding light in the direction of the future was recognized. This event only happens once every 800 years, but the North Star is used as an anchor in the sky guiding us toward a purposeful destination every night. It is the same with a vision statement, which describes what dreams we want to achieve long term thus giving direction toward realization. The vision should be visible daily through multiple channels, used to engage family members or employees and to see the “Greater Good” the vision creates.

When my husband first bought his engineering company, our three boys had no interest in being part of the organization. Only one was studying engineering, but he never aspired to go into business with dad. The other two also had different thoughts on their career trajectory. Although annually we set our goals for the next one to ten years, time and time again in everyone’s carefully laid out life plan, nobody described any role for being part of the family business. My husband continually pointed out the oversight, but I wondered how could we encourage family members to get involved with the family business?

My dirty little secret is that I am a book hoarder. Amazon is my go-to place for impulsive orders to collect literature. Every Saturday, we receive the Wall Street Journal which lists the top books by fiction, non-fiction, and business. Systematically I go through the list to investigate the topics which might be of interest. Although I lean toward non-fiction, The Traveler’s Gift and Where the Crawdads Sing are amongst my favorite in the fiction category. Completely out of my typical genre is The Name of the Wind, recommended by my son, which turned out to be thoroughly captivating. My sister also wrote a book, The Scent of Death, historical fiction, which I couldn’t put down and read in one sitting. Without going into details about fictional best sellers, I will focus my recommendations by subject to include business books, family business books, books teaching values and books created by a family member.

In school we are taught that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Even when running marathons you learn about running tangents, running from one curve in the road to the next using the shortest possible line. Mathematically those are accurate strategies, however, it doesn’t necessarily apply in life. When we design our life plan, we presume we should take the straight path toward our dreams. But in reality, it is the meandering path leading to the destination which will be the most meaningful. Why? Because that journey will be filled with interesting, unfamiliar experiences as well as surprises along the way. Don’t become too focused on the getting there as fast as you can just to check off a completed goal. Instead, take time to recognize the small steps as well as the big ones. Enjoy the missteps and failures. Stop and celebrate moving the flag toward your dreams.

Among the wide range of hobbies or interests some of us spend time on, my passion is collecting inspirational quotes. They can motivate, inspire and encourage with a “call to action.” Scientific research has shown that an inspirational quote can invigorate us to continue through the grind of tough work. As a business family, creating unity of purpose can create a close bond amongst members. Quotes can inspire by making you laugh, by being a life lesson or by promoting core values.

There is only so much time in a day, a week, a year. When we want to start something big, human tendency is to talk ourselves into the mindset of “we have time for it later.” Time to take that trip, build that house, start that business sometime later when things slow down. My husband and I often tell new parents “don’t blink,” because a newborn baby will be driving away to college before you know it. Living intentionally with your family by not missing that soccer game or dance recital will be more rewarding. Painting a picture of how you want your future self, your family, your business and your involvement in the community to look like 10 years from now is the beginning of making it come true. To dream about the future is a positive step, but making it a reality is the challenge. Often we write down our goals at the beginning of the year, a New Year’s resolution, then cast them aside only a few weeks later. In the case of 2020, many of us conveniently used the excuse of the pandemic not focus on what we really want in life. So my challenge to you is list all of the dreams you have waiting in the wings of your life.

Life is hectic with day to day activity distracting families from their business educational goals. The ability to organize and schedule a family celebration or family council meeting is only part of the challenge on the road to educational awareness and proficiency. Determining what areas need further development is a continuous process which needs monitoring for continuous improvement. With the objective of having your business family knowledgeable in a variety are areas such as governance, finance and history, how do you seamlessly continue to evolve from year to year, generation to generation?

Entrepreneurship is defined in the Oxford dictionary as “the activity of setting up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit.” Other Google searches led to the Wikipedia definition as “entrepreneurship is viewed as change, which may include other values than simply economic ones.” George Washington was described as the first entrepreneur in Virginia with his revolutionary farming operation viewed as a business. But it was Benjamin Franklin who is ultimately considered the first in American entrepreneur described as “a very savvy businessman who knew how to commercialize the fruits of his fertile mind.” Another great would be P. T. Barnum with “The Greatest Show on Earth,” which is a favorite story of mine. He changed modern advertising. This repeated theme of change intrigued me. Most people resist change, but it seems to be the nature of the entrepreneurial spirit to embraces it.

I have always been a fan of history, however, with the current state of affairs, I started to contemplate how our core values may change through the times. After HBO Max decided to remove Gone With The Wind from their selections because they wanted to add “historical context”, my curiosity began. At first blush, I assumed a value is a value, but after some reflection, I concluded that the interpretation of that value can be a reflection of the changing times. Our family has determined our core values to be Family, Integrity, Knowledge and Perseverance. Let’s take a historical perspective on each one to see if they have evolved through the generations.

After more than 30 days of the “Stay At Home’ order, we all are striving to get back to a routine. Rolling out of bed in our pajamas to start our work day from home has become tiresome. Many people are bored, irritable and even depressed being cooped up in their home, but too scared to venture out even for necessities. As I sit here this rainy morning contemplating my day, I wonder what will be on my to do list. Although I feel I am one of the fortunate ones living on a beautiful 280 acre farm, my life, as with everyone else’s, has been turned upside down. We are told to sit on the couch and don’t go outside to do our part in flattening the curve. But as another year is quickly racing by, we must not let our goals and dreams get derailed be a pesky pandemic. Let’s look at this black swan event as an opportunity to accomplish some of our goals that we might not of had time for before.

Social Distancing, Coronavirus, Quarantined are all things we have become too familiar with these last couple of weeks. Businesses and schools are closed, hospitals are overburdened, and we are struggling to find a new normal. We are scrubbing our hands, keeping six feet apart in groups of ten or less all in an effort to “flatten” the statistical curve of the virus. We have become a society of hoarders by clearing out grocery shelves of paper towels, cleaning products, toilet paper and the elusive hand sanitizer. People are binge watching movies, old TV shows or obsessively watching the latest news since we are being told to be a couch potato. Someone sneezing in a public place is as frightening as a person with leprosy. To combat our worst fears, the human spirit is discovering creative ways to entertain themselves. Teddy bear hunts are being developed and song parodies are going viral on social media. Although some have extra time on their hands, others need to adapt to their working environment in the confines of their abode. Some even have to juggle the additional chore of homeschooling. But through this confusion, a question occurred to me. While everyone is working from home and if this is our new normal, how can we keep our family bond if we aren’t physically together? At this moment during the Pandemic of 2020, can technology be an effective tool to keep your family productive, connected and informed?