Growing up in a small Polish community outside of Chicago, it was common to have a name ending in "ski." My friends were Cindy Kalinowski and Jonnie Turkowski, so having the name Madeline Szostak didn't seem too difficult. It wasn't until I started my education at Georgia Tech that the professors would stop cold when reading the roster. I would wait as they got to "S" and say "here" when they paused. Even the name Madeline was unusual for the era. I was the only Madeline that I ever heard of besides the "Madeline" series of children's books. So when I got married, I eagerly took my husband's last name, Hoge. I thought having only four letters would decrease the room for pronunciation errors and misspellings. I was very wrong.

Two significant families make up the descendants from Belle-Hampton farm, Hoge and Howe.  Although one might not recognize Hoge, the Howe name was most known from the Howe Dynasty and the family's involvement in the British side of the American Revolution.  Specifically, Brigadier General William Howe led the British against George Washington's leadership with the Americans.  It was presumed that Howe came to his position of high status from his family's wealth.  Although the family came from royalty and was brought up within high society, the Howe children succumbed to the shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves scenario of so many wealthy families.  But how did the Howe family lose their money?

When I was growing up, weekends and holidays were spent at our family business.  Through that, my parents taught us the value of hard work, customer service, and sound financial practices.  The company became very profitable, which then required some other investments.  My uncle, a real estate attorney, recommended purchasing land and a cottage on a lake in northern Wisconsin.  A beautiful setting perfect for a relaxing family getaway and a chance to bond.  Although I believe in the value of investing in real estate, this wasn’t the best thing for our branch of the family.

The Mickey Mouse Fan Club became a rage in the late 1950s, where they popularized the term Mouseketeer.   Walt Disney himself spoke as Mickey Mouse in each episode.  Mickey, the character, made his debut significantly earlier in 1928.  Now, Disney’s following is even more extensive.  If you log onto Twitter, Disney has 7.2 million followers, while on Facebook, they have 52 million.  Their tag line, "Disney magic right at your fingertips."  They continued with Walt’s philosophy that the magic is inside each of us. The Walt Disney World's guiding principle is to create a culture of magic in the company.  But how can your company include magic as a goal?

How do you preserve life experiences for future generations?  My dad served in WWII in the Battle of the Bulge.  He never spoke about his time overseas except to tell me about his trip to Switzerland after the war ended.  Growing up, my storybook, "Our Leave-In Switzerland,” contained material for a soldier’s introduction to the country.  Pictures of beautiful snow-covered Alps, short biographies of the various accomplished scientists, and the nation's history adorned the pages. My love for Switzerland began at three years old because I listened to the tales about how they remained neutral during a significant war.  Unfortunately, I have so many more questions to ask my father about the time he served, but they are lost for eternity since he passed away.  I am now passionate about preserving stories for other families by preparing advisors with good questions and teaching them good interview techniques.

Soon after my husband bought his company, our family decided to form a family council. The purpose of the council is to educate and facilitate communication between family members and provide a forum for constructive discussion, problem-solving, and decisions about the family as it relates to the business and the family. After several successfully facilitated meetings by our advisor, we decided to organize the meetings independently. Establishing the agenda, arranging the location, and gathering other pertinent information went smoothly. However, the conference itself stumbled since some members interrupted or diverted from the topic at hand. After an abrupt end to a Thanksgiving meeting, the family members complained separately to me about the unorganized discussions. The family needed to step back to evaluate the situation to continue family harmony during the meetings. Instead of blaming each other, we decided to be proactive by taking an individual assessment test, the DISC, to learn how to work more effectively together.

Growing up in a poor suburb of Chicago, I attended a Catholic school with a requirement to wear a uniform. One day a month, to get the uniforms clean, we could wear a nice dress, pants not being an option. The other girls had beautiful fancy dresses from Marshall Fields while I wore handmade boxy shift type dresses. When I asked my parents for the latest store-bought fashion, they refused since they could not afford frivolous purchases raising five daughters. While I was whining about not getting store-bought clothes, my dad would say, "Life is not fair," in response to my complaints. But aren’t we taught the importance of being fair and equal?

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.

On March 11, 2020, WHO officially labeled COVID-19 a pandemic. After nine months of social distancing and safer at home orders, most us have had enough of this doom and gloom year. We are gleeful and hopeful for 2021 to bring back some normalcy. As we plan our New Year’s resolutions, we re-consider what is important to us. If the challenges we faced in the pandemic of 2020 are having you reflect on your desire to make a difference in the world, rest assured there are many ways to fulfill this goal. Start with small ways that can make a big difference, continue with a plan of “doing no harm,” and strive to achieve making a real impact.

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.

Reminiscing holiday traditions growing up, I think of blessing Easter Baskets, celebrating Christmas Eve at my Bushi’s (Polish grandma) house and enjoying Thanksgiving at my Aunt and Uncle’s. Getting dressed up with black freshly polished patent leather shoes and an Easter bonnet which were all lined up the night before brings back the joyful smells of the day. Since I was the youngest, our large Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt and Uncle’s had me relegated to the “children’s table” which I never graduated from even in college. In my Bushi’s tiny basement, my dad’s enormous family were cozily scrunched together on folding tables and chairs with a large buffet of Polish delicacies. In hindsight, many of the traditions brought both joy and heartache. Trying to develop traditions that are unifying is an objective for any family, but sometimes unintentional pain is inflicted on a member. How do you avoid the hurt feelings associated with the holiday traditions?

After being restricted from travel with the COVID-19 pandemic, I found myself dreaming about our next adventure. My husband and I already traveled to the Galapagos, Africa, and Scotland from our bucket list, but we want to choose carefully for the next trip. Taking in considerations on safety of course, we want to have a purposeful one beyond just a list. The outline for the experiences concluded with finding a place that evokes joy, learning about something, creating a legacy excursion and a memorializing tribute.

When thinking of inheritance, typically the thought revolves around money or possessions. Designing a successful wealth transfer tends to be the conversation with financial advisors. Insurance companies might ask about high worth assets to provide adequate coverage for posterity. But if you want to transfer values and a shared sense of purpose to future generations, you need to design a legacy plan which would consist of a Vision-Mission-Core Values statement, traditions, family education, and a collection of stories.

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.

Significant changes happened over the years with the customer-bank relationships. The initial banking system developed by Alexander Hamilton had the purpose of paying for the Revolutionary war. By 1836, however, banks were motivated to get people’s money out of their mattress and introduced their version of a checking account. Although this system was proven to be a disaster with various “runs” on the bank over the years, it was the banks risky behavior leading to the crash of 1929 that cemented the mistrust of financial institutions. Once the government issued the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), the consumer slowly became more confident in using banks to safeguard their money. Today with a declining 60% of their current patrons depending on banks as a primary financial institution, banks need to enhance customer understanding, innovate the customer experience and to build customer trust to keep competitive in today’s market.

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?