The Business In Family

Why do we run our family with business principles?  Because Jim Collins said so of course! Well maybe he did not say so but in his book Good to Great Jim taught me more about parenting than I think I have ever learned in any other book.

 

What Jim was teaching in his book were proven examples of how businesses were able to take their organizations from good to great.  I am a struggling parent who tries really hard and wants the best so as I started applying business principles to my family I figured the worst that could happen is I settle on good and maybe my wife can make it great.  She always takes things from good to great.

 

This is how I started using business principles in my family and started to think of my family as an organization to try to take my family from good to great.

 

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away………

 

Did you hear the Star Wars music right there?  I hope you did!

 

Well, it was not as dramatic as that but this really was a changing point in my life and the life of my family.  I am the father of two amazing kids and let me tell you, I have no idea what I am doing. 🙂

 

Fake it till you Make it

Years ago I was a trainer in a large company where we taught new employees our systems, products, and sales.  We had a saying that we said often which was fake it till you make it.  Meaning even if you did not know what you were doing fake it until you understand.  This was in an effort to give confidence even though there were things we didn’t know

 

Has there ever been a better phrase for parenting than fake it till you make it?  Think about it.  As a parent, you are taking on all the challenges that are thrown at you for the first time.  Even with other kids, the same problem could be different because of the personality of that child.  

 

The best thing about it all is our kids don’t know.  As I look back at my parents I know I was very lucky to have a great mom and dad who did everything they possibly could to make sure I grew up right.  But guess what, they were faking it too. We all are to some point.

 

I am convinced that we need to fake it until we become grandparents and that is when we figure it out.  The purest form of parenting is a grandparent where you give them anything they want and then send them home with someone else.  🙂

 

When we had our oldest it was truly the best day of my life.  There is something special about holding your own child in your arms.  You feel pride, excitement, love, and then the feeling of great expectations.  Expectations you put on yourself to be the person that this little person needs.

 

This was the case for me.  For about 3 years I was totally over my head in the deep end.  Every once in a while my wife would pull my head above water for some air.  She is an amazing mother and I just try to keep up.

 

If I thought I was in the deep end before, I decided to add some waves to the water when we had our second child.  Not only did we now how two children but our second was a little girl. Little girls are terrifying. They are the cutest things in the world and there is nothing better.  But in the back of your mind every time you are with them you know they are just like kittens.

 

Kittens are great.  They are so cute and fluffy.  It is so fun to watch them grow and play.  But you know what happens to kittens, they become cats.  You know what happens to little girls, they become teenage girls.  Talk about the deep end.

 

Jim Collins Give Me A Floaty

A few months after having our daughter I decided to go back to school and get my MBA.  I love the topic of leadership I looked for programs to give me the change to dive deeper into the topic.  So I chose an MBA program in strategic leadership.

 

This would give me the chance to study a lot of different aspects of organizational leadership.  During this time one of the books I was reading Good to Great. This gave so many great examples of leadership and how great companies put in practice, successful principles.  It was at this point there was a switch in my brain. I changed from reading this book as research for a paper but as a father who was researching for my family.

 

So I asked the question, why can’t these principles that take companies from good to great take my family from good to great.  It was at that time that I realized that a family is just an organization. The most important organization you will ever be a part of.  So even though I was in the deep end as a father there so much out there that teaches what great organizations do. All we have to do is adapt it to work in our families.  

 

The best part is it’s not really hard to do.  Because your organization smaller than Google you are able to make changes on the fly to better your home.  All the things that are important in the business world like training, process, products, leadership, and most importantly culture are just as important in our homes.  If you are reading this you are most likely the CEO or co-CEO of your home. Or, if you are my house my wife is the CEO and I am the ceo. See the difference? 🙂

This is what you will find in these pages.  I hope to make you a better CEO for your family by bringing you different ideas from the business world that have worked there and I know will work for you in your family.  If you want to change the world change starts with you and then in your home. When we change our homes we change the world.

 

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