Pub. 5 2010-2011 Issue 5

January/February 2011 21 Extraordinary Service for Extraordinary Members. A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO ON Christmas Eve at Grandma’s house the family was prepar- ing to reenact the Nativity. Little girls fought over who got to be Mary, and in-laws drew straws for the role of the donkey. My then two-year- old son walked into the room with a white apron tied on backwards and a ruffled lace bonnet. He obviously had been dressed by one of his aunts to be a sheep. The only problem was he wasn’t buying the idea. As I commented on what a nice- looking sheep he was, he quickly turned to me with a scowl and in his little gruff voice shouted, “I am not a sheep! I’m a superhero!” At that moment I realized that while the family had an idea of how my son should fit into the story, he was not interested. He went along with it long enough to get a costume, but that was it. How many times does this same scenario play out within a family busi- ness? Parents constantly tell their kids, “Someday you will own this busi- ness.” And their children thinking, “I am not a sheep! I am a superhero!”— or something along those lines. Do business owners ever consider that their dreams might not be the hopes and wishes of their children? Are parents listening closely enough to understand their children’s dreams and what they really should be encour- aging them to pursue? A family can have the most lucra- tive hot dog factory in the state, the most profitable bank in the region, or the most successful car dealership in the country, but does the next genera- tion have enough of a passion for hot dogs or banking or automobiles to carry the torch? Multi-generational success in business happens when multiple generations are passionate about the same business. Cash flow and profitability aside, a genuine interest and love for the business is essential for successful family busi- ness continuity. How do you develop and encour- age your children to discover their passion? Here are five tips followed by a deeper explanation of each: 1. Always speak positively about the business. Speaking positively about the business is one of the easiest things a parent can do to create goodwill in the mind of a child. Frequent com- plaining about the business and how tough things are will surely discour- age potential future business owners from wanting to carry on the family I Am NOT a Sheep! The Challenges of Fitting in with the Family Business Dave Specht Q Family Business — continued on page 23