The real family business

Back into the days when life was simpler and business was centered on agriculture, a story is told of two brothers working together on the family farm.

The eldest was married and he had a large family while the younger one was single and as their common practice, at the days end, the two brothers would share everything equally both produce and profit.

One day the single brother said to himself, “it’s not fair and it’s not right that we should have equal sharing. I am alone and my needs are simple.” He looked at his brother’s burden of raising up such a large family and he sees himself as independent, free to move on with whatever he wants to do in life. And so he decided to do something very unusual.

Each night, he took a sack of grain from his bin and crept across the field between their houses, dumping it into his brother’s bin. Meanwhile, the older brother said to himself, “it’s not right that we should share the produce and profit equally. After all, I am married and I have my wife and children to look after me in years to come. My brother has no one, and no one to take care of his future.” So each night he took a sack of grain and dumped it into his single brother’s bin.

You’re probably wondering about the result? Well, both men were puzzled for years because their supply of grain never dwindled.Then one dark night the inevitable happened. The two brothers bumped into each other and slowly it dawned on them what was happening. They looked at each other, no words coming out of their lips and with wet eyes holding back the tears; they dropped their sacks and embraced one another.

In a family business setup, this should have been the spirit and the heart of everyone involved in the enterprise. A heart of loving and caring for one another but then again, things have changed and inspiring stories like this is a rarity.

Today, there is no such thing as “simple needs.” And I have known of family businesses wherein siblings are not caring for one another; instead they are fighting over the inheritance of their parents even while they are still alive. Rather than helping each other they are deceiving, manipulating, and maneuvering things and events so that they can get the lion share of the profits or the produce. And this is so sad.

Now the fact is that I know of family businesses that have professionalized their businesses, formulated their succession plan and carefully planned out the future for the growth and stability of their enterprise. They are sending both parents and children to my leadership seminars, they are consulting professionals who are helping them with their family constitution and council and they are doing everything possible in order to secure the longevity of their business. But then again there are still many businesses that are still far from getting this done.

Meanwhile, children grow up, founders of the businesses grow old and weak and in the absence of a formal and legal structure, there is now an intense rivalry for grapping the most out of the business. This picture is not pretty and family casualties are deep and many. And here is the punch line; history will show that the entire business weakens, some have closed shop while others simply face into oblivion and is now considered insignificant. The animosity still exists and the relationships cannot be healed.

Family businesses comprise the majority of all business activities in the country and I wish all of them would do well and spur greater economic growth. But then again to earn money as a higher goal compared to the preservation of relationship is not a good indicator for sustainable growth and longevity of the company.

I don’t know much but this I know that when it comes to family businesses, family should still come first before business. For now, professionalize the business.

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