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Edition 187 – The Challenge

Following on from last week’s edition of Growth (Edition 186 – Acceptable Mediocrity), this week, I challenge all family business owners and managers to consider the following:

  1. Am I a leader?
  2. Am I top of my game?
  3. Am I developing myself & my team to the highest possible level?
  4. Am I vulnerable enough to accept I need accountability?
  5. Am I efficiently managing my time?
  6. Am I efficiently managing the resources in my business?
  7. Am I inventing, or reinventing, a product or service that we offer to our clients?
  8. Am I the best person to lead this business into the future?

There’s plenty of great family business success stories around and I’ve been fortunate enough, over more than 30 years, to not only observe some of them, but play a part in a number of them.

I’ve seen a lot of people play at the highest levels in their business for a long time – mostly successfully. However, I have also seen some people sticking at it because it’s what they’ve always done, not necessarily because they’re the best for the business?

Hence, the challenge.

Unless you are the best person to be taking your business into the future, then are you limiting the potential success of:

  1. Yourself.
  2. Your business.
  3. Your family.
  4. Your employees.
  5. Your clients.

One of my boyhood heroes was Peter Brock – one of Australia’s greatest ever sportsmen, let alone motor racing drivers. It was Bathurst 1995 when he put it into the wall in the Top 10 shootout that made me question whether his time in the top tier was over. He retired two years later in 1997, though made two further attempts at Mount Panorama, in 2002 and 2004. ‘04 was somewhat of an inglorious farewell in competition form as he was well off the pace in a front running car.

Wrong calls. Slow decision making. Reliving the past rather than planning the future. Dwindling performance. They’re all indicative of a family business where someone should be undertaking today’s challenge and being honest with themselves to make the right calls for the future.

If you take the challenge and the answers are in the negative, it doesn’t mean it’s all over. On the contrary, it means you should be considering what’s next on your journey that is exciting, invigorating and enjoyable