Edition 496 – Principles vs Opinions
I’m 12 or 13 year old, hanging out with some family friends during the school holidays. Their eldest is the same age as me. He’s more of an acquaintance than a friend, but we knew each other reasonably well.
On this particular day, we head into his bedroom on the second storey of their home. For the life of me, I can’t remember why – probably to grab a game or a piece of sporting equipment. When I turn around after retrieving what it is I went in to get, there, facing me, is Robert, with a rifle aimed straight at me. To say I freaked out was an understatement. At the opposite end of the bedroom to the door, was an external door, which led out onto a balcony. I ran as fast as I could, out the external door, only to realise the balcony still hadn’t finished construction, and had no railing. Somehow, I stopped myself before plunging 4 metres to the ground below. At this point, Robert laughed….and I didn’t hold back in my words or my actions.
Meanwhile, in the UK, my wife is working one of her first jobs in an employment agency in north west London, during the school holidays at the end of the UK equivalent of Year 10.
One job they had her doing was working in the cash room, inside the employment agency, under the direction of a long standing employee. One day, not quite two weeks into her tenure, two masked, armed gunman enter the branch, gain access to the cash room, where the younger version of my wife is holed up. A sawnoff shotgun is held to her head, and she is instructed to give up the cash in her possession. She never went back to that job.
In 1996, when Australia adopted some of the toughest gun laws in the world, we each stood firm in our support of the Howard Government’s gun control initiative. To this day, I still believe that legislation is one of the finest political and social decisions ever undertaken by any government, in my lifetime.
Our principles in life are often framed by our upbringing, or our life experiences. Yet our opinions on a variety of matters, differ, based on any number of factors. Time, what’s changing in the world, our own outlook on life are but a few that play a part in formulating our opinions.
It seems to me that too many family business owner are confusing principles and opinions, and instead, are prepared to die on a hill, rather than make fundamental changes in their business.
When technology advances, and it impacts a business, too many business owners lament the change, rather than embrace the future.
When younger employees enter the business, and their outlook is different to our own, we hark back to the old days, and the old ways, and wonder aloud, why they are the way they are, and why can’t they be more like us?
When customer demands change, and your product or service is no longer what they need or desire, rather than stare into the abyss about something that has been longstanding and, potentially on borrowed time, why not see this is an opportunity to reinvent the business, and forge a new path forward.
Too many small and family business owners are wed to things, or products, or activities inside their business, for no apparent reason, or any depth of conviction. Perhaps its laziness? Or perhaps, they were hoping to run down the clock, so they could time their retirement with an irreversible market shift.
When it comes to your principles, by all means, stand firm. However, in doing so, when it comes to your business, look to what’s changing and be prepared to listen, adapt and, potentially, discard elements of your business, that no longer achieve the results they once did.
This Week’s Tip
“In matters of style, swim with the current. In matters of principle, stand like a rock”
– Thomas Jefferson