Edition 498 – Because I Love You

I was reading an article in the Australian Financial Review recently about the Australian tech giant, Atlassian. In essence, it was suggested the purpose and values the owners started Atlassian with seem to have been lost, in their quest to get bigger.

Why they do, what they do, seems to have evaporated as the original, start up culture of the business had diminished and instead, been taken over by the new wave of tech recruits, who brought the expertise the business needed to grow, but potentially, had also contributed to the business losing its uniqueness. In becoming a mainstream big tech company, had it merely become a mirror of its competitors?

A client, to whom I shared the article, sent back a worthy summary, thanks to ChatGPT, of the lessons for Atlassian, and how it parallels with where they are at in their own business journey at the moment. There were some strong, valid points, others a little weaker, yet, in my opinion, it missed something, which perhaps is AI. Or, perhaps is an observation that only I make, in the work that I undertake with our family business clients.

Business owners have a loving relationship with their family business. For many of them, it’s a living, breathing being, that’s a part of their lives. The journey can be somewhat similar, to that of a couple that fall in love, decide to get married, and build a life together.

In the early days, it’s exciting. We want to do everything right, so we pander to the interests of the other in the relationship. We put them first, often to our own detriment. Part of it is lust, most of it is love, all of it is about building a solid foundation for our future together. We invest deeply, for the future.

As the years progress, and we get into a comfortable routine, we’ve figured things out. So, there comes a time where we coast along. In relationship terms, we put on a few kilograms, don’t take as much pride in our appearance as we once did, and can fall into a rhythm that is more about functionality, and less about that deep, new love we once enjoyed.

Beyond that, the day comes for some business owners where they’ve fallen out of love with their business, completely. They’ve got bored with it. They can see other opportunities, over the fence, that look and feel more exciting than the current venture. However, they also expect their current business to keep operating at the level it once did, and providing the returns, it once did. Except, like any relationship, if there’s been neglect over a long period, it can’t, and sometimes, won’t. How can you expect a return on investment, if there has been no investment, for so long?

The classic 1971 Masters Apprentices song, “Because I Love You”, sums this up brilliantly, in my opinion. We choose to move away from the core of why we started in business in the first place, and become separated from it. Yet, if we take a moment to reflect, often with the support and guidance of others in our corner, we can see that the deep, underlying purpose for why we went into business in the first place, is actually still there. It’s just we’ve neglected it, in the pursuit of something else, and the passage of time.

This Week’s Tip

“Do what you wanna do,

Be what you wanna be, yeah”

The Masters Apprentices – 1971