Forward Thinking in Business
True business, at least as I understand it, is a long-term endeavour, planned not in years but in decades. This, undisputedly, calls for a certain knack for prediction and ability to adapt to changes and developments. A fitting analogy comes in a game of chess: true champions can anticipate how their opponent will react and have appropriate pre-emptive measures at the ready.
The goal of a game of chess is to win by putting the king in checkmate: the principles are clearly defined. Playing on a far greater chessboard, a business founder must also have a clear vision of where the movements of his pawns and pieces are leading: what they want to achieve and how.
Although responsible for the game is a single mind, victory would not be possible without the combined effort of the rooks, bishops, knights, and rank-and-file pawns. It is also vital to remember that, should we have to surrender our place at the board, the pieces need to be optimally arranged.
Working long term requires adept selection of the people you work with. Building a loyal and dedicated team is the mainstay of a company’s strength and survival. Seasonality does not work in such a concept of running business. A seasonal worker will not identify with the company’s goals, nor will they invest in its development. They will do their job and move on.
To create a business that will stand the test of time and the pressures of changing circumstances, we must carefully observe the working of every cog in that machinery.
Passing by signs displaying business names in the street, I scrutinise the information that is usually provided below the logo: “Established in 1915”. “Operating since 1959.” “Since 1997.” Some have also been in operation since, for instance, 2020. I am not ridiculing them, as they illustrate an intention I deeply respect: the ambition to create a venture that will find successors. This is an idea that appeals to me.
The more such signs, the deeper the conviction that the market is a stable one staying on an even keel amid turbulence and storms.
I was brought up to believe that everyone should leave something good behind. The attitude I assumed as an entrepreneur seeks to forge continuity, creating something beyond a lasting legacy that will allow the generations to come to build further chapters on top.
Succession calls for preparations, not only of us ourselves, but also of our heirs. How do you pass on a business? How do you prepare those who will one day take over our duties?
I am quite fond of a story I once heard that illustrates this concept. The daughter of Edinburgh publicans, by the natural order of things, was expected to take over the pub from them. Yet before that happened, her parents gave her all the jobs. So she started from scrubbing the floors and later washing the mugs, after a time moved on to working with customers, and then was in charge of the supplies, before later becoming the manager. This had an obvious educational dimension, yet there was more to it. That type of gradual preparation for managing the company on the one hand imbued her with respect for the work and the employees, and on the other, gave her a profound familiarity with all the particulars of duties in the individual positions. A win-win situation.
Some say that the only business worth doing with family is family photos. While agreeing, others immediately caution that you should never stand too close to the frame, for scissors can make people be forgotten as well as time.
Perhaps this is true, and perhaps it is not: much depends on those sitting for the photo and the one taking it. For there have always been numerous so-called family firms whose power has lain in blood ties and the model of management based thereon.
In my view, it takes mutual trust, reliability, and good faith to truly bond the various elements of such a firm together.