Running the Company That is Your Family

Posted on June 21, 2007

Business success occupies much of our time, but when the unexpected occurs we remember the ultimate importance of relationships.

In a recent Alliance meeting one of my peers shared a sad story. Her college-aged son’s best friend died of a drug overdose. The young man was healthy, active, heavily involved in sports and loved by all. He was just having fun at a party and for some reason, mixed a popular pill with alcohol, which led to his death.

I’ve another good friend whose exemplary son died when the son’s inebriated friend, behind the wheel of a vehicle, crashed.

I went home and told my two kids – 8 and 10 years old – all about it. I know that many of these tragedies are unavoidable, and that bad luck and fate has a role in all this. But I don’t want to believe that in the case of my family. I want to believe that if I spend enough time with them, keep communications open, and otherwise be the best parent I can be, that I’ll improve the chances that they’ll both live long, fulfilling lives.

The only value that I can see from hearing tragic stories like this one is that it helps me counterbalance the pull and press of daily business and brings me back to tending to keeping my family healthy. With that being said, I’m now off to help my 8-year-old with her Indian village model and video. We’re doing the ancient pueblo Indians, whose impressive caves we saw in person at Mesa Verde on last summer’s vacation.

Takeaways:

• Sometimes life hands us the unexpected.
• Are you spending as much energy tending to your family as you spend on your business?