The magnitude of John Donne’s words
(a seventeenth-century English author) impresses upon me the importance of
sharing our knowledge and expertise with others. The truth is we can’t be experts in “everything”;
however, we can be assured “someone” has the knowledge about “something” we are
seeking to learn.
Hoarding information is pointless
since it only benefits the person who has the knowledge; while sharing information
broadens and deepens others’ understanding about a particular matter.
For this reason, I applaud Douglas Nelson, a long-time veteran of
the financial service industry. He
created a game plan and willingly shares his knowledge with other advisors
through his course, Advising Family Businesses. His valuable resources equip an
advisor to understand the dynamics of a family business. In turn, this knowledgeable advisor coaches
the family business team. Do you see the
ripple effect here?
Let’s play ball.
Baseball is team sport; you understand
the only way a team scores points and ultimately wins is by running the bases
in a logical sequence. A baseball diamond illustrates the similarities between playing
ball and operating a family business. The strategy for successfully winning a
ball game mirrors that used in designing a sound financial plan for the
family business. Doug’s approach is a
clearly definitive direction to round First, Second, and Third Base
successfully.
From the perspective of a family business owner, to effectively
navigate round the bases and build a successful financial plan, several key
areas need to be addressed:
- To make it to First Base,
the family business owner must recognize that they need a clearly defined
vision of what they are trying to achieve.
- To move past Second Base, they must realize they
need to navigate their way through the various opinions, beliefs, values, and
conflicts that exist between the key family members and the vision at hand.
- To move to Third Base,
they must now be able to help their advisors craft an integrated financial plan
that combines the goals relating to their “softer” issues and the planning
strategies that will deal with the “technical issues”.
- Finally, to put the overall plan into place, the family business
owner will need to find, evaluate, and implement the most appropriate products
to put the plan into place (Home Plate).
Success is not achieved with a magic formula achieves
but rather an easy and practical strategy with logical and clearly defined
steps. The winning strategy is doing
some soul searching to discover the answers to the tough questions listed in the diagram below.
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| Knowledge Bureau Inc. - Advising Family Businesses |
Family businesses are special in
many respects. The fulfilment of working
side-by-side with your family, striving to achieve financial success, can be
rewarding as well as challenging. Your
loyalty to each other creates a special bond when you are focused on the same
goals. Yet the opposite can be true when
challenges erupt. Conflict creates hurt
feelings which can last a lifetime. Whether these feelings are verbalized or
hidden from sight, turbulences in relationships are bound to exist. Genuine
communication – both talking and listening – may be difficult to achieve. However, without it, family businesses and relationships
may not survive. In order to be
successful, the chart below illustrates specific strategies. Gaining a better understanding of the threats
and opportunities prepares you for the work of putting together the ideal plan.
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| Knowledge Bureau Inc. - Advising Family Businesses
|
If you think you’re all alone, you’re not. If you think you have no place to turn, you
do. Advisors were created to help you
achieve results you can’t seem to derive on your own. Advisors are part of your winning team as much
as strategies are part of the overall plan.
So here’s food for thought from
Doug’s nuggets of wisdom. The notion of being successful at reaching home plate
means running the appropriate course. There are no shortcuts; you cannot cheat
because you will not achieve the desired results. Success comes from understanding
the rules of the game and playing by the rules.
This is as true in running a family business as it is in playing baseball. When you play ball,
you need to know how to cross the bases effectively.
For advisors, who are interested
in learning more about the course, Advising
Family Businesses, click here.
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