Question Of the Day: Do You Think You Are Playing Your Best Game?

Key Question: Do You Know What Game You Are In?

We have met business owners who have leadership roles in family businesses yet have very little formal training. It’s not unusual in family businesses that when the founder/patriarch/CEO decides to retire, a family member steps in and in some form continues to “run the business”. It reminds me of a story one of my colleagues likes to tell to describe similar experiences in the sports world. For him it was baseball. Here it goes.

The Game You’re In

The story one of my colleagues likes to tell is about his childhood friend who started his “sports experience” when he was six years old and in the first grade. He first learned to play baseball with his dad when his father bought him a baseball glove, ball and bat. He played whenever he could, at gym class, before and after school, weekends, neighborhood backyard, vacant lot, sand lot, where-ever. Anything related to playing baseball, he was there.

His first real baseball coach was when he went to middle school. Fortunately, the coach recognized talent and got him in the right classes to support his growth.

A big change happened in high school. More organized, specialized training, position skill focus, practice, practice, practice, competition, uniforms, playing in school league, special coaching. He started to realize he had unique and special talent and was recruited to play at the next level. Universities and colleges were calling. He received four full scholarship offers. He chose a west coast university because: (1) professional teams recruited there heavily (2) he really liked the west coast weather and lifestyle, and (3) great coaching staff known to be very effective in preparing players for the professional leagues. He had a wonderful university experience playing for a successful (highly ranked) university and three years later he was drafted by a professional team. He made it to the major league and played professional baseball for 21 years.

Looking back, he played ball at six levels: (1) sandlot, (2) elementary school gym class, (3) middle school, (4) high school, (5) college, and (6) major league. He was involved in growth programs, and he kept getting better and better. If you are a family business manager-leader, you would hope for a similar development experience in running the business; keep getting better. But it rarely happens. We see many family business managers “still playing sandlot ball or high school ball” when it comes to management and leadership skills. The family business is still being run based on how far the business leadership has developed up the “game ladder”.

The Academy of Family Business is here to help you achieve your level of leadership knowledge and skills to keep you moving toward playing at the highest level. The business needs it, you need it. Keeping up with management and leadership knowledge is a life-long journey if you expect to “play in the majors”. Leadership development in family businesses for family business members is one of most promising and beneficial investments for a family to make.

To learn more about the Academy of Family Business, our curriculum and our coaches, please email us at: info@myAFB.org.