Family vs business December 20, 2017

Families are complicated.

I never fully realised this until I met my wife who has the most complex family situation one could ever imagine. For me, my life was always mapped out in front of me with a clearly marked route. I would go to school, I would get O levels, I would do A levels, I would go to University, I would get a degree, I would get a good job, I would get married, I would have two kids, I would have a nice house.

My mother and father had only ever had one boyfriend/girlfriend and they had married that person. They had moved once and then lived in the same house for the rest of their lives. My father was an only child and my mother was a twin – but with no siblings other than her doppelganger… I thought this was pretty ‘normal’.

Then I met Pam.

Whoaaa…life shock.

She was one of four, her mother was one of seven and her grandmother was one of thirteen. She had moved house about twenty-three times and was currently living with her step dad, her mum, two sisters and a brother of only three years old. Pam’s aunt was living with a partner who was 20 years younger than her and had children by another partner who were older than her current boyfriend.

Pam’s middle sister then married a man twenty years older than she was and the younger sister again married a man significantly older. The dynamic in family gatherings is confused – you look at the various couples and think – he’s too old for her, she’s too young for him…all very confusing.

Interesting…. but confusing.

Running a business is also complicated.

Whilst my family life may have been straight forward – my experiences with Pam’s family has given me some insight into the complexities of human interaction. This life experience has helped me dramatically with trying to run a business. Getting a group of different people in a company – to all gel together and work as a unit is a little like trying to get Pam’s family to all get on at a family function.

Within JKSL we have –  the father figure, mother figure, the wayward son, we have the control freak, we have the quiet one, we have the noisy one, the one that always gets drunk, the one that hides in the kitchen and the one that is a comedian.

So pretty much a family dynamic within a business.

Pretty much like families the difficult part is getting them all to get on and all to help each other out ….

Maybe regular therapy sessions would help??

Mike C