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“We simply need to get it in order to stay alive”, said the commercial director to the founder of a small family pastry shop in Barcelona. He was trying to explain to the founder the necessity of getting a new vehicle for the distribution of frozen cakes that they sold to restaurants all along the coast. The reason for this was that during the summer season, the stock was loaded onto a truck, only for half of it to melt under the burning Spanish sun. The business now required drastic measures in order for them to stay in business.
The commercial director had a new delivery refrigerator truck in mind, but he knew that the recently founded company’s financial situation was very precarious and that there was simply no money in the budget.“We need it; we get it”, the founder answered in his confident manner. But the commercial director wondered, “Sure, but how? There is no way we can afford it now!”
“With this,” replied the founder with his a dandy smile, waving his black pencil in front of the directors eyes. He continued, “It’s true we can’t afford it, but I have this, and with this I can sign anything”.
A few days later in confident fashion, the founder persuaded a bank to grant them a loan and the company bought the refrigerator truck that began what is today a $200 million enterprise operating more than 300 stores and restaurants spread across Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.
When the commercial director told me the story, it struck me that what made the founder different from others was not just his faith and the passion to pursue his dreams; it was the ability to make things happen despite the fact that others had deemed it impossible. There was something magical about his ability to turn his dreams into reality. What in most people’s eyes was a simple pencil – in his hands, it was a magic wand.
When I retold the story to the now-deceased founder’s two sons who are now running the company, tears rolled down their faces. After giving me a huge hug, they both started laughing out loud and began calling their sisters and mother to share the story with them. At the time, the company was facing some difficult times as were most Spanish companies, but as they were reminded of the power, love, and passion that was behind their family businesses, they were given new strength to continue their father’s legacy and carry it on to the next generation.
We are all aware of the great power that history possesses. Perhaps the most illustrative example would be professional sports coaches and managers that, in order to motivate their team before the important matches, share inspiring stories about great historical figures who fought and achieved great victories.
A family business does not need to seek motivation from the outside, because behind every family business, there are great men and women whose example can serve to inspire the present and future generations. The history of a family business is like an arrow that is launched with strength with a vision that keeps it aimed at the target.
The family is the main force that dictates our first social experiences and determines our future behavior. Each family has its own narrative which, through its culture and values, drive the family’ actions. By registering and sharing the history with the generations to come, this powerful accumulation of family’s identity stays deeply rooted in the collective consciousness and guides them toward the common goals.
The families that don’t acknowledge the importance of having a common history shared amongst all the members of the business are doomed to a long and very expensive process of letting the lawyers phrase it into legal documents. Legal documents are excellent means of commitment, but they must come at the end of the process. The process itself means bringing together all the parts involved and help them build a shared vision through a common history. In other words, before any legal document comes to see the light of day, there has to be a compatible narrative process among the people involved.
Writing the family business history is a narrative process that implies internal reflection by each member. It seeks to underline the compatibility of the common vision. Everyone gets the opportunity to put words to their memories and to the feelings that made them feel proud and committed to the common goal and shared vision of the family business.
Each family business is a complex structure compounded by three naturally opposing systems: Family, Business, and Wealth. Its structure is kept together by unique cohesive elements: Values, Culture, Mission and Vision. These elements have been placed in the family business structure by the founder who is the main architect, but they are not kept together by chance. There has to be much effort and energy by each member in order to keep it standing through the successive generations.
What makes this complex building stay together is the same idea expressed by world-renowned architect Louis Kahn, who once said that in a building, “even the brick wants to be something”.
Designing and guiding a compatible narrative process in which every “brick is something” is an excellent opportunity to maintain a stimulating vision and reinforce the commitment among all the family members, regardless of their age, role or position in the family business. It’s a process with a high potential to transform values into a modus vivendi for all the family business members.
Ultimately, it helps to see the wizard’s wand, when everyone else sees a simple pen.
