Family Businesses, Entrepreneurship, and "It's Not a Real Job" Syndrome
USA Today recently featured an article about the entrepreneurial spirit that family businesses inspire in the children of the parents who run it. Consider this:
Nearly half of business founders had a parent who started a small business first, according to a Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation report released last summer. Slightly more than 15% had siblings who launched a business before they did.
"If you had a family member who started a business, you are more likely to become an entrepreneur than someone who didn't," says Vivek Wadhwa, founder of two technology companies, as well as a senior research associate at the Labor & Worklife Program at Harvard Law School and a co-author of the Kauffman study. "They provide inspiration, financing and they teach you the ropes."
This hit close to home for me. As a serial entrepreneur and father of 10 children, I'm seeing strong entrepreneurial tendencies in nearly all of my kids. Even my youngest son, at 5, routinely set up a "store" in our living room selling things he found around the house. When he turned 6, we explained that he needed to buy the stuff from us and resell it. Words like "profit," "inventory," and "margin" became a natural part of his vocabulary.
Owning a business absolutely helps you teach and train entrepreneurship in a more thorough, profound way. In fact, that's been one of our business objectives all along: involve the children, and teach them marketable skills in the process. We received some surprising benefits, as well. For example, some unexpected sibling communication issues did not get resolved until we hired certain children and put them into the same office. The emphasis on teaching and training also helped create a company culture of continuous learning.
The Rub: "It's Not a Real Job" Syndrome
However, even with all the benefits, you need to be careful. One issue we've run into is what I call "It's not a Real Job" Syndrome. Children tend to take a family-managed business more lightly than a "normal" job, so you have to take measures to prevent that attitude. Here's a few quick tips from our play book:
- Where possible, let non-parents supervise children. Make it clear to the supervisor and the child that this is not a guaranteed job, and that they should be treated like all other employees at work.
- At work, wear a different hat. I'm "Kevin" at work to my children, and "Dad" at home. When they speak using one title or the other, it makes the context clear. "Business is business, family is family." They don't overlap.
- Don't rescue them. Let managers and the children work things out. Letting a child fail at something is often the best way for them to learn. Be ready afterwards with some encouragement and mentoring. Let them know that you still have great confidence in them, and everybody falls short once in awhile.
- Establish clear, fair performance standards and review progress. "What we measure, improves." This helps ensure that the same standards apply to everyone.
- Rely on principle-based management. Principle-based leadership and management bases its decisions on proven, externally-verifiable principles. Circumstances change, but principles always apply. This management mindset is strong insurance against favoritism, and it encourages and reinforces the clear standards, metrics, and processes you need in an organization (above).
- Assure others of non-favoritism. It may not seem like it, but this is different from not actually playing favorites. Managers and others will be afraid that you will treat children differently, so you must reassure them, over and over, that you will not. Ask them to hold you accountable to that standard.
With a few safeguards like this in place, family entrepreneurship can be a blessing to you, your children, your business—and it can be a lot of fun!
See the WSJ article on entrepreneurial families here.
Kevin Crenshaw is a business consultant and executive coach. As author of the blog "Strategy in Principle," he shares insights on hot topics in management and productivity tips for business owners. He is also CEO of Priacta, Inc., a time management company that helps you get an extra two hours out of your day—for life. Follow him on Twitter for more tips in all these areas.
