Small Business

by Ian M. Berkowitz

Over the last few weeks, I have been writing in my columns about the specials dynamics possessed by family businesses. These dynamics, such as common sense, high morals, heart, determination, dedication and drive to succeed help family businesses create long, strong and well-operated business ventures.

Whether the business is in its first generation or its 46th generation, family businesses are often operating, managing and planning for the future not only for the employees and customers but also for their family and their future.

I also believe that the business principles that guide family businesses can also be useful and effective in non-family owned and operated businesses.

In this final column on family business dynamics, I wish to focus on the importance of creating a proper foundation for your business and the importance of never forgetting the core mission and purpose of your business.

In a family business it is easy to reminisce how your matriarchs and/or patriarchs began the family business. You might have personal knowledge, books, paper records, journals, photographs or some other way to remember how the business started and what the thoughts and ideas were for those who started the business.

Often, as a business grows and times change, subsequent owners and mangers lose the core values that define the business for its employees and customers.

Priorities Shift

Additionally, during the plentiful years of growth and prosperity, business owners and managers spend less time focusing on the details and seem to forget where they came from by focusing on the immediate success of today. This shifting of priorities, which is often manifested by pushing aside or forgetting the core values of the business, can easily lead to problems in the future.

Inevitably, there will be a time when priorities will shift back to your core values. Often, it takes a major business obstacle, disaster or a market correction to make present owners or management see the need to realign the business by retreating back to its core values and principles that established the business in the first place.

No matter what your political views are, if you are a business owner or manager, you are currently feeling the downturn in the economy and the accompanying downturn in revenue. It is now, during this time period, that I advise you to sit down and dust off the business’s core values document, initial revenue numbers and original business plans that started the business in order to revisit those core values and principles that drove the founders to success.

In business, we often hear about “getting back to basic.” I believe that this concept was meant to provide you, business owner, the opportunity to revisit the principles that began your business and focus on the real mission and purpose that lead to the business’s success in the first place.

This activity forces you to look deep inside the business and evaluate whether or not the core values that started the business are still present. Retreating back to your business’s core values and principles will give you an opportunity to truly focus on the real purpose of the business and your purpose and dedication to continue with its mission.

This process will also give you an opportunity to realize where you are, where you have been and where you can and will go. Self-realization, self-actualization and proper planning are those things that keep businesses nimble, flexible and firmly planted on the road for continued success.