In addition to poor communication being the top cause for family business failures, without effective communication skills to discuss the most difficult conversations, it’s impossible to address the other causes for failure as well.
People will not consistently contribute their hearts, minds, spirits, etc. until they know your heart and that they can trust that you care about them.
The Tenth Commandment addresses the deliberate and conscious intentions and thoughts inside of us – our desires, thoughts, and covetousness. It pertains to the inner attitudes of greed and envy that lead us to act unjustly toward the goods and property of our neighbor. It goes beyond the exterior actions to purify even the intentions of the heart.
In the review of the Sixth Commandment, we covered how this commandment is focused on the physical acts and forbids the impure actions, the Ninth Commandment addresses the deliberate and conscious intentions and thoughts inside of us. The Ninth Commandment is focused on our heart and our mind – the impure desires, thoughts, and covetousness inside each of us.
The Catechism teaches that Christ’s grace in the Sacrament of Marriage protects the essential purposes of marriage: the good of the couple and the generation and education of children. Anything that is contrary to these primary purposes of marriage would likely be contrary to this Commandment.
One of the first stories in the Bible describes Cain killing his brother Abel (Genesis 4:8). Since the beginning of time, people have understood that intentionally taking, or being an accomplice to taking, an innocent life is wrong however the Fifth Commandment goes well beyond this surface level interpretation.
The Fourth Commandment is the first commandment of the last seven that focus on our responsibilities toward ourselves and others. This Commandment is about respect and honor toward our parents, as well as those in authority (teachers, employers, governors, elders, coaches, etc.)
The Third Commandment calls us to keep holy the Sabbath day. For Christians, the observance of the Sabbath is Sunday, the actual day of Christ’s Resurrection that brought about the new creation by Christ and recalls the creation of the world in Genesis.