Usually disguised as harmless talk, it’s one of the most destructive forms of communication to relationships. It involves manipulating the perception of another person that is not there to defend themselves. Instead of solving anything, this passive-aggressive behavior creates severe and lasting problems.
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.
What are the reasons so many of these family businesses fail and the families fall apart? Every situation is unique and there are many different factors, often even overlapping factors, that lead to these unfortunate outcomes however they generally fall into 5 main areas.
If we desire to seek eternal success, we must strive to live the values as described in the Bible, the church and the examples of the Saints. Our values help steer us in the right direction and inform the tough decisions in our life for ourselves, our family, and our business.
When you’re building anything, we know we want to build a solid foundation to start. If we are going to build our family, our business and our life on something, we want to be certain that it is solid. Everyone faces difficulties and challenges in their life, so how are we going to respond when we face these difficulties? What path are we going to take?
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.
What Are Your Priorities in Life? Do you know what they are? Could you recite them clearly and concisely? If you can’t recite them immediately, you are likely wasting time every day on things that aren’t important to you as your life passes you by. Do you really want to sacrifice the things that are important to you for the things that are unimportant?
The common response to a problem is to blame others or the environment. While other people and the environment likely contributed to the problem, blaming them solely is highly unlikely to lead to a solution. Instead, if you can stop digging you may be able to solve the problem with courageous humility.