Tag Archives: Christmas

12/30/16

Familiness–At Work and At Rest

Familiness in family businesses: The nature or set of resources of the family in business contributing to its competitive edge including its culture, reputation, degree of confidence, level of communication, entrepreneurial spirit, management and decisions making capabilities, trust between individuals and interest groups, shared beliefs, commitment, flexibility, creativity and innovation. (Adapted from Family Business wiki, http://www.familybusinesswiki.org/Familiness)

Familiness and the winter holiday season: That time in which we pause from our business activities and the routines of our ordinary daily lives to be in community with friends and family, to eat a bit more and perhaps sleep a bit more, to recall the fantasies we learned as children, and to retell mysteries of Hanukkah and Christmas.

I hope that you found your winter holidays joyful restful and rejuvenating, and that you enjoy the very best of familiness in the year ahead.

12/25/16

The Longest Night

The Longest Night

The sun is disappearing… we must bring it back.

Throughout parts of the globe where the seasons change people have been observing the winter solstice for millennia—imploring the sunlight to return and celebrating its readiness to do so.

I find myself writing this blog on the evening of December 21st—the winter solstice—the longest night of the year. Images of families come to mind—the elders and the young ones.

On winter solstices past, members of the Iroquois Nations went to sleep early to invite “the dreaming” where visions would instruct their lives for the following year.Iroquois Nations

The darkness of this night, open to interpretation, inspired many different traditions and rituals. Ancient Mongolians entered a mystical tent that represented the world, where their shaman undertook a spiritual journey to the North Star to clean their souls of sins. In ancient Rome the people honored the God Saturn with the weeklong feast of Saturnalia. With the return of the light many cultures celebrated the rebirth of a God, and from these traditions the holiday of Christmas was derived.

Modern astronomy has revealed that the sun does not disappear…that the cycle of the seasons is due to the earth’s axial tilt. But the psychology and emotional impact associated with the winter solstice has not changed. We shrink from the darkness, the winter cold, and gather our families and communities to call back the light and warmth. 

As citizens of the earth, cycles and our responses to them are built into our DNA. Everything about our lives is cyclical, and that applies to family businesses no less than individuals. To them as well comes an inevitable time of change; a time that calls for the transition of leadership to the next generation, and the next. Here too, such a transition is open to interpretation. How will the family see this change? As an end, and frightening? As a beginning, and hopeful?

A family business, guided by the light and warmth of its incumbent leadership may struggle with their vision as that light wanes. And just as the sun when it dips below the horizon is not really gone, the wisdom and perspective of the founding generations continues to influence future ones.

Light endures.