Who's On First
In October of last year, my daughter came to do strategic work at Warburg. She has never been, and may never be, a real estate broker as I am. But she is a brilliant strategist with an MBA from Columbia, and she learned an enormous amount about process as a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group, where she worked for three and a half years (which is the equivalent of about six years in a normal 9-6 job!) I had always hoped to have one or both of my kids work with me, so to me this seemed like a great idea. And it is! Not only do I get to see her highly honed skill set in action, but I feel that she, for the first time, really understands what I do all day, and have been doing for most of her life.
Wonderful though it is, my experience is not entirely uncomplicated. The facts that she thinks so originally (a trait she inherited from my wife) and has been such an immediate success with even the most skeptical of my agents (and it’s a tough crowd) are both thrilling and a bit complicated for me. Why did I fail to see the things she sees? Are my skills obsolete?
Like most entrepreneurs (especially the male ones) I like to control my environment. I am accustomed to being the boss. So how far am I willing or even able to allow someone else in, whether related to me or not? In other words, can I let go?
Yes, I can. But it takes self-discipline. I can recognize my own strengths, and the areas where my experience gives me the best insight, while making room for the fresh perspective and new ideas that other change agents bring to the table. I can choose to be excited rather than threatened by the fact that I am not always the smartest person in the room. I can feel good about the fact that I have assembled a strong team around me and acknowledge that, more than anything else, THAT is my job: to put the best people in the right seats and then create an environment in which they can do their best work.
As for working with a family member, it is a wonderful experience. She has her great talents, as I have mine (although perhaps not quite so great!) In four months she has helped the firm chart a new direction which is actually a more clearly articulated vision of its old direction. She has taken our core values and made them manifest, while creating internal processes to make sure that both our internal and external constituencies feel heard and attended to. Could I have done all these things? Maybe. But here’s the good news: I didn’t have to. In delegating and encouraging creativity in those around me, I create a stronger, more flexible organization which benefits from multiple sources of expertise and inspiration. That works for me.