After falling down the rabbit hole, our friend Alice engages the Cheshire Cat in a conversation:
Alice: “Would you please tell me which way I ought to go from here?”
Cheshire Cat: “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.”
Alice: “I don’t much care where.”
Cheshire Cat: “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”
Within that memorable Alice in Wonderland script of Lewis Carroll is a message of profound importance for privately held and family business owners. Alice was lost. But even worse she had no destination. This is the equivalent of an owner not being able to define success:
Cheshire Cat: “Where do you want to go?”
Owner: “Well, that’s hard to explain.”
Cheshire Cat: “Really? Then anything you do will get you there.”
Shrewd owners know where they want to go. Where they want to take the business. They can define success – not only to themselves but to their employees. These owners, without hesitation, can answer questions like:
- “Is it important for the business to go on after you, or is this a lifestyle business?”
- “What are your measurable and time-bound objectives?”
- “What impediments are or could get in the way?
- “Are you confident you know and understand how to value your business?”
Answers to these questions put your business on a path to success. They also help employees connect their job responsibilities to a greater purpose. This breeds confidence and enthusiasm. It’s no wonder then that defining success is the starting point for a conversation between a family and business owner and a good advisor.
Perhaps if Alice had known where she was going she would have avoided those run-ins with the wacky Mad Hatter and vengeful Queen of Hearts. But we would have lost a great fairy tale and a good lesson for privately held and family business owners.
