March 22, 1999

By James Lea

"Discipline" is one of those sharp-edged words that seems to stick in some people's mouths.

It conjures images of drill sergeants with barking voices and fierce elementary school teachers with heavy wooden rulers. You don't very often hear it spoken seriously these days.

But discipline is an essential characteristic of successful family owned businesses. Here are some of the ways it shows itself:

Discipline is the determination to succeed. It's the steel in their spines that allows family members to work those 70- and 80-hour weeks building the business together.

Discipline is a clear and steady focus on long-term objectives. It's what protects the family company from being undercut by short-sighted family demands.

Discipline is systematic, orderly management. It's formulating rules and procedures for running the company and then applying them consistently to every business decision and to every employee -- family member or not.

Discipline is deferring rewards. It's giving up a well-earned bonus this year because the sorter really has to be replaced. A new high-speed sorter can help produce a 10 percent boost in revenues next year. And a bonus.

Discipline is holding family members to standards of excellence. In fact, many family businesses demand more of family members than of non-family employees. Their view is that the family whose name is on the door should set examples of leadership and initiative for the rest of the company.

Discipline is suspending family relationships in the workplace. It's sometimes hard to set aside the image of son Sammy as a runny-nosed little kid and accept him as the grown-up vice president for product development. It can also be tough to remember that the man behind the desk isn't dear old Daddy but the CEO of the company and your employer. Discipline makes it possible to accept one another's business roles and to behave accordingly.

Discipline is letting family members make career choices. Senior owners can find a thousand reasons why the kids should follow in their footsteps and come into the company. Marketing the business to the family is good succession strategy. But it takes discipline to refrain from weighing in too heavily or unfairly and not letting others make legitimate decisions.

Discipline is keeping your fingers out of the management pot. If you're a family shareholder with no real involvement with the company, discipline is what keeps you from mucking up management by trying to run the business from the outside. Let your ideas and feelings be known at family council meetings. But stay off the necks of those with the responsibility of keeping the company alive and thriving.

Discipline is letting others be as good as they can be. It's delegating responsibility and authority to the coming generation. It's letting younger family managers get the feel of the wheel so they can learn to steer the company with skill and confidence. It's allowing them to find their level and their niche so they can know the personal satisfaction of being in the business.

Discipline is taking the time to learn what others have to teach. Some younger family members have a burning compulsion to take charge of the business. Ambition and self-confidence are valuable components of business leadership. But taking the time to absorb every possible scrap of knowledge and wisdom from those who've been there and done that is an act of discipline for tomorrow's CEO.

Discipline is recognizing and acting on the need for change. It's replacing outmoded methods and obsolete equipment. It's re-evaluating the strategy when the objectives aren't being achieved. And discipline is ending the watch graciously, turning over control of the business to the well-prepared and ready successors and going on to life's next challenges.

James Lea is an author and professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

From the Jacksonville Business Journal

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