Sons of Privilege
Hiromi told me today about a political encounter that just went viral in Japan. The son of a former Prime Minister is running for office against a man with no political connections. However, the "commoner" has a degree from Tokyo University, which makes him something of an educational elite. Being admitted is enormously competitive--something even my star-student husband never wanted to try for.
Recently someone recorded on video the second candidate greeting the Prime Minister's son. He was given a swift brush-off. The Prime Minister's son's popularity is waning fast. Even the sons of privilege don't get a pass when common courtesy and respect for others is called for.
This "son of privilege" dynamic reminds me of something similar I first read in Farm Journal. On creating orderly and healthy transitions from father to son in a farming operation, the author recommended that sons work for a significant period of time for someone other than their own parent. While a son can certainly benefit from a father's mentoring, the dynamic of the working relationship changes when the son reaches adulthood. At that point, it becomes important for the son to transition to a position of increased responsibility, and for the father to relinquish it gradually. This can be very difficult to manage well if things go on indefinitely without the kind of distance that employment for the son elsewhere could provide.
A time apart has several possible benefits.
1) The father is less likely to take the son's work for granted, without sufficient appreciation for his contribution.
2) The father is less likely to hamper the son's maturity and productivity by coddling him.
3) By working for someone else, the son has an opportunity to learn new and perhaps better ways of doing things. At the very least, he will learn that the way his father did things is not the only option.
4) The son may develop new appreciation for his father's competence and superior ideas and methods.
5) The son is unlikely to be coddled as an employee in another business. If he comes aboard again in his father's business, he will have developed sympathy for every employee who does not have the benefit of family connections.
6) The son gains confidence in his own competence when he has a chance to develop it outside the protective environment of a family business.
7) The father is forced to acknowledge the son's competence if he has proven it elsewhere. It lifts the "novice" label that fathers may forget to lift otherwise.
8) Other employees gain confidence in the son's competence if he has proven it elsewhere.
I love to see a farm or business stay in the same family for many years. That is most likely to happen without undue cost in terms of stressful relationships if a planned timely and temporary separation between father and son(s) is part of the strategy. It's part of giving one's children both roots and wings--a place to grow and a place to launch away from. In due time, the son can come home again, and put down more roots, and provide a good place for his own sons to grow and fly from. And so, in an ideal scenario at least, the cycle continues, and the family business thrives.
Just as living in a Prime Minister's home may not be the best preparation for political office, so being the son of privilege may not be the best preparation for running a family business. Some lessons are best learned in a different capacity.
Recently someone recorded on video the second candidate greeting the Prime Minister's son. He was given a swift brush-off. The Prime Minister's son's popularity is waning fast. Even the sons of privilege don't get a pass when common courtesy and respect for others is called for.
This "son of privilege" dynamic reminds me of something similar I first read in Farm Journal. On creating orderly and healthy transitions from father to son in a farming operation, the author recommended that sons work for a significant period of time for someone other than their own parent. While a son can certainly benefit from a father's mentoring, the dynamic of the working relationship changes when the son reaches adulthood. At that point, it becomes important for the son to transition to a position of increased responsibility, and for the father to relinquish it gradually. This can be very difficult to manage well if things go on indefinitely without the kind of distance that employment for the son elsewhere could provide.
A time apart has several possible benefits.
1) The father is less likely to take the son's work for granted, without sufficient appreciation for his contribution.
2) The father is less likely to hamper the son's maturity and productivity by coddling him.
3) By working for someone else, the son has an opportunity to learn new and perhaps better ways of doing things. At the very least, he will learn that the way his father did things is not the only option.
4) The son may develop new appreciation for his father's competence and superior ideas and methods.
5) The son is unlikely to be coddled as an employee in another business. If he comes aboard again in his father's business, he will have developed sympathy for every employee who does not have the benefit of family connections.
6) The son gains confidence in his own competence when he has a chance to develop it outside the protective environment of a family business.
7) The father is forced to acknowledge the son's competence if he has proven it elsewhere. It lifts the "novice" label that fathers may forget to lift otherwise.
8) Other employees gain confidence in the son's competence if he has proven it elsewhere.
I love to see a farm or business stay in the same family for many years. That is most likely to happen without undue cost in terms of stressful relationships if a planned timely and temporary separation between father and son(s) is part of the strategy. It's part of giving one's children both roots and wings--a place to grow and a place to launch away from. In due time, the son can come home again, and put down more roots, and provide a good place for his own sons to grow and fly from. And so, in an ideal scenario at least, the cycle continues, and the family business thrives.
Just as living in a Prime Minister's home may not be the best preparation for political office, so being the son of privilege may not be the best preparation for running a family business. Some lessons are best learned in a different capacity.
posted by Mrs. I at
5:58 PM
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