The changing face of the Family Managed Business

“There is no Fun in the Business Anymore”

One of the constant refrains we get to hear from heads of business families nowadays is that there is no ‘fun’ in the business anymore, or to put it more colloquially, ‘Dhandhe mein majja nahin raha’. These gentlemen, typically in their late 40’s or 50’s, talk nostalgically about the ‘good old days’ when there was fun, excitement, and a sense of adventure in the business which is just not there anymore. Now what do they mean when they say this? They are actually referring to all the problems they are facing in running their business, whether it is a ‘recession,’ not getting good employees, or clients not paying up on time etc. And what about the ‘good old days?’ Presumably, when there was ‘fun’ in the business, 20, 25 or 30 years ago, all these challenges wouldn’t have been there?

No, they would have been present even then, very much so.In fact, the challenges would have been greater, because of less developed modes of manufacture, of communication and transport, more regulatory restrictions, and various curbs on imports and exports. But for these men, there was so much adrenalin flowing through the veins in those younger days, these difficulties would have been seen as challenges to overcome rather than the insurmountable obstacles that they appear to be today. Today, even a small difficulty these days is enough to overwhelm them. Margins are going down and costs are going up, they say, and they feel like they’re being slowly crushed between the two, apart from myriad other problems like political instability, corruption, increasing competition, and cash-flow problems that are expressed rather quaintly as, ‘paisa ghoomta nahin hai.’

These are not an isolated instances, moreover, but rather a feeling that is increasingly being felt, and expressed, in family managed businesses that are at least a generation old, across the length and breadth of India. So how did the mood go from excitement to helplessness?

Actually, the mood is wrong. It is not the business environment or the people that have changed, it is these same businessmen themselves.

One is reminded of an old fable about the character Miyan Khusroo, who was sitting by the roadside when one of his friends came along riding a horse. Miyan wanted to ride it too. The friend asked whether he knew how to ride a horse. Miyan emphatically said of course he did, what kind of a question was that, he had learnt it as a boy! But the horse was notorious for throwing people off, cautioned the friend. Miyan pooh-poohed this too, saying no horse could throw him off, he had been an expert horse-rider in his youth. So he got on, the horse reared up, and Miyan landed with a painful thud on the ground. The friend said, see, I told you this horse would throw you off. But Miyan was obstinate, he pointed to his foot, which was still stuck in the stirrup, ‘No, I am still on the horse, look at my foot!’

It is this same kind of obstinacy which affects some businessmen, too. Changing times and new challenges may have thrown them off their perches, but they think they are still firmly in the saddle. They think they know everything this to know about their businesses, and there is nothing left for them to learn. Suggestions that they take some courses or attend workshops to get updated on current business trends and management practices are met with a dismissive, ‘those things are for kids! Why would I need or want to do something like that? I built this business! These so-called management gurus and professors need to learn from me!’ But they need to learn, too.

It is not enough to keep dwelling on past achievements or glories. What you did 25 or 30 years ago may be remarkable, but if your business is not growing now, the responsibility lies with you, and not on any external factors. An essential prerequisite to keeping things fresh and exciting is to keep learning, experimenting and discovering new things. This is as true of life as it is of business.

A lot of these problems and attitudes have to do with natural life-cycles. Things are different when you are young, carefree and have nothing to lose. However, when you are older, have the responsibilities of say, a family and children upon you, life is a different kettle of fish. The devil-may-care and risk-taking attitudes of youth are replaced by prudence and sticking to the tried and tested paths in middle age.

A businessman who aggressively promoted his products in his town, saw business growing rapidly in his youth. He set out every morning on his bike, and met shopkeepers big and small as he tried to convince them to stock his product. He went to new places, and met new people everyday. While most of them chose not to do business with him, there were many who did, and he formed lasting friendships and business associations. As he got older, however, his stopped going out on his business trips. He appointed a salesman instead. His circle was now restricted to the people he already knew. Business stopped growing at the rapid pace it did earlier. Life settled into a boring routine. He began to get bored with his life and his business. But not once did he stop to think, it was he himself that was the reason. He had stopped being as passionate or as hands-on about his work.

Just as there is a personal life-cycle, there is also a business life-cycle. The business environment in India has undergone a sea-change over the past few decades. The 1980’s and 1990’s were a period when the market was opening up and a lot of family businesses were set up. Then came the years between 1995 and 2002, when global recession and the bursting of the dot-com bubble made the going very tough. Between 2002 and 2010, however, was a terrific period, when a lot of businesses grew at break-neck speed. People had more orders than they could fulfill, and more money than they knew what to do with. A lot of people said they made more during those years than they had ever dreamed of! Of course, everything has its downside, and this boom period unfortunately saw many businesses lose the fire that had forged them in the first place. Businessmen became complacent, they became used to counting money instead of looking for new opportunities. And when the good times came to an end, as all things must, the same people who had earlier boasted about snatching opportunity from the jaws of impossibility, were now bemoaning the ‘difficulty’ of doing business. 

Business, like any other human endeavor, is always a challenge. When the going is good, the challenge is to make sure business will continue to be good when the going gets difficult.

We do business by choice. We take on challenges by choice. If complacency has set in, the challenge is to regain the entrepreneurial perspective, regain the spirit of confidence and the courage to do big things. And in a rapidly globalising economy, we need to have the conviction that we are no less than anyone else in the world.

We need to not only change with the times, but stay one step ahead of the times. That is the only key to success. There is no reason to get bored with your work as long as you keep setting yourself new goals after you achieve old ones, or taking on new challenges that are more in line with the changing times.    

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, as they say, but then, you wouldn’t want an old dog running your business, would you?

“For the Indian Family Business, we are in the golden period. Opportunities were never so good, or so many. All that we need is step forward and grab those opportunities.”