Influencing Powerful People – #11
Here’s a Dirk Schlimm quote that goes beyond ‘influencing powerful people’:
“Use every opportunity to observe and learn. It is a lot less costly to learn from the mistakes of others than from your own!”
On the other hand…
When we make mistakes with powerful people they often respond with more-poignant lessons than less-powerful people. Most powerful people do not want to suffer fools. Powerful people raise the standard beyond ‘fools’. Powerful people do not want to suffer normal folks and powerful people rarely suffer bright folks who don’t add clear and immediate value. And, powerful people provide hard-knocks lessons to people who disagree with them…especially, if that disagreement is expressed in public.
A family-business perspective –
In family businesses, often, parents hold positions of power over children. Often, parents are bosses and children report to parents. Also, parents possess other forms of power – expertise power [specialized talents, knowledge and skills], financial power [control of money and rewards], relationship power [with the ‘old guard’ at the company and long-term clients] , and many other types of power. And, frequently, parents have trouble letting go of their power.
Some could argue – in family businesses, there are less opportunities for following-generation people to observe and learn from other’s mistakes. Some could argue the exact opposite. For example, I’ve met with younger brothers who have learned from older brothers’ mistakes. These mistakes can create complications where children must choose between a parent and a sibling. That can tear families apart.
Families who work together find themselves in a unique ‘power situation’. To thrive in that unique situation, people will benefit from ‘influencing powerful people’ education.
