What Will You Draw on Your Family Canvas?

My daughter has a morning routine she loves.

Chelsea, my wife, puts out a blank canvas on a small table for our kids every evening to prepare for the next morning to direct all the wonderful energy of our kids.

My daughter races to the little art table. She loves art. She gets to work every morning with the courage to face the blank canvas and shares what’s in her heart and in her mind.

In family business, we get the same opportunity as my daughter. 

We get to face the blank page of the day. 

(How we show up and what we pursue really does matter.)

We can do what Theo of Golden urged his son: seek truth, make beauty, live well.

We get to bring art to the businesses we serve. It’s about so much more than the science of success. It’s about finding the art of fulfillment. We get to bring care (love) to serving our customers, our vendors, our teammates, our families, our board, our shareholders, and our community.

We get to draw on a canvas with over 100 years in mind if we so choose. We get to build something that's more than an economic vehicle.

Drawing with an incredibly long time horizon is a beautiful and difficult journey. It's certainly a path that's not well lit. Most businesses or families don't have the patience, persistence, passion, or purpose to transcend generations.

What image would you draw on your family canvas?

(I think my daughter captured the essence of building for centuries quite well.)

Onward,

Matt