What we’ve discussed so far in this series on the forms of capital in our family business:
SPIRITUAL CAPITAL: Deep understanding of how loved we actually are. Perspective.
HUMAN CAPITAL: High character. Self-confidence, work ethic, all the raw ingredients.
Now let’s dive into the third form of capital.
INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL.
Definition: education, skills, careers. Essentially the ability to be useful to the economy and our family
We live in the knowledge economy. One of the core abilities in our family business is the ability to learn. Those who learn the most win. Learning inoculates irrelevance. Our board room, owner room, and operations room require nonstop learning.
My oldest daughter learned to read last year!
This was the first page of the first book she read:
She went from zero capabilities to reading a book in a couple months.
(Yes, it's small with very few words... but still a book!)
The ability to learn is the foundation for remaining a successful family business.
Success increases complexity. Complexity slows growth.
The world doesn’t stop evolving when we hit a certain level of success.
Our family and our business require tenacious learners. The marketplace is violent. It’s relentless.
We have to set the example at home and in our business.
If knowledge is power, then reading is a super power!
My goal in my immediate family is that reading is just normal, even when everyone else wants the shortcut with AI.
I want the 650 page biography with all the details and all the context to find the timeless principles. I look at reading as the muscle for focus.
The focused always beat the distracted.
(Reading the book The Great Influenza in April 2020 during COVID-19 learning about the timeless lessons of 1918 global pandemic.)
The capacity to learn enhances our ability to influence outcomes for our family business.
Our challenges aren’t new. Most are timeless problems that old books have already wrestled with.
At the end of the day, a good steward is useful to their family business and the marketplace. We must see ahead to be useful.
Being useful is being helpful. Being helpful with your team, your family, your community builds trust.
Competency is a core ingredient of trust as Stephen Covey has laid out very clearly in his classic book: The Speed of Trust.
As leaders of our family business it is our job to learn. We need to treat it with that level of respect by carving out the time in our calendars.
(Show me your calendar and I’ll show you your priorities.)
Reading is a fundamental path to increasing intellectual capital. It’s a path to living a thousand lives in one life.
Charlie Munger, always stressed the importance of “making friends with the eminent dead.” Drink deeply from good books.
However you learn you must keep learning and share that passion of learning with your team, your family, and most importantly those who come next.
Onward,
Matt
P.S. Here are 40 reasons to read