Business lessons from marathon champion Wanjiru

I have heard it said that the wise learn from the mistakes of others who have gone before them, the fools by mistakes they make themselves while the insane repeat the same things over and over, hoping for different results. Renowned athlete Samuel Wanjiru’s demise offers valuable lessons to family businesses.

The first lesson regards the place of money in family ventures. Money augments strengths, strategies and ideas. Money builds on what existed before it’s arrival. So possessing cash will not buy you wisdom.

Wanjiru’s story is of great interest because it revolves around a single character who is not just the leader of family business, but who is the family business.

This happens when one has the physical prowess in a particular field e.g. athletics or where an individual possesses intellectual expertise e.g. an expert in computer programmer or a combination of gifts e.g. a great sportsman and marketer such as Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan.

These family businesses rotate around the individuals because they cannot confer their skill or ability to anyone. Wanjiru could lend his name/ reputation to a variety of products by endorsements, but could not delegate running.

The family business was thus completely dependent on him.

The leader of the family business has the ability to favour themselves by shift all the resources in such a way as to even to the disadvantage of the athlete.

Every leader in charge of a family business or otherwise, should be open to some degree of manipulation by advisers.

To be completely rigid and closed to any counsel is as perilous as following every word of advice and attempting to go in all directions at the same time.

The wise leader of family business learns to find a balance e.g. diet, showing up to practice or appointments on time, but make the critical decisions that affect them in the long-term. To find this right balance, the leader must posses some intelligence.

Skills

In his book The Prince, Machiavelli writes that wisdom / intelligence comes in three forms: one understands things for itself, the second appreciates what others can understand, and the third understands neither for itself nor through others.

This first kind is excellent, the second is good, and the third is useless.

The first option to gain wisdom or intelligence for this kind of leader of family business is to invest time into developing intellectual capacity.

This can be done through enrolling in an institution of higher learning or taking specific courses that impart critical life skills, ability to solve problems and make decisions.