Creating A Powerful Family Business History

Creating A Powerful Family Business History (Part 1), continued

A Guide for Gathering Information To Use in Creating The Family Business History

1. The Value Proposition: Start with your original value proposition. What was the thinking behind why you went to market, the way you did? What was the purpose of the enterprise (in addition to making money)? What were the critical ingredients for the idea taking root successfully and growing?	Notes:
2. The Brand Promise: Start with your original brand promise. How did the brand promise develop? How has the business tended that value and insured its dependability? Are there, or have there been, critical partnerships with customers or vendors over the years that have contributed to the power of the brand promise or that have helped to evolve its impact?	Notes:
3. Recognizing The Heroes and Heroines of the Business: Who were key contributors to the historical development of the business idea? Look for contributors beyond the core family unit. Take an inventory of your business process innovations or enhancements. Who played a part? How did those ideas arise? How did the people running the business capture those ideas and bring them into the mainstream of the business? Who do you want to hold out as shining examples of folks who acted well within your strategic intent? Who has demonstrated passionate commitment to the goals of the enterprise that you think others should know about?	Notes:
4. Building Upon Customers’ Comments: A powerful addition to the traditional history are comments by customers and other partners or allies that underscore the purpose and value of the company’s business idea. These testimonials should be focused on the way the company ensures the value implicitly or explicitly promised in its brand. Include stories from the point of view of the customer that demonstrate the power of your value proposition in action. Are there striking anecdotes? What incidents still resonate in the memories of your long-term customers?	Notes:
5. Tapping Your Company Historians: Everyone has stories. Their stories are a part of the living history of the company. Your company’s history is enhanced by the power that comes from the enrichment of their personal experiences. You can capture that energy and enroll many associates into a sense of ownership in the company’s story as their story too. That is, if it’s a story about the family business rather than a story about the family in business. Enlist everyone in contributing his or her stories to the history. Encourage conversations about the evolution of moments to correct misperceptions, ensure alignment between the purpose and the business idea as seen from the perspectives of the people at every level of the endeavor. Then, listen up. Hear what is perceived and what is misunderstood. Use these conversations as opportunities to understand what people think, as teachable perceptions, and to amend your own ideas with an influx of reality from others.	Notes:

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