way back in 2001

Yesterday, a client of mine emailed me a report for work that our company did for him in 2002, it had the address of one of our previous office locations. It triggered some fond memories of my return to Miami and working side by side with my father during the last couple of years of his life. The building was owned by my father and his office was on the second floor.  It was secluded from the rest of the workers.  I think back at that time and what I remember are a couple of major things.

1. reading a book that was the first of my purchases through my paychecks of english translations of any interesting classical work of islamic thought or literature of history.  It was "The way of Sufi Chivalry." A small book that I carried with me all the time. I would read it in my down time, or any time I had a break during work. I have a bad memory when it comes to quoting anything I read, but I remember that It was an awesome book. I'm sure left a deep mark in the way that I now think about activism and sufism.

2. going out to collect water and soil samples from the canals of Miami. I had gone out to meet the representative from the Engineering firm that we were working together on the project with at the end of one of the canals, that the events of 9/11 took place. another major event that left its mark on my approach to activism.  May the souls of victims of that day rest in peace.

Change is good!

A business goes through many changes in its history.
Changes can occur within the business or
they can occur in the environment in which the business operates.

Each moment of change brings with it opportunities
to do things that could not have been done otherwise. 

Here are some of the changes we have been through over the years:

In 1989, we made a major internal structural change,
we started to offer chemical and environmental testing
services in new laboratory in Boca Raton. It was a challenge
dealing with a completely new accreditation and
certification regime for starting a new type of testing service.
from scratch.  Eventually moving the new lab from Boca
to existing facilities in Miami to operate more efficiently.

In the middle of the 1990s we purchased and merged into our operations
an existing testing laoratory in Broward county that offered
services such as Asbestos and Roof Testing. It was a challenge
to integrate new technical and executive staff into a different
corporate culture than they were used to working in. Eventually
the executives of the purchased laboratory were phased out and
the new technicians with specialized skills were wholly absorbed.

In 2002, an internal change was forced to take place
after the death of its Founder and leader of the company,
the business transitioned from one person running the show.
to a team of his next generation bringing in more structured processes.
It was an opportunity to improve not only the quality of the
initial service, but the mechanism to collect and follow up.
All of which helped us grow through the building boom.

In 2009, an environmental change occured, with the onset
of the Great Recession. We went through a financial test.
We tried to balance efficiency with the value of loyalty and compassion. 
It was an opportunity to see if we could scale down our operations
without compromising our ability to help our clients succeed in
their projects, and providing a source of income for our employees.
It meant\relocating our office, and reconfiguring our accounting system.
We came out of the recession bruised but, alive and ready to grow.

Last month we went through our latest change.

chain of command

How best to run a family business....

There must be a clear chain of command. and ultimately only one boss.
As long as the rest of the family acknowledge the boss as boss.
things will go smooth.

It is easy when there is a father and child dynamic. and the father is the boss.
even if the child disagrees with the approach being taken on any matter,
the child will ultimately back down and do what the father says.
the father is boss.

Our business used to have this dynamic.
but the father cannot be there for ever.
He made the business a corporation.
not a partnership, or sole proprietorship
it was meant to out live him.

But with many members of a family involved,
It could seem unclear to people who the real boss is.
For people outside of the business as well as within the business.
Is it the person with the title of president?
Or is it the owner? Or maybe the Chief Engineer
Even in a partnership. One partner has to take the role of president, and the other must acknowledge that title and give that person the authority that comes with the title.

The owner is the boss of the president.
The president is the boss of management
The manager is the boss of the employee
A clear chain of command must be maintained for smooth operations.
otherwise there is confusion about what the employee needs to do.

when there is confusion, there is frustration.
when there is frustration, there is lack of motivation.
when there is lack of motivation, there is loss of productivity.
when there is loss of productivity, the job will not get done the way you want,
done when it is supposed to be done, or the way it is supposed to be done.

so regardless of what thing the employee is doing
that thing may still not be happening in the best way that it could be.
all because of confusion about who is the boss.
a manager of one department cannot tell the employee of another department what to do.
an employee reports to only one boss, his boss's boss, and the president.

RULE #1 have a clear chain of command.
RULE #2 respect the chain of command.