Can You Be CEO Of Your Own Family?

This post is an exploration of the ideas Mark Timm and I discussed during our conversation for the Higher Purpose Podcast, which you can listen to in full right here. If you had asked me a month ago if you could (or should!) be the CEO of your family – I might have looked at you like you were growing antlers out of the top of your head.But after a conversation with Mark Timm, CEO of the Ziglar Family Corporation – AND his family of 7 (they really are incorporated!) I have changed my mind.The idea seems really counterintuitive, doesn’t it?CEOs are tough and no-nonsense, focused on profits and growth, leading teams of hundreds (sometimes hundreds of thousands) of people to bring goods and services to market.What could that possibly have to do with your spouse and children?The idea didn’t occur to Mark either until well into his career as both a CEO and a father, but when it did – everything changed.One day, feeling a little hesitant to go into his home after work, he realized that the qualities that made him a good CEO – understanding company vision and goals, decisiveness and collaboration, ability to delegate and ideate – they weren’t restricted to professional life. You don’t have to leave the things that make you good at your job in the workplace when you go home at night. They are part of who you are – often a tremendous and powerful part of who you are.You give these important and valuable parts of yourself to your colleagues, and sometimes there isn’t a lot of you left at the end of the day when you’re going home to the people you live with.So what if you reframed how you looked at your family? More like it was a business. A business with a vision and a mission and goals and different individuals working together to achieve them.[clickToTweet tweet=" Businesses are composed of people, just like our families are. http://bit.ly/2vYIWjg " quote=" Businesses are composed of people, just like our families are."]Our family members are all unique in how they see the world, what they value, and what they want to achieve, but, much like the different individuals who make up businesses, they can be rallied around a common cause to work together and support each other.And for people who feel less comfortable navigating the dynamics of a family unit, looking at one through the lens of your personal strengths as they express themselves professionally can be a be a way to bring your best self to the people you love most your best self.Spend some time thinking about the corporation of YOUR family. Consult with them, share this idea with them, and see if you can get them on board.As a family – what is your goal? What is your mission? What values do you hold to be the most important?What unique strengths do each of you bring to the table, and how can you support each other in your weaknesses?Over in the Higher Purpose Community Facebook Group we’re having a discussion about these topics. Please come join us, and share your thoughts!Being the CEO of your family is only the tip of the iceberg of interesting, important topics that Mark and I discussed. Some of the other exciting points were:

• Being intentional with your time, energy, and decisions – especially regarding your family.
• Always apologizing authentically when you have wronged someone, or failed to do as right by them as you could – even your children.
• How the greatest joy is helping others achieve things – and other wisdom from Zig Ziglar.

Listen to the full episode here.I'd love to hear from you - what do you think about being the CEO of your own family? Leave a comment below! Next week we're talking with Paul Sohn, Author of Quarter Life Calling, and founder of QARA - make sure to subscribe on Itunes so you don't miss it!