The Emperor's New Clothes

Written by Alon Braude, CEO of Think Ahead Ltd. and author of the book: THINK AHEAD about people families and business

The Anderson Tales incorporate a story of a king who loved new clothing, and two swindlers who convinced him that they possessed the ability to weave a fabric so refined, that only the most wise and sensitive people could see it. The reality of the matter was that they neither wove any fabric nor prepared any garment.
All the kings' advisors were sent to view the fine fabric woven by the swindlers, yet all feared to appear unwise and reported the fabric to be perfect. In essence, the fabric did not exist. The king as well did not see the fabric, yet was fearful to admit to the fact, and wore the non existing garment out to the procession. Since no one wanted to be perceived as unwise, and be exposed for not seeing the garment, they all cheered and remarked at how wonderful the garment was; all except one child who suddenly cried out "Mother, the king isn’t wearing any clothes at all- the king is naked".

In family businesses we bear witness to the return of the naked king phenomenon. The owner of a successful family business builds an empire based on his knowledge, wisdom and personal experiences. Over the natural course of time, he begins to fantasize about handing down the business to his children, with hopes that they will continue to run the operation and some day hand it down to their children and so on.
At a certain point in time, he begins to delude both himself and his children; much like the king in the Anderson Tales deluded himself in regard to the existence of the fabric. He incessantly discusses his dream of handing down the business to his children yet simultaneously does nothing in order for his dream to be realized. In fact, he does everything within his power to hamper the manifestation of his dream by not allowing his children to properly learn from his experience. By doing so he prevents them from implementing themselves and their abilities toward his business.
The owner of the company encourages the weak while blocking the strong, causing the stronger family members to give up and prematurely leave the family business. Those who remain in the family business do not learn enough from the father as he has created a limited environment for them, allowing them to only deal with selected issues.
When the father finally retires, those who are left in the business discover that they need to learn how to run the business from the person who is no longer with them; the father.
Unfortunately phone companies have yet to develop a communication system that allows us to speak to the dead. So it comes to be, that a father who is rich and abundant with experience and wisdom allows his fears to ultimately cause the collapse of the business he created by weaving a dream and doing all that is within his power to make sure it is not manifested.

A father who is interested in the fulfillment of his dream must understand that the transference of the business to his following generation obligates him to personally invest in, and cope with the abilities of his children. The stronger and wiser the children are, the harder it will be to restrain and control them.
Only a father who will obtain a worthy trainer and adhere to what he says, will be able to turn his family into a proud team of horses, running in the same direction with a sense of security and nobility. A person who thinks that the noble horses he raised in his home will learn to run together without any professional training is deluding himself while hurting those who are most precious to him.

The empire that the father has built is a reality. Mother, father and the entire family must understand that in order to successfully pass on the empire to the next generation, good intentions will not suffice. You must invest a tremendous effort into building a strong team that will gradually gain knowledge and take charge of all the domains. He who deludes himself into thinking that he is capable of completing the transference of the business without proper guidance from the father or cooperation with all siblings, is simply deceiving himself and his family. Essentially, he is sewing the emperor's new clothes as in the Anderson Tales.
He who wishes not to be suddenly referred to with cries of "the emperor is naked", would be wise to seek counsel and listen to the advice he receives in time.

If you are contemplating any of these or other questions, I would be delighted to learn of your insights and comments to this article.

Good luck,

Alon Braude
C.P.A. M.B.A
CEO of Think Ahead Ltd.

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