| “Every success story is a journey of highs and lows. Sometimes the lows are the gift we need to leap to a higher level of triumph!” |
| I had an interesting time this week chatting to a new friend, let’s call her Dhania, about her experience of inheriting a large family business that was deeply in debt. The two biggest challenges she encountered were how to manage the cluster of family members who felt entitled to benefit from the business and how to recover from the loss-making situation.  Whilst there are specific actions that she took to fix the problem, we can all learn from the steps she took to turn this tricky situation into a triumph.   Take responsibility. The first thing she did was to make a commitment that she would fix the problem. It became clear that her father had been ignoring the warning signs and hoping it will fix itself for years, which resulted in the problem. Despite having no experience as a CEO, Dhania made a decision to take responsibility to save the business and rescue his legacy.  Look at the problem. Using this personal commitment, she pushed fear aside and tackled the problem head on. She reached out to accountants, consulted with key staff and went digging for information to understand what was going wrong. Financial records, cash flow analysis, creditors and debtors. She pulled out job descriptions checked contracts and sought clarity on roles and responsibilities amongst team members.  Get help. Then, when she understood the size and shape of the problem she sought professional help. Given the size of the business she reached out to a turnaround specialist to help with the debt restructure and contracted a labour law specialist to handle the staff and family issues.  Now, three years later the business has bounced back even stronger than ever; expanding and profitable. The sites are managed by a qualified team of people, chosen for their skills not their blood relations.  So, this week, if you are sitting with scary challenges on your to do list that you are avoiding, perhaps it’s time to learn from Dhania? Is it time to make a commitment to fix the problem, to take responsibility and reach out to others for help? Every success story is a journey of highs and lows. Sometimes the lows are the gift we need to leap to a higher level of triumph!  Wishing you strength and courage – you can do it!  With love and gratitude, Catherine Wijnberg – Fetola CEO  Soweto Sunrise News |
