Leadership Lessons from Peter's Life Journey...

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Leadership Lessons from Peter’s Life Journey…

1 Mar 2018
- admin
- Leadership & Management
Collaboration, Family Business, Leadership, Leadership Series, SOIL Days

It is quite often that we hear ‘there is a time for everything’ and one needs to be patient enough to give a ‘change’ its due time to take place. Students at SOIL – School of Inspired Leadership today morning were greeted with an inspiring personality Peter A. Evans, whose leadership talk enlightened each one of us to respect time, rise above the trivial conflicts and focus on the long term goals.

“Nothing comes easy, especially when one thinks of bringing changes in family-run businesses which are way beyond the times. And yes it is quite frustrating and demotivating at first, yet we need to master the art of understanding that businesses have their own pace of change,“ addressed Peter A Evans with a joyful smile on his face. The rest of the 30 minutes even though was a walk down the memory lane where Peter reminisces about his past journey, yet it helped us learn some of the most integral lessons of leadership in all walks of life.

Every idea has a right time to turn into action

We all live in a fast-paced world where change is the only constant. But family businesses have many more critical challenges as compared to other businesses and one of them is the ideas coming from the new generations. Peter claimed that during his stint as President of his family business there were ideas which were not well received by the existing board hence he had to take a forceful slump of one and half years in his career when he went off to Africa with his family. A sense of failure engulfed him and being irritable had become a natural phenomenon with him. Till a time came when he was invited for a family business reunion. A rather underconfident Peter sat low on his chair while the 7 past President’s of the business were being appreciated but to his surprise when it was his turn the addressee begab with the words “We are sorry.” That was the highpoint when I realised that everything will not work when we want as family businesses have their own pace of change. Over 90% of the changes suggested by Peter had been implemented after his exigency from the business.

Breaking the glass ceiling

For many a family–run business could be termed as being more stable and comfortable as compared to other businesses but it depends on one’s capacity and confidence to be able to rock the boat, take the risk and see a broader and more successful future of the business. Through Peter’s journey, we did learn how we can either choose to follow the existing pattern or break the glass ceiling and catalyse new ways to build an empire with futuristic vision and greater productivity.

Collaborate not compete only

Another integral lesson that Peter addressed this morning was, “The more knowledge you share the more you gain. Currently being a consultant to many other leading family business enterprises, Peter stresses on the fact that the futuristic vision is to think of collaboration rather than competition. One needs to help similar businesses to grow from your own experiences as well as take the same as an opportunity to learn from them in many diverse ways and situations.

Know Peter A. Evans

For 26 years, Peter was involved in many facets of Laird Norton Company LLC, a 7th generation family enterprise. He concluded his tenure as President in 2003. Presently, he is an advisor, consultant, and speaker to legacy families, family offices, and multigenerational enterprises Dubai. To know more about his contributions please visit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-evans-58767a26

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