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Success is in your blood…

… maybe.

Consider your antecedents.

“Antecedents” refers to your family or origin, parents, and grandparents.  These are “your people.”  They left you with strong messages about your probability of success.

If in doubt, read Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.

If still in doubt, reflect on the messages passed on by your antecedents.

Here are two examples:

My running partner, George, has parents who met in the second grade, as school children in the midwest.  One grandfather took him for ice cream almost every day.  The other grandfather took him on weeklong trips every summer.  His extended family lived within blocks of one another.  They slept at each other’s homes.  Some family members disliked each other. But they traveled together and kept their differences to themselves.  And in the depression, one patriarch left the banking world to sell life insurance.  He made money for over 50 years… In a similar way,  George does the same work that he started at age 17 when he joined the Air Force.  Executive assessments and coaching and consulting.  His antecedents taught him something about independent judgement, business, and long term focus.

My former client, Harry, has family roots from Ontario and Buffalo, NY.  Everyone in his family skates backwards.  His grandfather was the personnel manager at the largest local business.  As such, he hired hundreds of people, including all the sisters at Harry’s grandmother’s side of the family.  All of them were employees, workers.  They measured success by hours endured at work.  During the depression Harrys’ grandfather on his mother’s side was given enough wood to build a cottage on Lake Erie.  For generations thereafter, hundreds of his descendants gathered there for summer picnics and volleyball games.  Then they returned to work early Monday morning… In contrast, Harry rebelled against that life style.  He travelled the world.  He became a masterful salesman.  Then he started his small business.  He became very successful.  His passion?  Harry refused to life the same life as his antecedents.

So, take a minute to do the following:

1.  Make a list of “who” and “what.”  Who were you antecedents and what did they teach you?

2.  Share that list with 6 people in your Inner Circle.  If you do not have 6 people, then you need to invite them.  Or hire me.

Success is largely shaped by our antecedents.

For details on how to be more successful, then call me at 704.895.6479