Generational Patterns And Business Today

Embracing the business-driven generational patterns I’m still uncovering.

My mom is in the red dress with her 3 sisters, and her 4 brothers are on the right, with my grandmother and grandfather in between. Just like Catholic school, as I always said. Girls on one side, boys on the other (yes, like my mom, I also was a Catholic schoolgirl. You know what the Red Hot Chili Peppers said about them, though, yes?)

I recently read a family history that one of my mom’s sisters wrote (thank you, Aunt T).

Aside from the surprise tears that immediately busted out of my eyes at the first mention of my dead mom, Rosemary Ann Hakim (aka RAH or RahRah to her grandchildren), I was struck by the common thread that runs through the generations that have brought me to this point, in my life, and in my business. 

Once again, I was reminded of the generational patterns that inform who I am as a business person today.

This is very much tied in with my experiences as an entrepreneur and an intra-preneur.

When the work ethic of my great grandparents and grandparents was mentioned, I learned details that I either previously ignored, forgot, or didn’t discover until just now. As a recovering workaholic, it was eye-opening and validating for me to read my Aunt’s words about the generations that have gone before me.

My great grandparents and grandparents were immigrants from Iraq. They gathered mainly in the Detroit area, proud Chaldeans who worked their ways into business and higher education (in some cases). They came to America for those business and educational opportunities. 

I knew that my mom was one of eight children, of course. What I didn’t remember (or know) was that my grandparents were also from big families, of 12 and eight children each.

The marquis at Motor City roller rink in Warren, Michigan, where I started working at age nine.

As my Aunt recounted the generational history, memories of my youth, starting at the age of nine, flooded back into my brain and I could see myself as that little girl waiting on customers at the family business. My grandparents were my “bosses”. My grandma was mostly out front, teaching me how to be with customers, as well as how to count and handle money, and my grandpa was more quiet (and strong in different ways than my grandma), behind the scenes.

After reading the part about all the successful (and some failed) business endeavors that my grandparents navigated, I turned to my husband (as if to justify my daily work life) saying: “ah-ha! This is why I love to work so much!”. We both smiled in agreement. It’s cellular, in my DNA, to hold a strong work ethic. And also, being born in Detroit, Michigan, I’ve always generalized that I possess a strong mid-western, old-fashioned “work ethic”. 

I am once again reminded of the generational patterns that have filtered through to my business practices today, which is a fun perspective for me. I still love “waiting on” customers. I still love the face-to-face connections, even though I am now a member of the digital marketing profession and have worked remotely for years.

This means, here and now, in our modern culture, that i get to be more creative in the ways I bring humanity to the keyboard/pad and screen. I get to bring heart and soul to relationships through language and listening that builds businesses. It also leads to strong foundations and outcomes over years of practice.

I also get to evolve with our current culture as a global citizen, who relishes in building multi-layered relationships, forged through worldwide communities. 

For me, this is like breathing, meaning it’s second nature, to practice the deep listening required to literally build online business communities when many brands struggle to bridge the gap between humanity and the screen & keypad. 

I realize in this moment that without this cultural “norm” I happened to be born into, I might not feel so aligned, and easily flow with my day-to-day interactions and engagement through my writing and listening with others, on and off line.

I’m an International Best-Selling Author and Speaker now, in addition to that Business Consultant and Global Community Builder that I’ve always been, seemingly since the day I was born. I see myself in my mom and her mom. I welcome all the ways in which our global business climate has drastically changed over the years, and especially these past few. The challenge is full on these days.

And here’s something I see very clearly:
What distinguishes us from others also brings connection.
Our visions and longings for the future.
Our willingness to set something on fire in order to birth something entirely new…this is what the generations before me did, in their own ways.

To distill it all into a couple of characteristics I hold today, I’d say that I’m even more curious and empathetic than I was growing up. I was always a “people watcher”. My mom used to say that when my parents hosted a social gathering at our home, I’d sit quietly watching the people interact with each other. I still love to do that today. I am somewhat of an introverted extrovert, meaning that while I gather energy from other people, I like to sit and silently observe as well.

I am fascinated by the intersection between human beings and technology. As I’m typically not an early adopter in the world of tech hardware and software, I relish in taking a pause and observing friends, colleagues, and industry connections as they grapple with all the shiny new objects.

My nature is to center relationships above all, and I’ve learned (still learning) how to nurture them across platforms, all forms of media, and personal appearances.

i get to do this with my book, and it’s not only fun, it opens up endless new windows of learning for me.

What have you noticed about your generational patterns that inform your business today?

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