Soon after my husband bought his company, our family decided to form a family council. The purpose of the council is to educate and facilitate communication between family members and provide a forum for constructive discussion, problem-solving, and decisions about the family as it relates to the business and the family. After several successfully facilitated meetings by our advisor, we decided to organize the meetings independently. Establishing the agenda, arranging the location, and gathering other pertinent information went smoothly. However, the conference itself stumbled since some members interrupted or diverted from the topic at hand. After an abrupt end to a Thanksgiving meeting, the family members complained separately to me about the unorganized discussions. The family needed to step back to evaluate the situation to continue family harmony during the meetings. Instead of blaming each other, we decided to be proactive by taking an individual assessment test, the DISC, to learn how to work more effectively together.

Growing up in a poor suburb of Chicago, I attended a Catholic school with a requirement to wear a uniform. One day a month, to get the uniforms clean, we could wear a nice dress, pants not being an option. The other girls had beautiful fancy dresses from Marshall Fields while I wore handmade boxy shift type dresses. When I asked my parents for the latest store-bought fashion, they refused since they could not afford frivolous purchases raising five daughters. While I was whining about not getting store-bought clothes, my dad would say, "Life is not fair," in response to my complaints. But aren’t we taught the importance of being fair and equal?