Increase Your Influence With Family Members

Do you want to increase your influence with family members?  For this post I am inspired yet again by my ingenious husband who is writing a concise book on Family Business. He brought to my attention the ancient Constitution of the Mogi Family.  This involves a set of rules created, would you believe, in the seventeenth century!

Governance in Family Business Ensures Sustainability

You may be disorientated with the pace of change and what values to adhere to.

The Mogi Family’s Code of Conduct is an eye opener as to how, some time tested values can guide us in times of uncertainty.

I am sure the Mogi’s had some serious conflicts between them as any normal family does.

However they were wise enough, to ensure success and sustainability over generations; as you would recognise the brand they founded is today the world famous Kikkoman Corporation.

Uncommon Sense To Have Influence

Being the change you want to see in the World has been the subject of many of my posts. It is a serious matter.

The way to increase your influence with family members is to be detached from wanting to influence them and instead to focus on embodying the changes you want to see in them.

The Mogi Family Governance

Even though the following Governance is written from a business perspective notice how the human aspect is interweaved in every article. Originally the purpose of a business was to serve people. Nowadays purpose of many businesses is simply making money.  The result has been detrimental for the Planet, including the society of all the beings sharing space on it.

Here is the code of the Mogi Family  as presented by Mr. Yazaburo Mogi at the Fifth Annual Conference of the Family Business Network, Lausanne (1994):

Article 1. All family members desire peace. Never fight, and always respect each other. Ensure progress in business and the perpetuity of the family company.

Article 2. Loving God and Buddha is the source of all virtue. Keeping faith leads to peaceful mind.

Article 3. All family members are to be polite to each other. If the master is not polite, the others will not follow, Sin is the result of being impolite. Family – young and old, masters, mistresses and workers – govern themselves by politeness; then peace will be brought of their own accord.

Article 4. Virtue is the cause, fortune the effect. Never mistake the cause for the effect. Never judge people by whether they are rich or not.

Article 5. Keep strict discipline. Demand diligence. Preserve order – young and old, masters, mistresses and workers.

Article 6. Business depends on people. Do not make appointments or dismiss using personal prejudices. Put the right person in the right place. Having people who do what they should brings peace to their minds.

Article 7. Education of our children is our responsibility to the nation. Train the body and mind with moral intellectual and physical education.

Article 8. Approach all living beings with love. Love is fundamental to human beings and the source of life worth living. Words are the door to fortune and misfortune. A foul mouth hurts oneself and others. A kind tongue keeps everything peaceful. Be careful of every word you speak.

Article 9. Keep humbleness and diligence, which have been handed down over the years from our forebears. Make every effort to do as much as you can.

Article 10. True earning comes from the labour of sweat. Speculation is not the best road to follow. Don’t do business by taking advantage of another’s weakness.

Article 11. Competition is an important factor in progress, but avoid extreme or unreasonable competition. Strive to prospect together with the public.

Article 12. Make success or failure clear, judge fairly punishment and reward. Never fail to reward meritorious service and don’t allow a mistake to go unpunished.

Article 13. Consult with family members when starting a new business. Never try to do anything alone. Always appreciate any profit made by your family.

Article 14. Don’t carelessly fall in debt. Don’t recklessly be a guarantor of liability. Don’t lend money with the purpose of gaining interest, because you are not a bank.

Article 15. Save money from your earnings, and give to society as much as you can. Yet never ask for a reward nor think highly of yourself.

Article 16. Don’t decide important affairs by yourself. Always consult with people concerned before making a decision. Then employees will have a positive attitude in their work.

A Code Of Conduct For The Planet

Wisdom does not have a nationality. Asian, American, Australian, Greek and Anatolian ancestors have put forward similar words of wisdom.

Our planet as much as our families need us to wake up to our oneness and take responsibility.  We are the air we breathe and pollute unknowingly, we are the water we drink and treat carelessly, we are the trees we destroy to build not so vital structures.

Waking up to our oneness and taking responsibility mean making our everyday choices more aware.  It means returning the organic matter from our kitchens back to soil by composting, it means using our shoes and clothing longer, it means creating minimum rubbish by buying from the open market using our own bags rather than the packaged food from the supermarket.

Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)image:Amber Rae

You can listen to the soundtrack of this video from here.