New Venture Lab: Equipping Christian Entrepreneurs

Including our children in our work can be such a blessing in so many ways -- and as I found out recently -- there are additional benefits I hadn't even counted on.  I recently took my seven year-old son Adam with me to the board meeting of a software company in Denver that I am involved in as an investor and board member. 



Not only was it wonderful to spend that time with my son, but it built him up as an important and contributing member of our family economy.  I instructed him to take notes on any words he heard that he did not understand and to discern which board members contributed the most to the board discussion and to try to guess what their role was with the company.  After the meeting he debriefed me on his notes and his observations.  One local board member had offered to have my son go to his home during the board dinner and the meeting the next day so Adam could play video games with his sons.  I politely declined and explained that I was training my son to be an entrepreneur and that his current training consisted of learning the lexicon of business and entrepreneurship by listening in on my discussions and meetings as the opportunities arose.  As it turned out, my son was a powerful witness to all the other fathers on the board.  They were clearly impressed with this well-dressed and well-mannered young man and -- although it had never occurred to them to include their sons in a similar way -- they certainly were much more open to the idea by the time we were through.  The surprise benefit was that every time one of them was tempted to get colorful with their language, they would look over at my innocent son, check themselves and change course.  What an example of how the righteous and the innocent can be an influence for good!

After returning from the board meeting I was lining out my calendar with my family and informed my two oldest daughters of two different events that I wanted them to attend with me and assist me as my personal assistant.  As soon as we were wrapping up our scheduling, my youngest daughter -- all of 25 months old -- rushed over to the head of the table and begged for me to take her to a meeting as well.  It just doesn't get any sweeter for a Daddy than when his children beg to be with him.

Pasted below are the notes my nine year-old daughter Maria took at a recent meeting I had with a colleague.  She was very attentive during the meeting and she asked excellent questions for clarification when we finished the meeting and debriefed back at the home office.  While her spelling wasn't perfect, her understanding of private equity transactions took a huge leap forward.