Dad’s Influence on Entrepreneurship
A look into how fathers shape the outlook for life and career
I am writing a couple of articles based on my analysis of interviews with entrepreneurs. As I read through the interview scripts, I pick on common themes, stories that set leaders apart from the rest of the pack. During my conversations, to my surprise, most of the entrepreneurs/leaders I interviewed talked about their fathers — and how they profoundly shaped outlook for life and career.
“When I look at the choices he made for me, he really pushed me to be more”.
“I have been programmed not by genetics but my father’s thinking to function and to play the role that I am playing now. He sent me to the right school, provided the right access to succeed in life”.
“He was a very humble, selfless person who always thought about others sometimes even better than himself and family. He worked and helped others even in the smallest ways. He was never motivated by money. Today I am following the same footsteps of my father where I derive my satisfaction from seeing those who benefit from my work and not based on money. It is my ultimate satisfaction and reward”.
These are some of the thoughts that a couple of entrepreneurs shared during the interviews. Fathers undoubtedly emerged as guiding light in terms of reshaping their children’s career, especially in terms of providing the strength to navigate the unexplored journey of entrepreneurship. The father’s support and timely advice mostly centring around ‘values, being people-oriented, practicality/future-readiness’ is held very close to their heart.
Hearing these stories made me reflect on my own father and how he shaped my thinking patterns.
My father was an entrepreneur himself. He started in the early 1980s. By early 2000s he owned and ran a couple of retail stores selling groceries and essentials. I spent some of my memorable holidays visiting his office and stores with my younger sister. We were often left to ourselves, as my dad went about doing his work, meetings etc. In the beginning, we would wait for a couple of hours for dad to give us instructions or work to fill our time. But he never did. There were times when we wished why can’t he just make it easy for us, and give us some favours. I suppose, there was no room for nepotism or any spoon-feeding. In case, if we wanted to have snacks like biscuits, soda etc. — we had to purchase it before consuming like we would do at any store. We didn’t have extra privileges or access as we wished just because it was dad’s place. I can’t remember getting a single candy from his shop without paying for it.
So, as we were left to ourselves we gradually found our own ways to keep ourselves entertained. We found any odd job that we could do — browse through the office files, convinced the shop assistant’s to hire us as their helpers. We helped them to arrange products on the shelves, weigh fruits and vegetables that the customers picked. Once we were able to prove our abilities to the staff, they even let us write a couple of handbills manually — it was such a joy to fill the dates, descriptions etc.
We felt pretty successful for a 10/11-year-olds. It was just a play, but when I reflect back on my memories it’s profoundly clear that learning through play builds lifelong learners and teaches unforgettable lessons.
Today, when I reflect back I can clearly see that he taught me an important lesson to not fear taking risks, be honest, to keep believing in myself and most importantly to forge a unique path based on my interests.
My interest in business and entrepreneurship were fuelled by observing, lots of passive learning from my interactions with my dad as I overheard conversations, plans etc. for his ventures. He never tried to forcefully influence our career, aspirations or life’s choices. The world was our oasis and we were free to explore.
Afterall, it is not surprising that father’s spirit and aspirations created a ripple effects of lasting and positive impact to pave the way for a better future for ourselves.
