Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. To me it is a
time to get together with family and friends, cook delicious food and celebrate
the bounty of the season. This year my partner and I hosted our two families at
our house and it was wonderful, but not without its challenges. All of the
people who came and celebrated with us had their individual needs and
expectations for the holiday. It was on me to find a way to balance each of
these needs with my own mission for the weekend. Finding this balance reminded
me a lot what non-profit organizations have to do, while balancing the needs
and desires of their different stakeholders.
Here are a couple examples from the
weekend. My brother and dad, true Midwestern men, traditionally have spent most
of thanksgiving watching football and cheering for whichever side was loosing.
Since we do not have a TV, I suggested they find a local dive bar to watch the
games as we cooked. Although none of them were open, we did not change our
plans around Thanksgiving for their needs. Another challenge I faced was the
needs of my partner’s mom. She has her own expectations around Thanksgiving
including particular recipes and dishes to serve. In order to balance our needs
we separated the items on the menu so that she could preserve her traditions,
while I was still able to serve the new local recipes that I had found.
Although these examples seem simple, overcoming them was an important step to
guaranteeing that the weekend was wonderful for everyone involved. My
experience of needing to protect my own mission this weekend highlighted three
themes I have been discussing throughout this blog:
- Establishment of strong structures. I knew what type of experience I wanted to build for the weekend and I put the structures in place to make it happen. Before any of our guests arrived we did a lot of the grocery shopping at local farmers markets and made a plan for the weekend that supported the mission.
- The power of education. As we cooked each dish I spent the time explaining why I had chose that specific recipe and how it helped me to protect my mission. One example is that we used celeriac root, sweet potatoes and squash to support local farmers and to provide an alternative to the starchy mashed potatoes since I have been eating a paleo diet recently.
- The importance of compromise. Although I had a strong mission for the weekend I realized that I needed to include the ideas and needs of others to make it a meaningful event for everyone.
Thinking about my blog in this new and different away
allowed me to understand the idea of protecting your mission at a deeper level
by looking at it through a new and different lens.
Ali, I enjoyed this post. I want to share that over the years I have used some of my business education to influence how my family runs. One really simple example is that by switching up the layout of my living/dining room furniture, I changed how my family interacted with each other. We were able to snuggle and read books together more easily. Keep testing out your business ideas in new environments--the process will surely continue to bring you clarity. Btw, your Thanksgiving sounded wonderful--meaningful and full of love. Can I get a copy of your squash/sweet potato recipe? :)
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