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There are so many family businesses that have grown to be extremely successful. Even after becoming corporate giants, these businesses still maintain a family dynamic, the positions of the higher-ups being held by original family members and the inter-company relationships being stronger than those of other businesses. You might consider it to be common sense that discipline is at the root of their success – but unless you've ever been on the inside of a family business, you probably don't realize just how difficult it is to discipline your loved ones. Here are three golden rules for being both successful and familial within your business. Remember to be an honest judge of character. By all means, you want your children, siblings, cousins, et cetera to do well in their lives. That's why it's sometimes difficult not to promote a family member who has been your employee for quite some time. But before promoting anyone, family or not, you have to truly ask yourself: is this person capable of handling more responsibilities? Being a member of your family isn't credibility enough – if they can't fill the shoes, they don't deserve the position, and they'll understand. Don't segregate. In other words, don't play favorites. If there are non-family employees who are excelling, make sure they get the recognition (and compensation) they deserve. Most importantly, don't ever choose a family member over a non-family member employee based on that mere fact. Always give the promotions, raises, and responsibilities to the employees who deserve it, and make sure that everyone has an equal opportunity to do well. It's unfortunate, but sometimes the people who are most invested in the business aren't from the same bloodline, and they deserve to get what they work for. Separate family and business life. This is sort of the converse situation of the previous two – don't let at-home conflicts come into the workplace. That means if your son has done something at home, such as, perhaps, drop out of college or fail to pay back borrowed money, don't consider that when deciding whether or not he deserves to move up in the business. Separate his work life and his home life, because no one is the same in each setting. In the same vein, don't come to work angry at one another, and never get into familial disputes in front of customers. If you want to have a successful family business – like Mars candy or Seament, which is run by Alexander F Bouri and his sons – you need to learn the separation between relatives and employees. If you manage that, you can succeed internally.
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