I Am Still Learning
 By
Henry D. Landes
September 2005
When you visit our offices, you can’t miss a bronze plaque by my door which reads:
“I am still learning” (the English translation of Ancora Imparo) credited to Michelangelo
in his 87th year!
In May, my wife Jane and I were delighted to travel to Italy and stand in the Sistine
Chapel in awe of Michelangelo’s exquisite art. By his 87th year, the ceiling of the Sistine
Chapel had been completed for 50 years and the statue of David for nearly 60 years. While
renowned as a painter, sculpturer, architect, poet and master, perhaps Michelangelo’s
greatest feat was that he was never so enamored with his accomplishments that he could not
expand, refine and continue learning.
Saturday mornings are set aside for Joshua and me to go on an adventure. While I’m
teaching my 2˝-year-old grandson about goats, moo cows or the sweet taste of fresh-picked
strawberries, he’s also teaching me…wonder, joy, and discovery! (Being a PopPop is great!)
Fifty years ago, my grandfather, Isaiah T. Landes, a life-long learner, did this same thing
with me—gently introducing the things of his world to my ever-expanding universe. He was
teaching me that success in life and in business is rooted in an attitude of learning from
many sources, a willingness to seek out and listen to another point of view, and an
eagerness to share the discovery with fellow learners.
When your family business adopts these learning values, your customers return for the same
product or service at the same location for roughly the same price—but never from the exact
same vendor they met at the last purchase. That may not be quantifiable in the “features and
benefits” section of your brochures, but it provides unmistakable profit to you and the
customer.
In our family business consulting practice, we encourage business families to formalize
their commitment to life-long learning by developing a written Learning Policy. The hosts of
our November 16 Forum, the Hollingers of Four Seasons Produce, have not only developed such a
policy but are acting on it in tangible ways. For instance, 2nd-generation Jason, his wife
Theresa, and their two young girls will be leaving shortly to live in Costa Rica for two
years to learn a new language, a new culture and about business in Latin America. Jason and
his family will be learning firsthand about a world not unlike that of some of their
suppliers. Undoubtedly this “outside work experience” will contribute immensely to Jason’s
personal and professional development and to the lifelong learning reservoir of his young
family.
Is your family committed to lifelong learning? Since business success is fueled (or limited)
by the learning and growth of each family member, your family’s commitment to learning can be
a significant competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Family meetings or councils often become the structure or the primary Learning Laboratory
where essential learning and communication takes place. It is my privilege to facilitate
many of these regular family meetings when siblings or parents and children learn from each
other as they communicate, negotiate, gain clarity, work through complex issues, gain
understanding, and create policies and agreements so they can move ahead proactively …
instead of waiting for a problem to arise and be forced to react.
From Italy to Costa Rica and around the greater Delaware Valley, when the senior and the
junior generations of business families are “still learning together,” the odds of success
in both family relationships and business are greatly increased!
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