# 091 with Speaker, Author, and Family Business Consultant Nike Anani

- Episode: 0091
- Date: 2022-11-12
- Duration: 56:29
- Guest: [Nike Anani](/guests/nike-anani/)
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YMQPhmCl7c
- RSS: https://share.transistor.fm/s/3e08aa87
- Spotify (show): https://open.spotify.com/show/45J7CBdM8j29doqyBp2bFs
- Apple (show): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-junkyard-love-podcast/id1489118788

## About

Next Gen, Legacy Perspective, New Beginnings
Nike brings her valuable wisdom, firsthand experience, and elegant articulation to the podcast in this episode - she’s a Consultant specializing in family business where the torch is being passed down to a new generation. Our conversation moved very naturally through various topics including Nikes Bio, technological changes, personal experiences with businesses, the future of business, the melting pot of Austin TX, cognitive diversity, maintaining a growth mindset, and we weave through various philosophies of tech, leadership, culture, generational differences, legacy, and much much more. Certainly an episode for everyone, not just those in family business. Please hit subscribe/follow! Thanks for listening!
Here’s her bio:
Nike Anani is a Speaker, Author and Consultant to NextGens that seek to lead their Family Businesses. She helps NextGens rise above operations into a non-executive board role with credibility, so that they are able to lead and formulate a plan to future-proof the business, becoming more effective change agents. Nike fuses her inside experience as a NextGen executive in her Family’s Enterprise, as a Chartered Accountant and as a Family Business Advisor to bring practical proven solutions to the table.
Nike has almost a decade of experience working in African family businesses, as a NextGen in her parents’ businesses and also as a co-Founder of several others. This inside experience as a NextGen birthed a passion to help others in similar shoes as herself in being effective change champions that collaborate with other family members and stakeholders in co-building legacy businesses that would outlive them.
After graduating from University College London, United Kingdom, with a degree in Economics in 2008, Nike worked at Deloitte London for 3 years in Corporate Tax International where she qualified as a Chartered Accountant. Thereafter in 2011, she relocated to Lagos, Nigeria to work in her family’s businesses.
She is the co-founder of African Family Firms, a pan-African association of family businesses, and the author of “Building Resilient Family Enterprises”. She is a member of Family Firm Institute. Nike is rated as one of the top 100 Consultants globally in the Family Enterprise World by Family Capital, a leading online publication for Family Businesses.
She is happily married and a mother to two young boys, who are her biggest sources of inspiration to leave a lasting legacy on our world.
Episode initially recorded on 8-27-21, released for the first time here

## Chapters

(none published in episode notes)

## Quotes

Couple quotes from Nike in this episode:

"You want to plan as early as yesterday. it’s never too early for legacy planning"
"More Diverse teams, and true inclusion, leads to co-creation of better solutions."

## Guest links (from published notes)

(none published in episode notes)

## Tags / keywords

Nike Anani, family business, Next Gen, Legacy Perspective, New Beginnings, Junkyard Love Podcast episode 0091, JYLP 0091

## Archive picks

Extracted from the YouTube auto-caption transcript and published notes already on this episode. Labeled separately from Jacob’s published About / Chapters / Quotes / Hashtags.

## Memorable quotes

- [00:01:17] Nike: “In a nutshell help business owners build Legacy Enterprises so move from Lifetime businesses to Legacy and who am I'm a”
- [00:01:17] Nike: “I'm a second generation business owner myself um I'm based in Austin Texas very recently moved here from Lagos Nigeria about”
- [00:13:51] Nike: “It's never too early to start planning legacy planning because it takes time it takes time for the family to come together”
- [00:15:12] Nike: “We have to make the time to work on the business um and in a family business that entails creating emotional room um a time”
- [00:23:13] Nike: “More diverse teams well not just the existence of the diversity but truly in true inclusion leads to co-creation of better”
- [00:23:13] Nike: “Cognitive diversity right and the way we think which is shaped by our life experiences who we are and things and I strongly”
- [00:45:29] Nike: “A growth mindset when it comes to learning uh is just as an individual is helpful to the overall business I mean I again I”
- [00:54:08] Nike: “Powered by possibility because there's just an infinite amount of possibilities that the world has to offer you and you have”

## Chapter-style timestamps

- [00:00:00](#t-00-00-00) — Bumper / warm-up — audience, mental health roots, golden nuggets
- [00:01:17](#t-00-01-17) — Nike bio — Legacy Enterprises; Austin from Lagos
- [00:02:50](#t-00-02-50) — Deloitte to Nigeria — joining the family construction business
- [00:12:29](#t-00-12-29) — Intergenerational business & succession
- [00:13:51](#t-00-13-51) — Plan as early as yesterday — legacy planning
- [00:15:12](#t-00-15-12) — Work on the business — family vision, mission, values
- [00:23:13](#t-00-23-13) — Cognitive diversity, true inclusion, Austin melting pot
- [00:34:58](#t-00-34-58) — First-generation business — maturity vs age / when to plan
- [00:45:29](#t-00-45-29) — Growth mindset in the family enterprise
- [00:53:45](#t-00-53-45) — Powered by possibility, not caged by fear
- [00:54:22](#t-00-54-22) — Where to find Nike — nikeanani.com / socials
- [00:55:21](#t-00-55-21) — Close — love yourself / do not be caged by fear

## Keywords

Nike Anani, family business, NextGen, NextGens, legacy planning, Legacy Enterprises, Austin Texas, Lagos Nigeria, Deloitte, African Family Firms, Building Resilient Family Enterprises, Family Firm Institute, cognitive diversity, true inclusion, diverse teams, growth mindset, intergenerational business, succession, leadership, melting pot, powered by possibility, Junkyard Love Podcast, JYLP 0091, Next Gen Legacy Perspective New Beginnings

## Hashtags

#NikeAnani #FamilyBusiness #NextGen #LegacyPlanning #LegacyEnterprises #AustinTX #Lagos #CognitiveDiversity #Inclusion #GrowthMindset #Intergenerational #Leadership #JunkyardLove #JYLP #JYLP0091

## Short guest bio (from episode speech + published notes)

Nike Anani is a speaker, author, and family-business consultant who helps NextGens move from day-to-day operations into credible non-executive / board-level leadership so they can future-proof legacy enterprises. On this episode she shares her path as a second-generation business owner—University College London and Deloitte London, then relocating from the UK to Lagos, Nigeria to work in her family’s businesses—and her recent move to Austin, Texas. She talks legacy planning (“never too early”), cognitive diversity and true inclusion, growth mindset, and leading powered by possibility rather than fear. She points listeners to nikeanani.com and @NikeAnani on socials (spoken on-air; not listed as a published guest-link URL in the episode notes).

## Transcript

[00:00:00] Jacob: Knowledge is power reality a little bit more about your audience and how this I can make a great experience for them right so um I would say I do I do speak to like the leader side in all of us fairly often the podcast kind of started as a mental health podcast I'm just talking about like depression and our inner experience and what you can do to make it better sort of thing a lot of people sharing their personal experience um and so I think the audience is probably people looking for like those little golden nuggets of advice to make their life a little bit better than it is you know so also if that helps yeah that helps wonderful all right well ladies and gentlemen welcome to the Junkyard Love Podcast I am here with Nike Anani uh it's so great to have you on today um I've got a little bit of notes here but like I said we'll just kind of keep it casual and uh and see where it falls in so I would love to start um with your bio with your background what it is that you do

[00:01:17] Nike: Awesome thank you thank you for having me Jacob I'm excited about our very organic conversation um I in a nutshell help business owners build Legacy Enterprises so move from Lifetime businesses to Legacy and who am I'm a second generation business owner myself um I'm based in Austin Texas very recently moved here from Lagos Nigeria about six weeks ago and my journey into helping folks in legacy planning was very much intertwined with my life Journey so my father started off uh business day I was born and this was back in Lagos Nigeria and at age nine myself my mum and my brothers we moved to the UK so I was far from the business for many years and I went to University in London I worked in corporate in Deloitte for a few years but I found it so dull it didn't inspire me and I felt a bit lost as well so I decided to take some time off and travel and my first stop was to go to Nigeria to work with my dad just for a few months and so all the time myself and my brothers my mum were in the UK he stayed back and was building out the business so by the time I came back from my short

[00:02:50] Nike: Stint I was only supposed to be back for three months the business had completely changed from when I was a child um it was now a construction company a real estate development company and an engineering company and there were now 3 000 members of staff and but there was very informal so it was a huge culture shock from coming from London from nice and tidy to Lloyd's and yeah the cultural change the industry changed and everything and but I it was what lit me up so it was contrast from my experience in Beloit because like I said I was thoroughly bored but here everything was on fire like the entrepreneurship opportunities and Lagos um I just really loved it that there was such a huge opportunity to add tremendous value to customers and wider stakeholders communities whilst uplifting focus on that Journey um through the trickle-down economic effect right um and so it's quite a long story short I didn't leave I stayed past my three months I was there for 10 years actually and but I found that there was very little help out there to help navigating with integrating into a family Enterprise there was very little help out there with helping to build a legacy business

[00:04:20] Nike: And but I thought that it was really important that businesses like my dads shouldn't just die when he dies but unfortunately the data in Nigeria was that only two percent of businesses would outlive Founders like my father and so essentially I got trained up with family farm Institute in Boston to become a certified family business advisor and that started my journey um with first putting in the governor's succession planning with our family Enterprise to see that it would outlive um Dad and hopefully even my generation and then helping other folks to do the same so that's how I got here wow

[00:05:04] Nike: Yeah what a journey I was thinking about um I feel like many people might I mean 3 000 people is a big deal of course but I think many people may even Overlook that intuition to you know because you decided I'm gonna travel for a while I don't know exactly what I'm gonna do and you don't know exactly what you're looking for in the first spot you go you go back and just to make the decision to say okay I think actually this is what I'm supposed to be doing I think a lot of people might Overlook that you know maybe they might keep searching maybe they need a couple more years travel a couple more places so I mean it's pretty powerful and awesome really that you were able to grab hold of that when you went back on your first place I must say it was a gradual process so it was so the plan when I was in London before I came to Nigeria was I've been in Lagos for three months I'll go traveling in the Far East for six months and I'll go to business school um the following September at the end of the three months I was like I don't want to go let me extend it for

[00:06:05] Nike: Another three and then at the end of those three it was like I don't want to go let me extend it for another year because I was still I was on a career break with Deloitte at this point so I've been given one year um off work and I extended that to two years and at the end of the two years I was like I'm not going anywhere this is where I'm supposed to be um the it was just on fire I just I got I love the entrepreneur's life yeah the fact that you're just creating things that other people need it wasn't really so much about money but really that value creation that I just really loved and also like I said in unfortunately in Nigeria we are the poverty capital of the world and so in this process of economic value creation you are adding tremendous economic value to folks that really do need jobs we do need opportunities so that really um I really enjoyed that so yeah it wasn't it wasn't as soon as I got to Nature I was like yes I'm going to be here for 10 years it was really like you know what let me just see where this takes me and

[00:07:22] Jacob: See whether this is where I feel I was supposed to be at this point in time yeah take it step by step I like that um just thinking about okay so when you got there we have three thousand people and um it sounds like it was unorganized a bit or maybe just not prepared for that amount of people that much scale I'm sure so what are the things I'm sure you learned a ton um but what are some of the things that you learned that you were able to take back and say all right here's what we got to do different here's where we need these people here's where we need these people because I'm sure you kind of like were a total Maestro coming back in after going and taking that class learning about what you need to be doing coming back in and implementing it and what were some of the major changes that you found yourself having to make or Implement it's organization yeah um the importance of HR um as not just an administrative function not just paying salaries and making sure that people are granting leave right but really being as a strategic function so aligning that with the Top Line where's the Saw heading

[00:08:33] Jacob: Like the culture we want to build the vision the mission um and then cascading that all through the organization um having Clarity of the goals of the company and being able to translate that to departments and then to individuals then we had a huge issue with ghost workers when I moved back so we're a construction company we had 110 projects across the country and it was largely manual so the only software people were using was literally like Excel Microsoft Word and emails so yeah there's a lot of leakage so looking at just putting in controls so I brought an internal order um biometric um time and attendance verifications um doing lots of kind of spot checks of the salaries that were being paid to whom a lot of the time found that these people didn't exist or they'd left the firm years back it was just it was a horrible experience yeah it was a horrible experience um and then also delineating functions and roles a lot of the time someone would be like yes I'm a procurement officer that's what I was hired for but actually I'm doing admin work I need to find there was a lot of duplication in that regard so there's lots of inefficiency so doing job description audits

[00:10:12] Nike: Um okay this is what you were hired for what are you actually doing um do we need to update your JD do we actually then need you in this department do you need to be moved somewhere else to he needs you for stop in the company so there's a lot of tedious work in that regard a lot of people management and also on H um also on finance right she was also largely informal um and then how does that how does that map over to kind of like the work that you find yourself doing with other companies like where they're hiring you to come in do you find a lot of the kind of similar things where maybe businesses grew too quickly or they you know they just didn't put the correct Scaffolding in place or precisely a lot of business businesses grew too quickly and the router centers around an individual and so it's very um founder Centric and instead of building an institution where so typically you'll see that the founders surrounded by helpers you do this you do that okay I've done it just task clusters as opposed to code builders um and so yeah I always say that if you're trying to build a legacy Enterprise

[00:11:35] Nike: Um it if it's going to outlive the founder the founder has to be able to spend a week or two away from the business and the business can function without him or her right if we can't do that then we can't even talk about generational um and so the very first step is business foundations HR Finance standard operating procedures processes procedures all that yeah right yeah so yeah a large part of your work is obviously helping with Um intergenerational uh business yeah so what does that look like I mean do you have do you find yourself working with a lot of you know father-son sort of situations or you know a few tears down um is a lot of their issues kind of just typical father-son not getting alongside

[00:12:29] Nike: Type stuff or what do you see often there I've seen father son mother daughter cross gender sometimes siblings teams with fathers yeah um a lot of the time the conflict arises because the founder is finding it really difficult to let go so they've been the one that built this business from inception right and they see it they want to retire but in reality they're hugging it and stifling this business and no one else can get a word in and that's the really the Crux of the matter and that's what's causing a lot of conflict and that's when I'm pulled into the room right okay we want to succession plan but how do we actually go about doing this or there's a lot of sibling rivalry you know um in that regard or the of the unfortunate has happened the founder that has passed away and it's like okay what do we actually need to do yeah what steps we need to take um unfortunately we don't want that situation where it's in crisis when we're planning it makes it a lot more difficult um ideally you want to plan early as yesterday is always

[00:13:51] Nike: You know ideal it's never too early to start planning legacy planning because it takes time it takes time for the family to come together and start having a Cadence of conversations on where's this going

[00:14:07] Jacob: Right what's that purpose how do we fit into this I think that's probably questions that you probably proposed to companies and they might be the first time they've really thought about it like what are our values where are we where are we you know steering this ship what do we want in 10 years what's our scalable goals or whatever you know and that's something that even in all of our personal lives you know is helpful to do as I'm learning as I'm getting older just stumbling into walls and whatnot figuring it out I'm more and more in favor of having a what am I aiming at you know I think that would actually be helpful yeah I think we've all been conditioned to do just keep doing things right it's supposed to be and to actually take a step back and have full clarity as to what is the purpose of this and you know this is Jacob has is able to articulate his vision his values his purpose but you've also got other folks in this process as well right um so

[00:15:12] Nike: How do you then Galvanize a team your family members so also crew who create the vision the mission the purpose and the values so often folks haven't given sufficient thought to this because they're seemingly more pressing urgent matters to deal with making money in the business making daily decisions working in the business but we have to make the time to work on the business um and in a family business that entails creating emotional room um a time a Cadence for challenging conversations unfortunately because it's not something that it's just right you've got four options which one do you like red pink blue would you like meat or fish no it's not it really takes deep introspection um it takes consider conversation to collectively arrive at that point

[00:16:21] Nike: Yeah and those are you know those are difficult questions to ask yeah and they're certainly not like a check the box and we'll choose which one those are in-depth long conversations you know looking at the future of you know everyone involved personally and financially and uh what the overall goals are going to be um so what do you uh when it comes to leadership what how about this how do you define leadership um I often say though excuse me leader comes from an Old English word which is go before as a guide um so as a leader you facilitate you inspire you motivate you've gone before everyone else around you have an idea of vision where we're heading and you're just influencing and motivating rallying people along on the journey to come with you um it's not rulership it's not power over it's not domineering it's inspiring I liked it that's a fantastic definition for leadership so do you find different leadership styles in um you know I think of just our older generations and then you know just the younger Generations Millennials gen Z whatever just because technology has changed what we do how we do it why we do it's just changed so much it's really taken over

[00:17:59] Nike: Um a lot of what we do and I feel like it brings out different ideas in us as Leaders you know um I imagine there's probably just a big disconnect in the types of leadership in the places we want to take things older Generations versus the young um do you find excuse me do you find that um that like technology and maybe taking risks or um uh getting away from you know because at some point when you have a business it works it works great to have you know handshakes and emails and just Microsoft Excel and whatnot but and then you at some point you gotta build a website and it's gotta work well and then you got to have social media and so I imagine there's probably a lot of um resistance to that sort of growth do you do you find um a lot of that sort of thing for sure I think typically you'll find that the older generation will focus on this is how what we did to get to where we are so why should we have to do things any differently

[00:19:03] Nike: Whereas the Next Generation younger folks are more Future Folk as well this is the way the future looks like it's going towards and we need to catch up otherwise we're going to be irrelevant and that can create this Chasm between the generations where it's there's a resistance to change and there's a hunger for change on the other side and it's to bridge that process um we do need the resiliency of the all but we also need the novel of the new and back to your point on um leadership I think and heck I think Tech has kind of it's Rewritten the game like all the rules of the game right because a lot of the older folks ruled by position through their titles and their Authority and there was a lot of information and symmetry right with the focus on the field and those up in the boardroom but now from our fingertips it's like no this we've got the data and we're empowered and we've got you know we're leaders in our own right and so there's also been like a cultural shift away from that positional um to really more the younger generation wants to be inspired they don't want to be um told what to do they want to really

[00:20:27] Nike: Connect with why the true purpose um and there's huge kind of skepticism and yeah there's a lot of um what's the word skepticism and what's the word I'm looking for just suspicion

[00:20:45] Jacob: Okay yeah we're a very suspicious Generation Um Millennials we don't like us t-shirts right um and so we don't want you to tell us what to do show us why we have to do it show us the bigger picture I'm sure how it's adding value um the authentic so these are all the kind of generational gaps we typically see is in the style of leadership

[00:21:14] Nike: Um which is apparent in family firms as well this can really hinder collaboration um because both Generations are just talking over each other it's like they're speaking different languages and unable to come together and truly collaborate and that's a lot of the work that I do is to bridge that Gap

[00:21:33] Nike: Yeah definitely um just sidestepping really quick I'm actually in Austin Texas as well um I'm going to move out here like four months ago yeah so I was just curious what brings you what brings you out to Austin oh that's so cool um yeah like in January we're like we're done we need to move so we decided in April we came myself and my husband came out to check it out like um because we decided on Austin without ever visiting Austin yeah I'm making this International moves a bit a bit of a gamble um so we decided let's actually check it out first and we love that yeah and by may he was here and July myself and the kids came yeah that's so awesome yeah it's a it's been similar for me um just kind of needed some change a lot of difference happens and so I'm out here I feel like there's a lot of people I mean of course there is a lot of people that moved to Austin you know from really from everywhere um and I'm really interested to see what it does to like the culture you know it's gonna be really cool you know the next the next 10 years like everybody coming here with their

[00:22:50] Jacob: Ideas and their individual perception and how they see it you know like so what do you see I'm sure that you're probably naturally you probably watched you know business Trends and like cultural Trends and kind of where things might be going do you think about the future of places like Austin with a bunch of people moving here oh for sure I'm super passionate about

[00:23:13] Nike: Cognitive diversity right and the way we think which is shaped by our life experiences who we are and things and I strongly believe that more diverse teams well not just the existence of the diversity but truly in true inclusion leads to co-creation of better Solutions because of the different kind of World Views that we're all coming with and we've got um Western culture which is very individualistic promoting you know pursuit of Independence and um whereas in other cultures you've got collectivist cultures like in Africa Middle East and Asia which is more collectivist and really um more about the community more about upholding one's honor reputation so I think there's Confluence and this kind of melting pot of different people with different experiences and different ideas might bring about better social Solutions as well as stronger business ideas as well so I think it's exciting I think from everything I've experienced so far super inclusive yeah um and it's really up and coming it's like this Melting Pot of everyone is here yeah it feels like that for real

[00:24:41] Jacob: Yeah and I think we're gonna see really cool ideas come out in business sphere as well as in Social space as well yeah I think so too um obviously of course you have your finger on the pulse closer than I do but just as kind of a Creator and someone who enjoys culture and um just as like my view as an artist or whatever I'll call myself um I'm just I'm so like wow this is going to be really cool I'm very excited you know um and I'm I think uh it's cool you know we have people like Tesla or Elon Musk moving out here with Tesla and I think HP moved out here you know Joe Rogan moved out here and he's bringing all these comedians so that I mean if you have a bunch of comedians coming into a town you're definitely gonna have the culture changed you know um yeah so I'm just really it's very exciting and I'm happy to be here and welcome I'm glad you're here too

[00:25:38] Nike: Thank you um so the so do you have any um any companies or any of like the big popular people maybe Tesla that people look up to what are some good aspiring um companies that have good cultures that we might be able to point at and learn from that's a really good question um I would say Tesla's a great one Amazon's a great one um these are companies that encourage in Innovation creative thinking allow for fail fast fail as fast as possible so you can get back up because not only do we have to allow for diversity of thought or diverse teams rather both in families and in business we also actually have to ensure that these fruits that are diverse actually have a voice we listen and encourage them to speak which is inclusion um so having their voice heard at the table but not only it's not enough just to have their voice heard at the table we want everyone to be empowered to be agents to challenge the status quo let's be able to be like hey Jacob I'm not sure that's a good idea because this might not work or we've done this and it's failing we need to try something new because it's in that place that

[00:27:06] Nike: We see true creativity and unlock innovation looking at the macro we're going to see it's been disruptive it's going to get even more disruptive um a rate of technological innovation is exponential and will continue to be so we cannot be static we have to be dynamic we have to um not just um adapt to the times we have to create the future and that can only happen if we're creating cultures where challenging is the norm

[00:27:41] Jacob: Yeah I like that's I mean I completely agree I think that's what it is I mean if you can create this business to be an organism that is you know self-correcting like on all of its different aspects all of its nodes you know your employees are your different edges of it and when they see something that maybe you can't see because you're working on your you know your area um yeah it's worth it's worth listening yeah I don't think I don't think having a dictator at the top saying yes or no all the time is incredibly help helpful I think that age is gone um and we have to normalize everyone must feel safe to make a mistake yeah because it's we have to normalize risk taking to some extent right the safety um that even I'm gonna try something new if it doesn't work it's fine I learned something from it as opposed to um I have to stay safe and just to the line of best fits so I fit in and I don't stand now that is not going to unlock Innovation and creativity um okay so do you see I think uh I mean I'm not in it um I like so I don't see I kind of see

[00:29:05] Nike: More of like the news articles and what you hear here and there but um you know with our with our interesting culture right now um inclusivity is so important and it is great but I do see a lot of like over correction of it of it um I see a lot of uh we're like mimicking we're like doing like the mime version of it we're doing the acting version of it making sure everybody knows that we're inclusive instead of actually doing it do you find a lot of that yes it's exhausting it's a lot of eye service it's like a PR campaign virtue signaling of sense yeah so it's making me crazy yeah no it's BS that's not what that's not inclusivity right it's not about festivals and women's day and those things are great um but it's really about creating cultures that really make room for people that look different and are different yeah where everyone can say I belong here my ideas belong here my mistakes belong here yeah and everyone can take not only kind of legal ownership I'm an employee or but also emotional ownership like um I truly belong and I truly desire for the best for this organization and so I pour my best into the organization

[00:30:27] Jacob: And organization reciprocates right yeah like that's the identity we should be meeting at like our community identity like that's what we where we should act from we meet each other on these incorrect levels and then think we need to react and respond to them and it's like I don't care about that we're just yeah we're here to create a community and build a business together let's talk about that and I think also I have very strong views on this um I think also we rob people of their individuality because then it's like oh all women this is the issues women face or black people these are the issues black people face at all um you know lgbtq people this and we're all individual there's a lot of nuance right um I've had a number of people ask me oh okay um critical race Theory what you think of ABCD I'm like I'm six weeks into being in the US my lived experience it's very different from an

[00:31:23] Nike: African-American they have the same hair we have the same skin color but my lived experience is very different I cannot tell you that um we have the same life experiences and I've had people of Caribbean origin say the same thing um where it's like that's not necessarily the same for us like there's some similarities but there's also some new odds and I think it's the same for any groups of people there's they're all individual yeah and we just want our individuality to be recognized and we don't want to be ashamed belittled the denied access because of whoever we are right let's just make room for people's differences um be curious about people's differences rather than judge them I think there's a judging that happens when we just put people into categories and just assume um their issues and without really being curious to learn about each individual yeah I mean because I find that I mean through my lived experience through my in conversations when you don't meet people on the level of like you know what the news is telling us we should look at this part of their identity you know it's just be with them and talk with them and you'll find that you

[00:32:45] Nike: Know you're probably going to get along with them with them just fine I think the you know technology in news and social media and a lot of this it kind of takes us out of our definitely takes us out of our present you know we're kind of living up in our minds in these like um stories that are written about stories that are told you know and they're saying this is this is what it actually is so we're kind of fighting this Phantom sometimes in a way you know and I think that getting present and just you know dealing with who you're dealing with in our everyday life is kind of more the way to go in my opinion

[00:33:20] Jacob: Yeah um so yeah it's a and it's also interesting to note that uh this area of conversation is like an eggshell area in a sense like we're not allowed to talk about it uh I did a did a couple episodes on cancel culture actually with a friend of mine um who's just a an armchair philosopher and we're kind of just like what is this why are we paying so much attention to this you know and this I think we really do need to just get back to back in our heads in our bodies and just deal with what's in front of us absolutely agree I did want to thank you for your for your opinions on that too um Nike um so I did want to I was thinking about first generation businesses so people who are starting to get some growth they're the ones with the idea they're the founders they're getting employees things are growing maybe they have a couple stores maybe they have a couple locations um you know at what point should we start thinking about tightening up like all right let's actually get our get our 10-year plan you know what do we need to be to be thinking I actually have one friend

[00:34:24] Nike: In particular who um he's a clothing company um I feel he's going to be very successful he already has multiple Stores um he started out I used to he used to sell t-shirts out of his trunk at parties that I would DJ you know he's got multiple stores and he's just a really cool guy um but he has he has a child on the way if not already has a child and so I imagine in a few years he's going to start thinking like all right what do I want to do with this business and how do I want to expand and how do I want to you know teach my kid about it or bring my kid into it I'm not sure so just kind of what's on my head so um

[00:34:24] Jacob: Tell me about first generational business what's our mindset

[00:34:58] Nike: Here I think with first genres um I always say there's a distinction between um maturity and age right just as we all know some old folk are not mature um there's no correlation often it's the same with businesses they're quite often you have a business might be in a startup phase where you're trying to prove the concepts and get it to commerciality at pre-pre it's been able to stand on its own two feet and generate consistent revenue on profits that's a business that's really in baby mode and I wouldn't invest a lot of time thinking doing deep planning at that stage however once the business has crossed that threshold you need to be planning yesterday um so just as in construction because I have a construction background you start with the end in mind you have your architectural drawings you have your engineering plans you need to know because you need to know that the load-bearing capacity of the foundations depending on the height of building and the materials that you're going to use and the design of the house is similar

[00:36:13] Jacob: Right so ideally we want to start your

[00:36:16] Nike: Legacy planning um as soon as the business demonstrate that it's viable and that doesn't necessarily mean that you have all the details and you know what role Johnny is going to play in 30 years time in the business it's probably impossible right um but it is really gaining Clarity on like what we were talking about earlier Clarity of Mission Vision and conviction and starting to have expose your children to the business um they might not be the leaders of the business but they will probably be the owners of the business in the future and that comes with responsibility and as owners we don't want them to be just legal owners without emotional ownership we really want them to care about the business and that's only going to happen when they've you don't fall in love with what you don't know um so you wanna for as early as possible just talk about the business take them to the office and that doesn't necessarily mean you impose it upon them and demand that they take over but you just naturally show them expose them and they may become curious they may be okay Dad I want to spend more time I want an intern um I'd like to study something along

[00:37:36] Nike: This line at College I'd like to plug into networks and then you know that

[00:37:40] Nike: Okay this one has a flair for the business whereas another child might be like this is boring yeah what role are we playing in the community how can we help folks that are less you know not as well as well off as us and then you know this child has a flair for like philanthropy or Community CSR and things like that so oh you might have a child that's like we need to think about life insurance we need to think about structuring uh assets we need to think about other Investments and then you know okay this one seems to be very good with diversification but guess what we need the confidence of all three skills right to build a business of the future um because it's really thinking through the technical structuring as well as leading the business as well as okay what other assets do we have as a family and how can we protect the family so yeah I would say start with the end of Mind start to create a Cadence for these conversations with family with your spouse if possible um with your kids um from an early age to really and also expose them from an early age because Legacy is long term it takes time

[00:39:06] Nike: It's not something you figure out in 90 days um and it takes intentionality it takes intentionality it takes time for your kids to develop their leadership and I mean that mean that in a broad sense right I don't mean whether they're going to lead the business I mean even as a philanthropist you're a leader even as an investor you're a leader it takes time for them to develop that and it takes time for them to develop to become Visionaries it's like we said as a leader you're going before as a guide so you have a picture of what this is about you're not just tactical you're not just functional you're not just you know a door um it takes time for them to develop that and then it also takes time for them to come together and practice leading together because the business will grow from lead being led by Dad or Mom So in the Next Generation being collectively led by three four step lengths taking joint ownership decisions are we going to sell the business or where are we expanding into a strategic um advisors potentially as board members and things so there's many moving parts that we have to start thinking about

[00:40:26] Nike: Yeah of course so okay so how about how about let's do second and third generation then um so people who um in that I also think about um new ideas uh maybe side steps pivoting um that sort of thing because I imagine that could be you know that could be a wonderful thing that could all that could probably also be the death of a company you know uh if it's not planned out uh adequately or if the side step or pivot is too far away from the from the original um thing that the business set out set out to do so yeah let's talk about second and third generation how do we think differently there it's pretty similar but it gets more complex because now you're moving from siblings to cousins all right and who've not grown up in the same household right and um at least for siblings we all were led by mum and dad who knew what they all stood for we've probably involved similar cultures to some extent there'll still be variations right but now with cousins sometimes you've never met them they're halfway across the world across the country have completely different views um and so it becomes even more important to focus on that

[00:41:45] Jacob: Team formation that Clarity of visual Mission and conviction because guess what that's a dynamic concept it's not something that all Henry VIII decided and yeah 1466 that this it has to evolve with the times and with the stakeholders um so we have to start thinking about family learning being intentional about family Retreat spending time together being intentional about um yeah collectively ideating on this visual Mission um conviction and we have to be we have to start running the family almost like a company we have to create governance committees um decision-making processes to minimize conflict yeah okay well how do you think of uh you've used the word legacy a couple times and I think I actually I heard you mentioned in another podcast I was listening to as well um and I think I remember you having a good explanation around it so how do you think of the word legacy hmm I think of it as something that outlives you so it's sowing a seed today and you might not necessarily get the immediate returns in that the fruit of that seed won't Bud immediately um the totality of that fruit well um but immediately but it's going to create a tree with so many fruits for future generations to benefit from that's Legacy

[00:43:25] Nike: Um there's a quote and I forget who said it's Legacy it's not giving someone something it's giving people the ability it's a skill which I love because back to your point on like pivoting and Reinventing so apt um all the studies on family and during family businesses and Enterprises are those where every generation bring something new certainly they either go into a new market or new product new service new investment YouTube Adventure and so the Legacy really is not just cash in the bank or the manufacturing plan is really the imbibing of that entrepreneurial skill and when I say entrepreneurial skill I'm not just talking to those next-geners or the rising generation I have an inclination for entrepreneurship because I believe the mindset of Entrepreneurship is so powerful and it permeates through different aspects of life so even the philanthropist needs an entrepreneurial mindset the investor the impact person the social person the employee um being an entrepreneurship's ability to create something that adds value to people and being able to make it sustainable right from money perspective so yeah um I think it's really important that we do Legacy is not just about what people are going to inherit it's also the skills that they're learning which is why learning is so

[00:45:08] Jacob: Important for business families learning together learning individually learning um the stories of the you know the origins of the business and the business founder but also learning about the failures um yeah I think even having uh just

[00:45:29] Nike: A growth mindset when it comes to learning uh is just as an individual is helpful to the overall business I mean I again I listen to you on some podcasts

[00:45:37] Jacob: And you mentioned brene Brown you mentioned Simon sinek I love both of them um and so it sounds like you are constantly learning you're constantly absorbing and feeding your mind this new knowledge and it makes you better at what you do so you can help more people right um so what are how about some uh you know little self-development tips what are some ways that you stay sharp like do you do you make sure you're like I'm gonna listen to this many podcasts a week or are you just kind of casual about it or um because we all we all got to be feeding our inner leader right no that's a really good point so I kind of have Cadence for learning oops apparently um and for me podcasts I just I love them because that's just so convenient right I can be doing the most mundane thing but I'm learning at the same time in a very I find it entertaining way um so I could be at the gym running and time just goes like this because I'm listening to friends educate me in my ear um so whenever I'm at the gym I listen to a podcast whenever I'm driving or in the shower or doing any kind of interesting housework

[00:46:52] Jacob: I'm listening to something and I try to make sure they range from mindset type work emotional intelligence entrepreneurship it's kind of societal cultural it's just good a total kind of view because I think as business owners we need to work not only on mindset which is foundational

[00:47:19] Nike: Um being able to have a growth mindset being able to be curious um being able to take risk pursue possibility these are really critical as business owners but we also have to be strategists it's not just great to have yeah right yeah I can take all the risks in the world but you've got no clue how to go about doing so and you don't know how to read Trends and see the future so um we also have to mind strategy and then execution being able to create accountability structures to bring those files so aside from like learning through podcasts I read I really read when I'm on vacation um I'll probably be through like four or five books um and then I highlight them and then read the notes like throughout the year so just I'll go back to random books I'm like oh I'm a bit Rusty what was that book about and I just go through only the highlights because I read on my Kindle and the most impactful but unspoken about learning for me is through connections

[00:48:31] Jacob: Yeah through communities um I'm in communities with other next genres industry groups um impact philanthropy um attention friends just conversations like this right you and with mentors as well mentors are just like oh my god um I'm really big on mentorship because you're just you're infusing Jacob's life journey by being open and talking you're learning from his mistakes and from his triumphs right and vice versa and you developing your Social Capital as well because in being vulnerable like okay this is a struggle area for me it's like well I've got someone that you should really talk to who might be able to help you with that or can connect you to someone else um so being generous with your expertise generous with your networks folks reciprocate that and it's such it's such a blessing um so that's been a real way for me to really learn and develop this connections I'm huge on connections I spend a lot of time building connections nurturing connections and not in a transactional way not just jump on a zoom and be like right well yeah so here's my book buy my book or let me get something from you let me get something from you like I've got coaching program do you have any

[00:50:00] Jacob: Clients but really being in service people just catching up sometimes they may be going through grief and just being there just um just being there for them and yeah just continue to develop that relationship over time yeah no that's great I mean really the you know the a lot of the core concept of my podcast at the junkyard podcast is kind of you know somebody needs something that you have you know like some somebody like there's somebody who's listening and if they're really listening it can hit them right in the right way right at the right time and it's kind of like a in a junkyard you know maybe a 1984 Buick LeSabre front fender is not very beneficial to a lot of people but to someone who has a vehicle saber and they need a front fender it's this is the exact piece they need so just kind of like you know really opening up to every conversation you have every interaction you have it's like what's the world trying to teach me what's this person have to teach me you know and what can I teach them maybe I can teach them some of my expertise and then that in turn teaches me something about myself you

[00:51:10] Jacob: Know so it's a yeah being open to in reciprocating to all this is I completely agree and the weird thing is that often you don't know the total impacts you're making on Forex lives you don't know when you're giving someone the thing that you have right and I think the same also holds for legacy right there's Generations I will never meet and I don't know how I would have impacts with them right yeah so just always just be in a place of service and forget about all those we all have those niggling thoughts about how you're not good enough you don't know anything and you're a failure forget about those people like the more you talk over them they just they quieten down I rarely hear them these days like there's some days I wake up and I'm like yeah boy you're a bit loud today I need to do some mind makeovers um but those thoughts are um Irrelevant in the grand scheme of things in terms of the impact you're making on people in your generation and in generations to come oh yeah beautifully said you know in you know just that I've covered a lot of uh the mental health area um on the podcast and that is something

[00:52:24] Jacob: That I've talked about before is you know hey that voice that inner nihilist you know we all we all have it sometimes many of us have it a lot more whatever but if you can kind of just you know stand up to it and say ah no thank you like oh or even oh okay so you're mad you know oh I see you I see I see you mind you know you're trying to be negative about this thing but instead you don't believe in yourself and focus on your ideas and focus on you know what you want to accomplish and what you're capable of doing and what you're capable of bringing to the world you know it's super important I love that you mentioned that like that little nihilistic voice I always love mentioning that Jekyll and Hyde version of ourselves yes um so we are getting up here in time um I do want to do so typically I try to find one last hard-hitting question a lot of times um I would ask you know what does the world need more of right now um but for you I think I want to frame that uh if you're willing to answer uh how about what's something that the

[00:53:32] Jacob: Leader in each of us could use to hear right now what's something that I could speak to the leader in all of us by possibility

[00:53:45] Nike: And not caged by fear

[00:53:49] Jacob: Okay I like that there's a lot more possibility out there and there are negative outcomes um but those voices will amplify the what could go wrong how it could go wrong but push past those if you can

[00:54:08] Nike: And be powered by possibility because there's just an infinite amount of possibilities that the world has to offer you and you have to offer the world

[00:54:19] Jacob: Uh Valley I love that powered by

[00:54:21] Nike: Possibility not caged by fear That's So

[00:54:22] Jacob: Dope I love that um okay well uh let's make sure we give the audience uh your website where can they find you they can find you on Instagram and Twitter and where are you at yeah my website is first name last name. com so www. Nike n-i-k-e anani a-n-a-n-i. com and I'm on Twitter Instagram Facebook

[00:54:48] Nike: LinkedIn just at Nike Anani everywhere

[00:54:51] Jacob: Awesome cool well I will include that in the description notes um and everybody go check her out give her a follow on Instagram she retweets some good stuff I was on her Twitter earlier um so definitely give her a follow Nike I really appreciate your time here thank you so much for offering your mind to the listeners and your time to me and allowing me to ramble along and formulate questions as we go it's been a great ramble and it's been great introspection learnings and Reflections

[00:55:19] Nike: Thank you so much for having me yeah

[00:55:21] Jacob: Yeah fantastic well I mean again welcome to Austin I know I'm kind of thank you myself but welcome I hope you enjoy it uh maybe get yourself some breakfast tacos or something this weekend yeah for sure well thanks so much again I'll see you later listeners take care of yourself love yourself do not be caged by fear let's go each doing that have better conversations at what age do we learn to have better conversations with ourselves knowledge is power reality is