Confidence: The Electricity of Life
 By
Henry D. Landes
June 2009
We are all involved in our Family Business Learning Community because
some brave soul once started a business. Think of the remarkable
people who launched your family business and of their vision, skills,
and hard work, and the confidence they had in themselves and in
their idea.
Think especially of their confidence, that intangible but very
critical factor in preparing for another generation of success.
What IS confidence? I like to think of it as the electricity of
life.
We all know that you can have a beautiful house, but without electricity,
it really doesn’t become a home. It’s the same with
people. Yes, education is important. Knowledge is important, and
so are skills and strategy. But without confidence, these elements
are no more useful than a house without electricity.
Now, we all have fear. We fear the competition or we fear our
troubled economy. But people with confidence find ways to turn fear
into fuel. Confidence enables us to transform fear into focused
thinking, good communication, and action.
How do we nurture that confidence in our children, not only as
young people but also as adults? How do we help them and our grandchildren
turn fear into fuel so that their families and their businesses
can be successful? It’s helpful to consider who gave you the
blessing of confidence. How did your family provide a foundation
of confidence for your life? On whose shoulders do you stand?
In 1929, my grandfather and my grandmother, Isaiah and Susan Landes,
started a plumbing business in the heart of the Great Depression.
What guts that took!
More than 50 years ago, my grandfather made a generous investment
in me. He gave me a priceless gift that wasn't money or stock
in the business that’s now in its fourth generation. No, he
gave me something much more important. He gave me his blessing in
actions and words. We took apart lawnmower engines to make go-carts.
As we worked together, he was building confidence in me. “You
can do it. You can figure it out,” was his message.
He took me on excursions to Philadelphia and New York—to
the Franklin Institute and to Rockefeller Center. He opened up the
world to me, and all these things that he did on my behalf gave
me a sense of security and confidence.
In his native Pennsylvania Dutch, he said, “You’re
a good boy.” He didn't write me letters, and he was
not a very articulate guy, but those words are a significant part
of my confidence foundation.
For most of us, our parents are the most important contributor
to our confidence bank. But grandparents and others also play a
powerful role in developing confidence in young people.
So, whatever your position — parent, grandparent, friend,
colleague — keep in mind that you can play a vital part in
providing succeeding generations with the electricity of life.
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