Hi,
As a heads up, this was an emotional post to write and it is slightly longer than usual, but please take into account its lesson..
This past Thursday night Johnny Gaudreau, a professional hockey star in the NHL and his brother Matthew, also a professional player went for a bike ride.
The next day was a big day with their sister’s wedding where they were going to be groomsmen.
Johnny was a father of two children: a 2 year and 6-month-old and his brother Matthew was expecting their first.
Meanwhile after a few beers, Sean Higgins was racing home in his Jeep Cherokee on a beautiful evening as the last rays of the sunset disappeared into the New Jersey night.
Sean was on a 2-lane road and there were slow drivers in front of him.
He passed one car and then saw the SUV in front move to the centre lane blocking his pas on the left.
“What a F*** Jerk” Sean must have thought as he pressed hard on the accelerator and swerved to pass the “jerk” on the right.
Johnny and Matthew probably never saw what hit them as Sean swerved to the right and hit them directly from the back at high speed.
Johnny and Matthew were killed and pronounced dead on the spot.
Sean was arrested and booked on numerous charges including murder.
The SUV wasn’t being a jerk… he was being considerate and moved to the centre to give the bike riders some space …
But Sean sped to pass him on the right and to send a message…
Which ended the life of two young men, decimated their families, and changed so many lives in the process….
I never knew these brothers, and yet this post is hard to write because all I can think of is their parents having to cope, from getting ready to celebrate their daughter’s wedding to planning how to bury their two sons within hours.
The brothers’ families whose children will never get to know their fathers.
To the sister who cancelled the wedding and whose happiest day in her life, August 30, will always be remembered as the day after her brothers were killed.
And to Sean and his family… a reckless act that will put him behind bars for a long time.
And this is what is scary of the whole situation.
As a father of young children, I saw myself not only in the victims, but also as someone who sometimes gets too frustrated on the road, in Sean.
How many times has a slow driver annoyed us and we sped up the car to get around them.
(hint. Watch parents doing a school run if you want to see this daily…)
But there is another lesson which I’ll mention as it applies to your business.
Life happens.. and tragedies spare no one.
If you are running your own business, please understand that every day you are getting closer to the exit of your business.
And the exit will happen.
Voluntary or involuntary.
You can’t control 100% your exit but you can control whether you or your family capture the full value of the business or get nothing.
So don’t be naïve and oblivious to this fact.
Don’t run your business like a job that may pay the bills but disappears the day you can’t run the business for whatever reason.
Instead, for your sake and that of your family – get out of the daily grind and turn your business into a true asset.
I will talk about this over the next few days, but for today my only takeaway is to count your blessings and perhaps say a prayer to give strength to the Gaudreau family.