ENERGY WORD: *belonging* · BOOK: *Only In A Family Business*

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The Stories We Hold

In 1903, my family opened a business. In 2009, it closed in my hands.

For a long time I didn’t tell those stories. Some felt too private. Some felt too painful. And some I simply didn’t know how to tell.

But over 25 years of working with families in business, I noticed something. The stories nobody tells don’t go away. They become the rules nobody questions, the roles nobody chose and the conversations nobody has.

The stories we don’t tell become the systems we can’t see.

My first book launches today: Only in a Family Business… but it isn’t really a book about family business. It’s a book about who we become when identity, obligation and belonging are inherited rather than chosen. Family business is simply where that story is easiest to see.

If you’ve ever worked with family, been part of a family firm or advised one, I think you’ll recognise yourself in these pages. I certainly did.

And if you haven’t, perhaps that’s the irony of Only in a Family Business…

The more we explore what happens inside a family business, the more we realise how little of it happens only in a family business.

Because ultimately, this is a book about people. About identity, relationships, expectations, belonging and what it means to be human.

ENERGY
Belonging

The word belong comes from Middle English belongen, meaning “to go along with” or “to be connected with”.

Belonging is one of our most fundamental human needs. It gives us roots, identity, connection and a sense of place.

But belonging can also come with expectations we never consciously agreed to. We can spend years adapting who we are, what we do and how we behave to feel accepted, included or valued.

Sometimes we belong because of where we came from. Sometimes because of the relationships we build. And sometimes we work so hard to belong that we lose sight of ourselves.

The question isn't simply where we belong. It's whether we can belong without losing who we are.

ACTION
Tell one untold story

This week, share one family story you’ve never told: with a colleague, a sibling, your children or someone you trust.

It doesn’t need to be big. Notice what happens when it’s said out loud.

And if you’d like to read mine:

Buy Only In A Family Business

PROCESSING

“What story haven’t I told that’s still shaping me?”

SHOUT OUT
The people behind the stories

My Shout Out today goes to everyone who was part of T Saveker Limited over its 106 years — the generations who kept its doors open, the people who worked there, and all those whose lives were touched by the business.

To those who built it, those who carried it, those who worked tirelessly behind the scenes and those who argued about it around the kitchen table.

To the parts we got right, the parts we didn’t, and everything we learned along the way.

This book is your story as much as mine — and together, through sharing it, perhaps we can help others.

Thank you.

THIS WEEK’S GIFT

Lessons from Only In A Family Business…
(*Dani Saveker*)
Free visual synopsis download for the next seven days with the code at checkout:
**SAVFB**

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OUT TODAY!