Welcome to my weekly Faith and Family Business reflections, where I (briefly) probe important questions that arise in family business – questions relating to behavior, relationships and legacy – from the angle of a Biblical story. For more information about this series, click here.
Jacob worked for seven years to marry Rachel, but her father Laban tricked Jacob into marrying the older daughter Leah instead. Jacob stayed another seven years to marry Rachel. Then the two sisters focused on having children, and at one point Rachel was barren.
When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!” (Gen. 30:1)
There are almost 30 verses focused on Leah and Rachel jockeying to bear sons for Jacob, and at the end of the day he has 12 sons and one daughter by four women. If you read those verses (Gen. 29:31 through 30:24), it feels like a tennis match, watching the back-and-forth competition to have Jacob’s children.
While competition within an organization has its place, plenty of unhealthy competition occurs in family businesses. Siblings vie for parents’ affection or employees’ loyalty. Family members compete over hours worked or for vendor relationships. They spar over who has the superior house, the nicer car, or who takes the better vacation. They even compete over their children’s accomplishments. Taken to such extremes, the hyper-competitive atmosphere poisons the family business culture.
Have you ever experienced unhealthy competition in your family business? Has anyone tried to call out the detrimental effects of those struggles?
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