31!

Today marks our 31st wedding anniversary.  I’m proud of lots of things I’ve accomplished, but staying together with the same partner for 31 years is pretty near the top of the list. Looking back, I was just about as old as our eldest daughter is now when I got married and she’s way too young even to be thinking about it (you reading this honey?). Our friends, most of whom have married and divorced, said it wouldn’t last.  Ha! Of course, I also draw a lot of comparisons between a successful marriage and a successful business.If you’ve read this blog before, you know I’m big on respect and communication with business partners and employees.  Those same traits help a lot in marriage.  Of course, there are laws against communicating to employees with some of the language candor one can employ with a spouse but you get the point.

More than anything, having someone around you who tells it like they see it breeds two things:  self-awareness and humility, both of which are big helps in business.  If you’re an arrogant boss, your subordinates will hate you.  Having someone around (in my case it was usually a series of assistants) who reminds you that you’re human and fallible is a huge asset.  In fact, most of my assistants were referred to as my “daytime wife” by others.

Staying married is work.  I think many of them fail because people assume that love will conquer all and when they find how much they’re working to stay together, they get frustrated and quit.  Another business analogy.  If you don’t work hard at it, it doesn’t happen.  You have to be committed (I know there’s a joke in there) to stay married just as you do to be successful in business as well.

You get the idea.  When we got married in 1978, The Rolling Stones were dominating the airwaves and Bruce had just released “Darkness on the Edge of Town”.  Like us, great things endure!