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Kids in the<br />
Back Seat<br />
Editor’s Note: Chuck Violand founded<br />
Violand Management Associates in<br />
1987. VMA is a leader in executive<br />
development, management training, and<br />
business performance maximization for<br />
entrepreneurial restoration and cleaning<br />
companies. As an author and popular<br />
speaker (including at this month's<br />
upcoming <strong>PWN</strong>A convention), Violand is<br />
a respected authority on entrepreneurial<br />
small businesses, having spent more<br />
than 30 years as both a business<br />
consultant and an executive coach. He<br />
is a regular contributor to trade journals<br />
and newsletters and is the author of<br />
the popular weekly leadership series<br />
Monday Morning Notes. See violand.<br />
com for details or contact them at<br />
1-800-360-3513.<br />
BY CHUCK VIOLAND<br />
Anybody who’s owned a business<br />
for any length of time has experienced<br />
periods when their job as CEO felt<br />
more like a parent driving a car with<br />
unruly kids in the backseat than it did<br />
the enlightened leader of a growing<br />
business.<br />
And, although the wisdom<br />
contained in the parenting phrases we<br />
heard as kids in the back seat―or have<br />
found ourselves repeating to our own<br />
kids from the front seat―can be sound<br />
advice at times, does it also apply to<br />
business?<br />
When you’re a parent, the kids<br />
can’t get out of the moving car and<br />
find another family to join. Employees<br />
can, and it’s usually pretty costly when<br />
they do, so we need to be sure our<br />
wisdom is sound.<br />
Let’s look at a few phrases.<br />
DO I NEED TO PULL<br />
THIS CAR OVER?<br />
You knew things were serious when<br />
it wasn’t just any car they were going<br />
to pull over. It was THIS car. While my<br />
own parents never used this particular<br />
expression, I’m sure there were times<br />
when they thought about it.<br />
In business, there is no “pulling this<br />
car over” to have that big Texas talkin’<br />
to with an unruly employee. Things<br />
keep right on moving while you<br />
employ radical candor to remind them<br />
of your expectations. But I would<br />
recommend closing your door first.<br />
DON’T MAKE ME<br />
COME BACK THERE!<br />
Even as a kid, you knew your<br />
parents couldn’t “come back there”<br />
while they were driving the car, so this<br />
threat was an empty one unless they<br />
chose to abandon forward momentum<br />
and stop the car to climb over the seat.<br />
This is the equivalent of stepping<br />
down from your role as CEO to get<br />
involved at a level of your organization<br />
that you’re already paying someone<br />
6 | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | VOL. 5, NO. 1 | SUMMER <strong>2023</strong>
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