Shoehorning Business Analogies into Personal Posts: 15 Years of Marriage Edition

What do 15 years of marriage and 11 years of building a business have in common? More than you might think. More than I realised when I started writing a tongue in cheek Linkedin post for a Friday in July…

It started back in 199…5? A friend from school had a funny friend. Not my type but really made me laugh. We left school and went our separate ways across the planet. A few years later we bumped into each other on a short stay back home while I was training to teach before I took myself off to Japan for a year. Fast forward 12 months and I was back again, this time preparing to go and study Linguistic Anthropology in Sydney.

It wasn’t to be. The funny friend had now grown up, he was somehow funnier, sharper jaw - and there was stubble! Sydney went on the back burner to ‘see how it worked out’.?

Fast forward 17 years and here we are celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary with a 10 year old. I’m getting reflective in my old age so I started thinking about how we’ve managed it - 15 years is a looong time and neither of us are perfect.?

I’ve found that for me, sustaining a happy marriage for 15 years shares a few parallels with starting and owning a business for 11.

Stay with me while I try to shoehorn marriage analogies into a business metaphor - for the algorithm?...

1. Daily Choices

Every day is a choice to stay committed to our values and each other. This involves making decisions that align with our principles, even when it's tough.?

2. Authenticity

Being genuine in our interactions and transparent in our processes is key. Authenticity creates trust and long-term success and is always your guide when things get tough.

3. Growth

Marriage and business is a journey of continuous growth and improvements. There was no way we were ever going to be the same people in 15 years time than we were the day we got married. We accepted that and grew together. Human started as a generalist recruitment business and evolved to a people & culture consultancy. We now help business leaders to overcome a whole range of people and culture challenges - including and beyond hiring.

4. Resilience

Resilience is crucial. Nobody is perfect and life is even less so sometimes. We've faced massive challenges, but commitment to the ‘team’ has served us well. Through COVID, recessions, cashflow ups and downs to managing underperforming team members, dealing with communication challenges. All of this on top of the constant challenge to my authority as leader. Human also faced its fair share of challenges.

5. Breathe and Laugh.?

15 years have passed in the blink of an eye. I have to remind myself to breathe some days. Breathe, take it all in and make time to laugh. “Always take your role seriously, but never yourself.”

So that’s it. How did I do?...

15 years of marriage and 11 years of Human. It’s been a journey and a half but there’s not much I’d change. I might swap wet and windy Sheffield for sunny Sydney some days but that’s about it.

What would you add?