The Longest Term

The False Dichotomy

We are told we have to choose: Great Family or Great Empire. The absentee father who builds a billion-dollar company. Or the present father who settles for mediocrity.

I reject this dichotomy. It is an excuse for poor time management and lack of discipline.

The Family as a Team

I run my family with the same intentionality I run my businesses. We have values. We have rituals. We have “meetings” (Sunday dinners).

I do not shield my family from the reality of my work. I share the wins, and I share the losses (age-appropriately). I want my children to understand effort. I want them to see dad working hard, not just dad disappearing into an office.

Presence over Duration

I travel. I work late. I am not home at 4 PM every day. But when I am with my family, the phone is physically in another room.

1 hour of undivided, intense focus with your child is worth 10 hours of “being there” while scrolling through emails on the couch. Children know when you are mentally absent. They can feel the wifi signal of your attention drifting.

The 50-Year View

Why do I build? To buy a bigger watch? No. I build to create inter-generational optionality.

I want my children to start their lives on a higher platform than I did. Not just financially, but intellectually. The systems I build, the principles I write down—these are for them as much as they are for me.

Mortality as a KPI

I keep a “Memento Mori” token on my desk. A reminder that I will die. It is the ultimate deadline.

It forces the question: “If this was my last 5 years, is this what I should be doing?” Sometimes the answer is “No, I need to grind less.” Sometimes the answer is “No, I need to build something that lasts longer.”

It keeps me honest. It prevents me from getting lost in the trivialities of the day. The business is a game. The family is the legacy.