Pensar con profundidad no es perder tiempo. Es afilar el hacha antes de cortar el árbol.
We live in times where everything seems to urge. Execute, launch, do … and fast. But in the management of a family business – where decisions have a long -term impact, in nearby people and shared assets – the speed without management can be fatal. This ancient Chinese history reminds us of a great truth: before acting with excellence, you have to think deeply.
The crab painter – adaptation of a story by Chuang Tzu
The protagonist of this story is Chuang Tzu, or “Zhou” for the nearby, a philosopher from the ancient Chinese of the fourth century BC One day, a king – found for his fame as a painter – commissioned him a peculiar work: draw the most beautiful crab in the world.
Zhou accepted, but asked for five years to prepare and a house on the mountain with twelve servants. The king, although surprised, agreed.
After five years, Zhou was called to Palacio.
“Do you have my crab?” Asked the king.
“I’ve even started,” the painter replied. I need five more years.
With annoyance, but intrigued by the promise of perfection, the king accepted.
At the end of the decade, Zhou returned … without any painting. The king, furious, ordered his executioner, Cimitarra in hand, to prepare to punish the artist for his mockery. Zhou, impassive, asked for brush and paper.
They brought him what was necessary. Zhou finished his tea, took the brush … And with a single stroke he drew the most perfect crab.
Interpretation from the family business
Many could say: “This Zhou lived ten years of the story!” But that would be a superficial reading. What this story reminds me – and that I have seen again and again in family businesses – is that the great results are not born of improvisation, but of silent preparation.
Zhou did not procrastin. Zhou thought, he observed, internalized. And when the time came, he executed with mastery. In a single gesture, he summed up a decade of reflection.
In our companies, we often act without thinking. Urgent decisions are made without strategy, responsibilities are inherited without preparation, they are invested without vision. And then we wonder why it didn’t work.
Planning is not postponing. It is preparing.
In the family business, planning is not wasting time. It is to ensure that the first line has direction. As in art, each decision leaves a mark. And true excellence does not arise from trouble, but from clarity.
“The best execution is not the fastest, it is born of a clear vision.”
Reflections from my experience
I have learned that:
A family business is not built only with hands … it is built first with vision.
As the painter prepared each line mentally before touching the paper, so a company must be planned before growing.
The quality in the results will always be proportional to the depth of the preparation.
The perfect crab was not improvised. He was imagined for years. In business, which seems easy and fluid is almost always the result of an invisible preparation.
The great business errors are not to move slow, but to move aimlessly.
Reflective slowness is different from paralysis. Zhou did not stop out of fear, but out of respect for the act of creating. And that changed everything.
In the family business, the error is not to act slow … but to act without thinking.
Practical application: company, family and person
In the company: do not make important decisions without having visualized them. Plan calmly to execute precisely.
In the family: you do not inherit responsibilities without forming first. The legacy is not improvised.
Personally: do not confuse movement with progress. Sometimes, stopping to think is the most important step.
Reflection
“The fastest gesture is born from slower thought.”
In a world that applauds speed, stopping to think may seem weakness. But true leaders do not move by impulse: they think, visualize and then act forcefully.
Zhou did not take ten years to draw a crab. It took ten years to learn to draw it in a second.
And that, in the family business, can make the difference between a brilliant decision … and an error that lasts generations.
About the author:
Twitter: @mariorizofiscal
The opinions expressed are only the responsibility of their authors and are completely independent of the position and the editorial line of Forbes Mexico.
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