The internet has been abuzz due to a stellar performance by Jerry Jones, long-time owner of the Dallas Cowboys, in the hit series Landman. Apparently, this Emmy-worthy monologue took only one try. In the scene, Jerry Jones is talking to his friend Monty, played by Jon Hamm, who has just suffered a heart attack. Monty is a hard-driving oilman who spends little time with his family and enough time managing his business to warrant a fifth heart attack. Jerry’s job is to “scare him straight.” Instead, he gives an emotionally powerful tribute to his family business. Here is an excerpt,
“I made my mind up a long time ago—I was gonna work with my kids. And they’re involved in everything. They’re involved in my leasing, oil and gas, and real estate. And so when I got the Cowboys, I got it so that we could all work together. I thought I was doing it for them. But the one that got the most out of it was me.
I just know it’s not gonna be this time, but you’re going to be…laying here sometime in the future, and this room’s gonna be full of your business associates and the people you’ve worked with all your life. And more than likely, your children and family are gonna be there because they’re your children and your family. But you could have ’em there because they’re the people you spent your life with—you worked with, you fell down with, you got up with…That’s the trick, that’s the trick…I’m pretty proud of them Cowboys. I’m pretty proud of the stuff we’ve done in oil and gas. It pales in comparison to how proud I am to have lived my life working with my kids.”
Too many business owners could bring their kids into the family enterprise but don’t take the risk. Involving family in business is a risk that requires a great deal of trust. I read an interesting definition of trust recently that said, “Trusting behavior is defined as actually taking risk in a relationship. If a parent in a family business invests in a new idea of another family member, they are taking risk in the relationship; they become vulnerable.”[1]
At Matter, we believe clear communication and shared goals are the most effective catalysts to enable families to cultivate trust in each other. In Jerry Jones’ story, he bought the Cowboys so he and his kids could work together. He was clear that the goal was not to own an NFL team. The goal was to work together, and the team was an ideal catalyst to do so. As he says, owning the Cowboys, “pales in comparison to how proud I am to have lived my life working with my kids.” That’s “the trick” Jones talks about. At Matter, our passion is developing tools for families that help them trust each other, work together, make decisions together, learn from one another and grow as a family. That’s our trick and our privilege as we help families seize their opportunities and thrive for generations.
[1] Davis, J.H. The Essential Role of Trust in Family Business Entrepreneurship. Family Entrepreneurship: Insights from leading experts on successful multi-generational entrepreneurial families. 2021.