Lessons from My Father: The Power of a Simple Good Morning

Lessons from my father.

On a family business retreat in 2012, my father told me something I already knew:

“Your brother Shane is annoyed that when you arrive in the office every day, you don’t ever come to his office to say good morning.”

“But dad, I arrive at the office at 8.25am and my first meeting is always booked at 8.30am. I’ve got no time”, I protested.

“And besides, we’re not living in 19th Century England – who’s got time for banal niceties in the morning?”, I said, using the puke sign for added theatrical effect.

My father simply replied: “He’s your older brother. It’s a small thing, you should do it.”

From that day onwards, I called Shane every morning on my way into work – just to say good morning and to swap notes on business and family life.

And you know what? … Within a few months, my relationship with my brother became appreciably closer and happier.

I was astounded.

When, several years later, I finally thanked my father for his advice, he just smiled and said:

“Relationship isn’t one big thing – it’s a million little things.”