The apple and the tree

I seem to keep meeting people who are in the same profession as their close family members. I know 3 consumer goods sales directors whose fathers were sales directors, numerous doctors whose parents are doctors and in my own family the mining engineering gene won’t go away.

My own father is a mining engineer, his brother is a mine surveyor and one of my nephews is studying to be a mining engineer. We are very grateful to this nephew as he took some of the pressure away from me and my siblings who have no interest or competence in mining.

My grandfather was a farmer and he even was issued with a Master Farmer certificate by the Zimbabwean government. No guesses what my parents are doing in retirement then. Farming beautiful maize crops. I have inserted a picture below as evidence.

So many of my friends can also provide examples of people who were coerced into studying something (usually accounting or medicine) because their parents were in the field.

This triggered in my mind the well known adage of how the apple does not fall far from the tree. While I have not done anything scientific to research this phenomenon, it has raised some questions of why this vocational continuity happens. My initial thoughts were that exposure to a certain industry creates some sort of familiarity and one almost grows up in the environment. A great example of this is PSG founder Jannie Mouton who in his book highlights how fortunate he was to have a stock ticker machine in his father’s shop as a child. Basically, from an early age he was exposed to shares and investment and it is no surprise that he rose to become one of South Africa’s great investors. His son is now CEO of his company. I can take a calculated guess that the grandchildren and great grandchildren will continue his legacy.

Now what happens to those people who are brought up in tough, less fortunate environments? Does someone brought up in a family where the breadwinners have low paying blue collar jobs have a strong chance of remaining in that environment? Of course we have numerous examples of people who have beaten the odds of their environments and grown up to be successful. Who have known greater success than their parents and grandparents could even imagine.

My take is that parents influence on children is significant and even outside of vocations and employments there are specific traits we imprint on our children’s lives. For some it is imparting a passion or skill, but for some it is imparting values and a way of thinking. In my grandparents case, they were some of the most honest, hardworking, loving and community oriented individuals I have ever met. I admire these qualities in my own parents and to a certain extent aspire to be like them too.

So in the end it doesn’t really matter whether my children grow up to be consumer products salespeople (like me) or ace marketers ( like my wife). What matters more I suppose are those values and traits learned from me that will unknowingly influence them throughout their lives. Here’s to being the best tree that I can be.