I’m ashamed to tell you this Friend

“Move!!!! move… get out the way!”

That’s the what I was yelling, swerving the lanes driving down College Avenue. 

It was like I was in a early 2000’s Ludacris music video. 

It was after 3pm and it was time for my favorite job of all time. 

To be a glorified “parent-taxi”

In full transparency this is something I look forward to everyday. 

It gives me a sense of value and reflection. 

To have that one moment that I know. 

“You know what… you did something that mattered today…”

**Back to the story**

At this point I had already picked up my oldest and wanted to beat the dreaded carpool traffic of fellow “parent-taxis” to the next school . 

As I’m “moderately” speeding

I hear my son in the back yelling

“Money… MONEY…. MONEY!!!!!l”

In that moment I roll my eyes and briefly look at him in the rear view mirror replying. 

“Yes, yes son… money is a good thing”

In the back of my mind I’m thinking to myself. 

“Is he really getting all this worked up over change in the backseats?”

“Sheesh I really need to raise my kids standards in life” lol (actual thought )

**a brief moment of silence in the car **

And I wondered to myself in a panic . 

“Oh my goodness… did I actually say that out loud?!?”

At that moment my son and I locked eyes and stares at me with a confused face and says… 

“Dad, what are you talking about?”

In an attempt to brush off the awkwardness I reply softly. 

“What do you mean son?”

He counters with “what are you talking about money for?”

With a sigh of relief I burst out in laughter and replied. “You’re the one yelling at the top of your lungs as I’m driving, talking about “money …money… MONEY!!””

My 6 year old pauses for dramatic affect and says “I was talking about MY KNEE”. 

Moral of the story. 

You can live with someone, speak the same language and even raise a person. 

And yet you can still have miscommunication. 

How often do you have miscommunication with your staff, team or even customers?

Are they complaining about the relief they need for their “my knee” and all you can hear is “MONEY”?

Quick hint. 

Sometimes we don’t know what to offer others or ways that we can improve until it’s too late.  

So with that being said. 

Start sending quarterly or monthly internal review links to your staff, team and customers so that you can gain unbiased feedback and insights. 

Make these internal links anonymous so that people feel that they can be honest without any bias or pressure. 

P.S. 

I hope you’re not judging my parenting. But… if you are, hopefully there’s someone else out there that can learn from my mistakes.