If you are a younger brother (or sister) like I am, you know what hand me downs are- the clothes, toys, school supplies, furniture, shoes, or vehicles that were passed down from the oldest sibling to the younger siblings. The jeans were usually a couple of years old, the toys were not necessarily the popular ones, shoes were slightly stained and worn, and vehicles had maybe a dent or two. But as the younger sibling, you had no choice.

Nobody ever "asks" for hand me downs, but it is part of the fabric of a family. It was, and is, just the way it is. Part of the family "mentoring" system and a constant in the family trees over the generations. No big deal, unless you are the person getting the hand me down. It's not something you choose. You have no choice if you are the younger sibling.

How much of what we do with our businesses, churches, non profits and organizations is just simply a "hand me down" from those who have come before us? We hand down "average," we hand down complacency, we hand down cynicism, we hand down bad habits- without even knowing it many times.

And the ones receiving it most of the time have no "choice" in whether to implement, just like the younger sibling in a family. They have to receive it. It becomes part of the fabric of a business, and then carries on from generation to generation, lingering way longer than someone ever intended.

But doesn't have to be. It's up to you to make sure you hand down the things you want to last.