[Reprinted with permission] Different places around the world continue to deal with the challenges of COVID in different ways. Whether they are experiencing a second wave, or varying degrees of opening up, many of the challenges and opportunities are still present. The issues that have arisen through the pandemic are primal, and place the fragility of life in sharp relief. Our instinctive responses also also primal: fight/flight/freeze, and we can remain locked in such states…
There are several good reasons why family enterprises should care about making active efforts toward gender equity. If they want family members to be involved, their talent pool is limited, so why waste 50% of their potential? A more diverse leadership team will reap the same benefits that have been noted in the non-family business world. Finally, family cooperation, collaboration and harmony are important to families, so excluding women from paths to leadership can lead…
This is the conundrum of wealth creator parents: they want to raise children to value the hard work that helped them create wealth, but at the same time pass them wealth that means they never need to work. Talk about mixed messages! In order to actually do this, one would have to live well below one’s means, and/or withhold access for children to the family wealth so that they can live it ‘tough’ for a…
Family philanthropy is the act of a collective rather than an individual. It is rooted in the values of a family, carrying forward its name and legacy, and engaging its members. That makes it about a lot more than just writing cheques. It needs people from multiple generations working together, and that needs to be driven by a purpose and strategy. Two important surveys indicate that this is not happening effectively. According to a global…
Studying failure is far better than studying success because it’s easier to avoid doing the wrong things than mimic the good that others are doing. Here are some of the ways things can go awry: Families and businesses don’t grow at the same rate. From the third (and sometimes second) generation onwards, the family often grows faster than the business. What happens if many family members look to the business for employment or supplementary income?…
In times of chaos, economic uncertainty, and the crushing burden to lead the family’s assets out of the fire, the need for governance grows even stronger. Too many families consider family governance as a side dish – a pesky bug that wants to take away all the attention and resources from the main priorities which are revenues and operations. There is also an emotional side to effective family governance which is often overlooked by the…
There are very different generational attitudes to philanthropy in families. While previous generations saw philanthropy as “giving money to non-profits”, the rising generation of wealthy individuals has broadened and redefined the term, considering it to be “the action of transforming others’ social well-being through generosity”. The rising generation is more engaged and involved in philanthropic endeavors, and do so at earlier ages than their predecessors. They’re also motivated by the value propositions behind sustainable and…
Abraham Lincoln famously said: “Don’t swap horses in the middle of the stream”. Is a global pandemic the best time to change leaders? Or is it better to avoid dramatic changes during uncertain times? While we’d like to be well prepared, and knowing that succession planning is a process rather than an event, families may find themselves needing to accelerate the process at these times. Unplanned transitions don’t have to inevitably end in disaster, but when they…
As we end the third year of this pandemic, it’s worth reflecting on the theme of resilience. By retaining their long-term view, family businesses have been able to not just weather the storm but also grow and thrive. Their resilience comes from other factors as well: the entrepreneurial spirit of innovating in times of crisis, and the emotional and social bonds that exist both within the family and within the wider family business group and…
A family office is usually structured around the individual needs and preferences of the family involved, and an increase in private wealth is fostering the creation of more and more single family offices (SFOs). The space is shifting rapidly, and with it comes the changing face of the family office and new definitions of what this means. One pervasive mistake is not developing a deep understanding of the goals, objectives and agendas of the wealthy…
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![COVID Challenges & Opportunities
[Reprinted with permission] Different places around the world continue to deal with the challenges of COVID in different ways. Whether they are experiencing a second wave, or varying degrees of opening up, many of the challenges and opportunities are still present.
Families in business together can move into action more quickly than most corporate entities because they’re more flexible, aren’t focused on the next quarter’s results, and understand the values that have made them successful over generations.
Leaders of family businesses that are effectively managing the crisis are prioritizing governance as an 'essential service' - adapting oversight of the enterprise under conditions of extreme uncertainty to ensure that family owners, board members, and executives remain aligned.
It is not surprising that many multigenerational family businesses are experiencing the pandemic differently from non-family businesses. Surprisingly few had deeper concerns about their survival and well-being as a family business. This is because multigenerational family businesses tend to define success in ways that go beyond short-term profits.
In addition, the pandemic is accentuating the need for UHNW families to have a holistic, fully-integrated family office solution in place. This becomes even more critical when a family owns more complex assets and as the value and complexity of the balance sheet grows.
Actionable Generational Wealth Succession:
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