Enjoy a recap of Day 3 of the 2023 Family Forum by Erin Hulse, Founder of Deviate Consulting, LLC.

Anticipating Change in the Family and the Family Enterprise

Joline Godfrey, Sara Hamilton, and Jeff Strese

Explores a multitude of dynamics coming simultaneously; generational shifts happening faster and with greater consequence, AI, and climate change, both with the potential to alter the human experience. The rise of women’s wealth ownership and its impact in both the family and the enterprise.

• Five Global Themes You Know to be True
  • Time more scarce than money
  • Dramatic disruptions at a faster pace
  • Demographic and generational shifts
  • Innovations in AI, robotics, and space
  • Instabilities in the world – war and weather

• Advancements in Families
  • From shelter to launchpad
  • Bloodlines to blended families
  • Innovation as a part of a family culture
  • From academic learning to continuous learning
  • Rose if women’s wealth and leadership

• Too Much to Handle Alone – Five strategies for Families to Manage the New Reality
  • Reframe Family from Shelter to Launchpad
    • We assume the imperative to prepare the enterprise for the future; time to engage families in preparing as well.
  • Shift from “Father Knows Best” to the Learning Family
    • From professional development and higher education to continuous learning.
  • Reorient from teaching to co-learning
    • The young, AI, and the new transparency make it impossible for parents or grandparents (and managers) to be “experts.” We are all co-learners.
  • Empower New Wealth Holders
    • Embrace, prepare girls and women; Support, prepare boys and men.
  • The New Governance: From Patriarchy to Democracy
    • In both families and companies, the rising generation demands voice.

• Stages of Readiness for Dealing with Change
  • Denial
  • Ambivalence
  • Preparation
  • Action
  • Maintenance

• Evolutions in Family Enterprises
  • Understanding external forces impacting the enterprise
  • Developing strategies for innovation and re-invention
  • Allocating capital balancing, risk taking and risk avoidance
  • Measuring performance and sharing impact outcomes

• “Uncertainty, volatility and change require New Practices not Best Practices.”
  • Marty Linsky, former Harvard Kennedy School faculty

• Transitions in Family Offices
  • Strategies to support active owners and investors
  • Broader staff development to enhance skillsets
  • AI to provide greater efficiency and transparent reporting
  • Better analysis of future financial alternatives
  • Enrichment of the ecosystem supporting the enterprise

• Tools for Managing Change
  • Set expectations to meet reality
  • Normalize the dip
  • Normalize emotions

• Managing Resistance Checklist: Denial
  • Offer instructions slowly and carefully
  • Check for understanding – challenge assumptions
  • Reaffirm what is over and what is not
  • Be specific with assignments
  • Assign Timetables
  • Establish shorter time frames when possible
  • Follow up closely

• Managing Resistance Checklist: Identity Crisis
  • Reinforce the vision over and over
  • Provide opportunities for constructive venting
  • It’s okay to be angry, it’s not okay to stay there
  • Spend more time one-on-one

• Messaging Change
  • Speak respectfully about the past
  • Speak urgently about the present
  • Speak hopefully about the future