Bill Lyons is the Senior Director for the Institute for Family Culture at Abbot Downing. Here Lyons defines resiliency, shares six domains of resilience and recovery, and offers some best practices to foster resilience and recovery in these unprecedented times.

Resilience is the capacity to recover, to bounce back, and truly to deal with more than we think we can.

For many, becoming a steward of significant wealth involves grief and loss, such as when a family member dies. If you’re in the midst of grief and loss, that is not the ideal time to be learning about resiliency. Learn about it and practice it well before you need it.

Resilience is a practice over our lifetime. Recovery, and healing, is serious work that takes time and energy, even if it may not look like it on the outside. Recovery can be a real rollercoaster of ups and downs. We can train our brains to cultivate and practice resiliency by first being aware of what’s happening, and then how does our brain help us process that. For example, a rollercoaster can be both stressful or exciting.

What are the different kinds of resilience?

• Intellectual Resilience
• Physical Resilience
• Emotional Resilience
• Interpersonal Resilience

There are three things we look at around resiliency in families and family businesses, in particular regarding how hard it is to transfer wealth in a family setting:

First, research shows that only 30% of wealth transfers are successful.

Secondly, family businesses often outperform because they manage risk better and tend to focus more on resilience than on performance.

Third, among family business owners, two issues stand out as being highly important to achieve: 1) Resolving conflict among family members who are in the business, and 2) formulating a succession plan.

Lyon’s team developed six resilience and recovery practices for multigenerational wealth management:

1. Aware & Proactive
2. Humility & Vision
3. Accountable & Compassionate
4. Responsible & Flexible
5. Realistic & Positive
6. Joie De Virve

Lyons offers many tips for strengthening your resiliency and recovery, personally and within your family. Importantly, we must realize that there are some things we simply can’t control. A sense of humor and a little levity can often go a long way.

Mindy Earley is an education and family office professional who believes that empowerment and knowledge are key to living a purpose-driven and self-actualized life. She is inspired by helping people learn, grow and discover the way that they will make personal and productive contributions, using their strengths and talents. Areas of Expertise: Family Learning Read More →