Beyond ‘Cohesion’: Why terminology must evolve through the generations

Families experience significant and sometimes difficult changes over the years as elders pass on and new family members grow into leadership roles. What worked for a two-generation family with five members may not work when the family reaches the fourth generation and now involves multiple households with varying wealth structures.

The word “cohesion” has become a hot term in the family enterprise field. Family business researchers and advisers talk about family cohesion, emotional cohesion, financial cohesion and spiritual cohesion. These terms can be confusing. Complex multigenerational families evolve over the years, and cohesion may not be the most important goal at every stage of family development. This white paper describes relationships in business-owning families through the generations, using a range of terms that reflect subtle yet important variations in how a family interacts.