Growing up in a family business environment often rubs off on the younger generations, with some making the decision to start their own business instead of joining the family enterprise. Toward that end, getting help while staying true to their own ideas requires balance. Here are four steps that will help launch their independent business venture while continuing their family’s entrepreneurial legacy.
Family Engagement in Learning
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The Rising Generation Engagement Pipeline
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At our Family Office Exchange (FOX) Rising Gen Leadership Programs held in February and June, we noticed developing themes from our next-generation attendees. It became clear their needs and concerns were coalescing around three emergent areas. In this article we’re presenting a simple engagement pipleline to guide families and rising gen on their learning journey. This intentional approach is based on our research and the best practices of leading families.
Whether knowledge is shared around the dinner table or in a boardroom, starting family member education early puts a family office in a strong position to strengthen the family’s legacy. While the education program would likely depend on family characteristics, there are three topics that should be part of the curriculum: basic financial literacy, security and privacy, and the lessons and legend on how the family built its wealth.
FOX’s Chief Learning Officer, Mindy Kalinowski Earley, explains how and why family education is an essential component that supports family cohesion and the transfer of wealth and legacy through generations. During this session she walks viewers through the newly released FOX Family Learning Handbook, filled with a roadmap of tools that will assist leaders in addressing common family education challenges as well as strategies to solve them. View the Family Learning Handbook.
The Importance of Family Learning: Developing Flourishing Families through Family Learning is an editable presentation featured in the FOX Family Learning Handbook designed to build a shared understanding of what family learning is and why it is important. Use it in a Family Learning Brainstorm Session to begin developing a family learning program, or use it in sections across several learning committee meetings. It is for you to customize based on your needs.
FOX Family Learning Handbook
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When wealth owners are asked what challenges them most, their first answer is frequently, “helping my children become productive adults.” Parents want their wealth to be a source of satisfaction and opportunity for their children and want to ensure that their children are prepared for the responsibilities that come with wealth. Getting this right is not easy, but those who have committed to educating the next generation will tell you that the return is well worth the investment.
Crafting a family story as part of your family history is essential in helping rising generations understand and embrace their roles in the family enterprise. For a family with a business, that story will enormously benefit the younger generations whether or not they are actively involved in running the family business. Understanding the roots of the family’s entrepreneurialism will also cultivate stewardship and deeper appreciation of the wealth and responsibilities generated from long-term success.
Often, families execute wealth transfer planning strategies without fully considering what wealth and family legacy means to them—particularly the importance of defining and sharing their associated social, economic, and philanthropic values. In this interview, two advisors examine the value of family education and the critical role advisors play in the process.
Considerations for Rising Generation Education
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As no two families are alike, there is no one singular approach to family education—the cornerstone to a thriving, lasting legacy. The structure, topics, and educational methods all depend on the needs, wishes, and preferences of the family members. As you develop your rising generation education strategy, considerations should be made around the establishment of a solid foundation, forum and format, and taking a gradual approach.
While access to the privileges of wealth is a blessing in most instances, it can provide additional challenges in raising appreciative and self-sufficient children. As a parent, you play an integral role in helping your children learn self-sufficiency and financial literacy. If you want your children to obtain the financial skills and experience to manage their own money now and, eventually, the wealth they’ll inherit, they’ll need to learn a couple of key concepts and financial basics.