Happy to Be Wrong on FEX
Last week I had the pleasure of taking part in the inaugural FEX Symposium in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
It was the first national event of Family Enterprise Xchange, the successor organisation of both CAFÉ (Canadian Association of Family Enterprise) and IFEA (Institute of Family Enterprise Advisors).
The launch of FEX over the past several months has not been without its share of bumps in the road, as one might expect when combining groups with different histories, cultures, headquarter cities, boards and staff.
CAFÉ had been around for over 30 years and primarily served business families from its HQ near Toronto, while IFEA was still in its first decade, serving those who advise business families, out of Vancouver.
One Big Tent
The idea to take these two groups and put them together under one big tent was already pretty ambitious, but there were also a dozen or so local chapters that needed to be dissolved and centralized.
From the time it was announced in 2016, I liked it, “in theory”, yet I was sceptical about how it would play out “in practice”.
There were more times when I feared the worst. As we wrapped up the final session, I happily admitted that I was wrong.
Plays Well with Others
Back in the early days of CAFÉ (the 1980’s), my Dad had joined and really got a lot out of the organisation, especially his PAG (Personal Advisory Group), so I had my own historical connection there.
Now, as one of over 250 “FEA” designates who did the FEA program and passed their rigourous written and oral exams over the past few years, I have an even more personal connection.
I’m also well aware of the fact that some families aren’t really comfortable surrounded by so many advisors, feeling a bit like chickens mixing with foxes.
As an advisor who came from the other side, I feel like I “get it”, and know how to behave less like a fox. I had less confidence in my fellow advisors, however.
Fearing the Worst
I was worried that some advisors would not appreciate the families’ discomfort with having so many of us around, and that they might behave in ways that justified the families’ reluctance to attend.
Once again, I am happy to admit that I was wrong.
As it turned out, there was a critical mass of advisors, such that we mostly stuck together, with many friendly groups from the same class cohorts spending lots of time together.
Stronger Together
The families who attend FEX are there to learn, and the advisors who have done the FEA program have demonstrated that they too are aware of how important it is for them to learn and stay abreast of leading edge thinking in the field of family enterprise.
In the early days of writing this blog, my marketing people would ask me if I wrote these blogs for families or for their advisors.
My answer was always a sheepish “Yes (?!?)”
I write for the families looking for guidance AND for the advisors who are trying to provide the best guidance they can for those families.
It isn’t “either/or”, it’s “and/both”.
I also write for me, to force myself to clarify my own thinking.
Yes, some of my posts are more slanted to advisors and some are more directed at families, but how different are the messages? Not that much.
And so it is with FEX. There are families and advisors, and all of us are trying to do better and help each other do better.
Great Start, More to Come
The Halifax event was a great start, and I know that the FEX team is well aware that much work remains to be done.
They have planned the 2018 Symposium for late September, in Niagara on the Lake, so they will benefit from:
- A few extra months to prepare
- A time of year with less conflicts for many
- A more central location
- A very successful kickoff event in Halifax in 2017
Congrats to all involved in making it a success. It was an awesome event. I really did not expect it to be, and I am so glad to admit that I was wrong.
(It wasn’t the first time, and it won’t be the last.)
