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On Rules of Engagement for FamBiz

Who Can Work in the Business, and When

There are a number of subjects that come up again and again in the wonderful world of family business, and sometimes it feels like I’ve written about most of them here already.

Still, when there’s a confluence of happenings over a short space of time that puts one of them back on my blog radar again, I like to revisit them.

Such is the case this week, as the subject of rules for working in a family business has come up a few times, from different directions, in my interactions over the past few weeks.

So let’s take a fresh look at the subject of “rules of engagement” for FamBiz.

Let’s Start with a Flashback

It’s not as if I’ve written about this recently either. In the summer of 2018, I wrote Forced into the FamBiz, which was about the fact that I believe that it makes sense to “force” one’s offspring to work in your family business when they are young, as a summer and/or part-time job.

It also clearly states that I’m a proponent of making a rule that families should not hire their children for fulltime jobs in the business until they have successfully obtained and held a similar job elsewhere, for a certain number of years.

This was an idea my father had heard about, but had decided unilaterally didn’t apply to his family (and therefore me).

I’ve recounted this many times since beginning my work with other business families.

I was an undergraduate business student at McGill, and my Dad told me he’d listened to some consultants explain why there were many reasons to forbid hiring family members until they’d demonstrated the ability to get a job on their own, without using their last name as leverage.

“But We’re Not Gonna Do That”

After I looked at him with some hope in my eyes (as I recall it, anyway) he stated “But we’re not gonna do that”.

Having not had to live by such a rule is now one of the main reasons I now endorse it.

But let’s get to the occasions where this came up recently. The first was on an FEX webinar where some family business leaders were sharing stories about how they got through the worst of the pandemic.

One business leader from western Canada related that her son had joined their business recently, and that this went against their family’s rule against allowing family members to come on board until they had worked elsewhere for 10 years. (10 years seems excessive, but alas, that was their rule).

As it turned out, every department of the company was now fighting to have him join them, thereby signaling that he had proved his worth despite the shortened period of working elsewhere for very long.

Family Business Collaboration

I recently joined a nascent group that pulls together members of family businesses and consultants who work with them. Family Business Collaboration

On a Zoom call recently, someone noted that his FamBiz had a rule about working elsewhere for 3 years.

I asked how long that rule had been around in his third generation company, and I found his reply interesting.

He noted that he was the first person to be “the beneficiary of that rule”, since his grandfather had not applied it to his father at the time.

Isn’t in interesting that a father who didn’t have to live by a rule went on to implement it, and his son, who was subject to it, found he was a beneficiary of it.  I get it.

A “Lessons Learned” Video

So when a respected colleague and friend (and mentor) asked me if I could share a brief video of myself for a family business conference she will soon be giving, this all came in handy.

She’s now asking several people involved in the FamBiz space about lessons they’ve learned along the way.

Would you be at all surprised to learn that the lesson I shared was all about the idea that there are many reasons why demanding that young adults work elsewhere before joining their family’s business makes a lot of sense, and that I wish my Dad had instituted such a rule?

I hope not.

I have few if any “hard rules” that I recommend to my family clients, but if I did, this would be it.

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A Virtually Different Global Conference

Since 2014, one of the highlights of my year has been a trip to the annual conference of the Family Firm Institute each October.

It recently wound down for this year, and for a change I didn’t have to fly anywhere or check into a hotel. Alas, it was held virtually for the first time, and I’d be lying if I said it was virtually the same.

Oh well, all we can do is do our best, and I was still able to consume a huge amount of content relevant to those who inhabit the family enterprise space like me.

 

Worldwide Leaders Coming to Share

This space can often feel like a real niche, and so in order to find a critical mass of others who do similar work, a global network is actually almost a requirement.

While family businesses dominate the economy of almost every country on the planet, the vast majority remain typically small enterprises, who don’t necessarily require much special attention.

At the larger end of the spectrum, however, where we look at multi-generational family dynasties, spanning several countries, held up by complex family groups, the needs of families do warrant special attention and specialized professionals.

Source: https://digital.ffi.org/ffi-global-conference/

The Rising Generation as a Focus

There were a couple dozen presentations over two days, and often two sessions running concurrently, so there was literally something for everyone present.

There were over 300 people registered, from dozens of countries and six continents, and while cultural variations in the family enterprise world exist, there are more common elements present, making global sharing worthwhile.

One theme I noted was a focus on the rising generation in families. There were sessions on family culture, family engagement and family learning, that all spoke to the importance of getting the younger family members interested and involved.

There was talk of “values based investing” that brought all generations to the table, and a focus on having younger family members get their “Operator’s Licence” to begin running things in the family business too.

 

Complex Family Dynamics Always at Play

Aside from the focus on a particular generation, there was also a good deal of discussion around complex family dynamics that never seem to be far away when talking about family owned and operated enterprises.

There were sessions on family meetings, ethical dilemmas in families, and mediation for families who have conflicts that are difficult to resolve.

There was even some reflection for advisors to consider how comfortable we are with conflict, so we can assess whether or not we are the best person to serve our clients in such cases.

There was a great session on mental incapacity that left me with some great take-aways.

 

Repeated Messaging for my Own Good

As part of a number of different organisations that serve parts of this field, I’m privileged to cross paths with a number of great leaders who tirelessly share their thoughts in various forums every year.

The messages can feel a bit repetitive at times, but I’ve learned that even though I’ve heard someone on a subject before, I still learn something by attending again, because surely I didn’t catch everything the first time through.

The first example was Jim Grubman on mental incapacity.  I’ve heard Jim discuss it before, but this time something really stuck with me.

We’ve all known people who’ve begun to lose their ability due to age-related mental decline, and it can cause enormous complexity for a family to deal with.

Grubman highlighted part of the reason for this, and it hit home for me.

 

Legal, Medical, Business, Emotional, and Ethical Views

The reason they are so complex is that they are viewed differently through a variety of different lenses.

A person whose mental decline has begun raises issues in law, medicine, business, family emotions and ethics.

No wonder these things are so hard to deal with!

 

Dennis Jaffe Delivers Again

A few weeks ago I wrote about Dennis Jaffe in Legacy Families Rely on a Generative Alliance. He was the closing speaker at FFI, and even though I’ve seen him present many times, I still got something new out of it.

I was also pleased to have been featured myself, as Dr. Mariana Martinez and I kicked things off during the first day’s early morning session with Bowen: From Theory to Practice. Thanks to all those who gave me great feedback!

Looking forward to FFI 2021 in London next year; fingers crossed that it will be in person!

 

 

 

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A House / Home Metaphor for Family Legacy

Probably NOT What You’re Thinking Though

This week we’re looking at a metaphor that came into my head a couple of months ago, and that’s been on the back burner of my mind ever since.

I’ve been trying out different versions of it, and kept on returning it for more simmering, because it didn’t seem ready yet.

I hope it’ll finally be tasty enough for consumption now, and also nourishing.

 

The Cottage by the Water

I purchased a few acres of land on a river about 10 years ago, with the goal of eventually constructing a summer home there.

As it turned out, there’s a “pre-fab home” manufacturing plant nearby, “Kane Homes”, and so I eventually decided to check them out, took a plant tour, and was instantly sold.

“When we’re ready, I want to order our house there”, I told my wife.

So a few years later, we dropped in for a visit, assuming that we could order our house from the factory.

Nope, that isn’t how it works, we were told.

 

Metaphor Preview…

Before I lose you in this story, I want to give you the equivalent of that visit to the house factory in my parable about a family who wants to make sure that they succeed in creating and preserving their family legacy.

My normal blog topics deal with families who are concerned with transitioning their wealth from one generation to the next.

One thing that I often lament is that many such families, when they decide that they need to take some action to achieve that goal, will contact an attorney and make an appointment to discuss their estate plan.

While the house factory quickly dispatched us to an appropriate avenue to order our home, most lawyers are only too happy to begin writing up the estate documents at the family’s request.

 

There’s a Lot More to a Home than the House

Back to the house purchase.  Kane Homes directed us to one of their dealers instead, “Sullivan Homes”.

OK, so just like you don’t go to GM to order your car, we had gone to the wrong place first.

The good folks at Sullivan Homes didn’t want to simply sell us a factory-made house, they were interested in helping us construct our dream home.

They were the ones who were going to take care of pouring the foundation, drilling the well, putting in the septic system, bringing in the electricity, and even making sure our long driveway was wide enough to bring in the house on two giant trailers.

 

The Work that Nobody Sees

When you arrive at our place now, the main thing that you see is still the house that was built in the factory, but without the foundation, septic system, water, and power, it certainly would not be as useful or comfortable!

In a similar way, yes, you surely will need a qualified attorney to properly write up the legal paperwork to make sure that what you want to happen is properly and legally captured.

And, if you are proactive, you will also engage with the right people to make sure that everything else works the way you want it to.

Kane sells a standard house to anyone who wants one, but thankfully they only do so while working through one of their dealers who makes sure that everything fits and works for the family who buys one.

 

Process Versus Content

My analogy is admittedly a bit of a clumsy one, especially as I now pivot to the process versus content part.

The factory-built house is the key piece of content which involved a lot of man-hours to complete, but the work that was done on site, was done by various specialists who did everything that was needed to make sure the house actually “worked” for us.

That work was much more about process, and it involves the flow of water and power into the house, as well as drainage out of the house.

 

An Estate Plan is Great, But Not Sufficient

If you’ve decided that you want to ensure that everything you’ve worked for all your life gets properly passed down to the next generation of your family, then you’ve got work to do.

If you think that a visit to an estate planning attorney will take care of it all, then you are mistaken.

Many of those other things are discussed in other blogs here, so please, help yourself!

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What Are We FOR as a Family

What Are We FOR as a Family

Let’s Point in the Right Direction

It can often be way too easy to concentrate on things we don’t want, and some personality types are really good at finding fault and complaining.

While strictly speaking the negative and positive are simply two different sides of the same coin, I find that accentuating the positive can make a huge difference. 

This is true with individuals, but especially with groups of people.

Families who are trying to find ways to continue to work together over the long haul, i.e. into the next generation (and beyond) would do well to heed this advice.

 

Reframing to the Positive Angle 

Of course it’s fine to talk about what we don’t want, for a time, because sometimes that’s actually much more clear.

Eventually, as you work with someone who is looking to grow, improve, or change in some way, you need to focus on what they do want, and what they need to do to get that.

And as I mentioned, with a group, this takes on an even more important role.

Negativity can be contagious, and if a group of people are supposed to be working towards a common goal, one nay-sayer can quickly enroll others and creating positive momentum will become more of a challenge.

 

Start with One Person

The good news here is that it really can all start with one person.  

A family’s values or vision begins by asking each person to share their own values and vision, and then working with the group to try to shape some consensus on common vision and values that they can all agree on and get behind.

When things bog down, either in such exercises or other scenarios involving a family working towards some common goal, the way through is typically achieved when someone feels strongly enough to verbalize some strong feelings.

The leadership that such a family must exhibit almost always channels some positive view of what they see FOR the family, as opposed to what they don’t want.

 

Look for Exponential Magic

That leader can be the spark that the family needs to make progress. But, one person can only get so far all alone.

As I detailed in The Exponential Magic of Family Collaboration, if that person can find another family member to see the light, they can really begin to make progress. 

And once they enroll a third, they can start to roll forward with some momentum.

Not that any of this necessarily moves quickly, but there is usually a certain natural progression involved.

 

Important Support Along the Way Too

Because this can be a frustrating and lonely time for that family leader, sometimes called the “Family Champion” (but typically only in retrospect), it can be important for that person to have some outside support.

As I wrote about a few months ago in Coaching for Current & Future Family Leaders, coaching is really made for situations like these.

Furthermore, coaching is also made for times like these, and by that I mean during a pandemic where so many things are up for discussion and the future is as uncertain as it’s been in a long time.

Coaching Only One Family Member Works Too

One of the things I’ve recently noticed, since doing my coaching certification last year, is that a coach can help a family make a lot of progress, without ever meeting them.

Okay, so as I re-read that sentence, I realized that it can actually be taken in a couple of different ways, so let me unpack it a bit.

What I set out to say was that by working with only one person from a family, a coach can increase the effectiveness of that family leader to effectuate change and make progress with the rest of the family system.

The second way one could take that previous sentence is to note that a coach can work with a client without ever meeting them in person. 

Indeed, I have several clients I’ve never been in the same room with.

 

What Am I FOR, What Are We FOR

Circling back to the topic of the week, the coach will concentrate on supporting the clients as they work towards getting their family aligned towards things that they can all be FOR.

That family leader will already usually have some ideas of what they are FOR, individually, and with their coach they can then work on ways of strengthening the family relationships so as to get the family ready to embark on the journey as well.

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Musings on Collaborating for a Win-Win-Win

No Single Advisor Can Do It All

Thinking back to when I had my calling to this work with families, one of the first realizations I had was just how complex such work can be.

A family enterprise has lots of moving parts, especially as the family approaches an upcoming transition from one generation to the next.

Between the amount of wealth involved and the complexity of the family’s situation, there are important considerations that ultimately require the support and advice of a number of outside specialists who serve the family.

Getting these expert professionals to work together makes so much sense, at least in theory, so that the family client can get the best results.

 

The Theory Versus the Real World

Of course just because something makes perfect sense in theory, that doesn’t mean that it will work simply in the real world.

Thankfully, those who designed the FEA Program where I had that calling already knew about this “real world” challenge, and had purposefully included a team project into the curriculum.

For example, my project team included an insurance specialist, a CPA, a private banker, and me, who at the time was someone still trying to find his place in this field. 

I played the role of facilitator, and still very much enjoy that role today.

In fact, as my team came to learn, that role of coordinator and facilitator often turns out to me way more important than the other professionals ever imagined.

 

Many Challenges and Obstacles Remain

Such facilitators have a key role to play in how the actual collaboration will play out with the family. 

To many of the tactical specialists, we are often an “afterthought” because they haven’t necessarily been used to dealing with an entire family.

So many professionals have been accustomed to serving families more in theory than in practice, because they typically deal with only the head of the family or perhaps a couple.

Opening up the service offering to the entire family, which means at least two generations, means that there are many new considerations.

This poses certain challenges that can often be seen as more trouble than they are worth.

Rest assured though, that from the perspective of the family members from the rising generation, this difference is well worth the efforts in the end.

One Direction Only?

While the idea of collaboration is gaining wider acceptance and more advisors grasp the importance of working together, there is still much work to be done.

In fact, there seems to be a sort of “divide” that exists between the folks like me who specialize in the “family circle” and those whose practice involves the “business circle” and the “ownership circle”.

See: Three Circles + Seven Sectors = One A-Ha Moment (I’m referencing another blog from 2013, two weeks in a row!)

Whenever I have a client who needs something taken care of in those other circles, I always happily help them find the right resources and advisors so that they can be well served. 

Everyone else I know who works the family circle does the same.

There seems to be a general reluctance for those who specialize in the other two circles to return the favour.  Or maybe it’s just me.

 

Varying Degrees of Complexity Exist

Of course we aren’t talking rocket science here, and relatively simple family situations can obviously be handled by many advisors without the need to reach out for another person.

However, those whose entire career has been built on expertise in a particular domain aren’t expected to be adept and comfortable beyond a basic level of complexity and family conflict.

This is precisely where bringing in someone who has trained for this work make sense.

 

“Plays Well with Others”

Some professionals hesitate to bring in another advisor for fear of “losing the client”.

I can say with certainty that nobody is looking to “steal” your client. 

As children, we all got comments from our teachers that noted how we “play well with others”, and we get that the client family’s needs are what matter most.

 

What Do I Mean by “Win-Win-Win”?

And in case it isn’t clear what I mean with my “Triple Win”, the first one is the client family and the second is the advisor with the wisdom and courage to bring in another resource to deal with the family circle.

The third and final win is for that family circle expert who helps tie it all together.

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Commanding Respect in a Family Enterprise

Something You Just Can’t Demand 

When starting a blog post I often share the genesis of the idea for it, because I like to share the context of my thinking. 

It also helps give readers an insight into the variety of eclectic thoughts that can be used as jumping off points, almost no matter the subject.

Today’s idea could literally have come from a bunch of different places, but in fact came out of a scouting report about a hockey player who was drafted by my local team a couple of years ago.

I was impressed with some of the qualitative factors the scout highlighted in the young man, who was born in 2000. 

For reference, my children were born in 1999 and 2001, so it was interesting to think of this in terms of a demographic with which I am quite familiar.

 

Your Wish Is My Command 

It’s always interesting to see how young athletes are perceived in society, especially when your children are around the same age.

Here are the words from that report that struck me:

 

         “In other words, he commands respect, 

                     rather than demanding it.”


Who among us parents would not be proud to hear such words said about our own offspring?Wow, I thought, not bad for a young kid. Of course, everything’s relative, because he’s playing at the College level, so the others whose respect he’s commanding are around the same age, but nonetheless, this is a plus.

And then I began thinking about what makes someone worthy of our respect, and how is it that one “commands it”, rather than “demanding it”?

Let’s go there, since this topic also arises quite often in family situations, especially when it comes to how family members work together over generations.

 

The Problems with Demanding Respect

Here’s a good quote I came across from Dr. Christian Conte:

“To demand respect is to tell others, “You will respect me!” or otherwise threaten or punish those who do not act according to your wishes. To command respect is to have others observe and admire your actions of their own volition.”

It’s almost like if you try too hard to force it, it doesn’t work, and might even backfire. There’s also a push/pull aspect to it, like using a rope to push something.

Another great line I found comes from Christine W. Zust, who actually confirms what I wrote above: “The only way to command respect from others is not to demand it.”

Respect in Leading a Family Enterprise

Families who have successfully built an enterprise often begin with one dominant leader who was instrumental in the growth of the family wealth, and who thereby commands the respect of the other members of the family.

Where things typically get trickier is after that first generation, where the respect that’s required for continued success now must be earned by someone new, and where there’s not as much of a “top down” view of things.

My father built his business and naturally had the respect of his offspring. Since he died 12 years ago, I’ve never assumed that my sisters would afford me the same kind of respect they did him.

 

How Is Respect Related to Trust?

I’m not sure why I keep thinking about trust when I’m looking at respect, but they’re surely related.

I flashed back to a blog I wrote way back in 2013 (over 350 blogs ago!) 

“I don’t trust him. I don’t know why, I just don’t”. 

In that piece, I noted that there are three components of trust, and I think there’s a respect component in all of them.

Trust comes down to reliability, sincerity and competence.

Of course simply being reliable, sincere and competent is not sufficient to command respect, but, I’m pretty sure that if any of them are missing, respect will be a lot harder to command.

 

Democratic Decision Making

Once a family gets past the first generation wealth creator, the decision-making in the family often becomes much more democratic. There are likely going to be sibling and cousin relationships that make the whole respect question much less of a given.

When a leader in that scenario tries too hard to be like the autocrat who came before, they can get into trouble pretty quickly.

Trying to tell people that they need to respect you just doesn’t work.

Remember, you can’t push a rope!

 

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Legacy Families Rely on a “Generative Alliance”

More Metaphors and Vocabulary Discussions

Just how should we refer to the type of families we work with as advisors who toil in the intergenerational wealth space? 

There’s no shortage of monikers, from “UHNW” and “Business-Owning” which I really don’t like, to “Enterprising” and “Intergenerational” that are a bit better.

My latest preference is to refer to them as “Legacy Families”, because they’ve arrived at the point where the combination of their longevity and their accumulated wealth make the family’s legacy rise to the forefront of their concerns.

 

Distinguishing Features

Of course many of the families we deal with haven’t yet achieved true “legacy status”, and that’s OK too, since the intention to get there is often a key driving force to do the work necessary to get there.

I mentioned longevity, and typically we’re looking at a few generations, meaning that the family and the wealth have remained together through at least one generational transition, and hopefully more.

Dennis Jaffe, noted researcher and advisor to such families and a leader in this field, has set his research cut-off at 100 years or more and often uses the term “generative families”.

I’ve known Dennis for a few years and he’s easily the person I’ve heard speak most often on subjects relating to the successful transition of wealth within families.

 

Borrowed from your Grandchildren

His latest book is called Borrowed from your Grandchildren, the title of which makes one quickly realize the recommended attitude that’s necessary in such families: to become proper stewards of their assets for the generations that will follow.

I interviewed Dennis for the Let’s Talk Family Enterprise podcast and have recommended his book to my own clients.

The idea for this blog comes from another podcast interview I heard where he mentioned the three major groups that are always present in his study of one hundred, 100-Year families.

Jaffe calls them the “generative alliance”, but I’ve dubbed them the “generative trinity” because they evoke the “holy trinity”, even though I typically keep my posts religion-free.

 

The Father, the Son, and…..

For the uninitiated, the holy trinity is “the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit”, and considering that Jaffe’s three groups include the “current leading generation of the family” (Father) and also the “rising generation of the family” (Son), the trinity idea feels pretty apt.

You may be wondering who gets to play the role of the Holy Spirit in this metaphor. I hope your curiosity has been piqued, since that’s where we’ll now turn our attention.

Non-Family Employees, Advisors, and Board Members

The third key group of people happens to include a host of non-family professionals, both inside and outside the family’s operating businesses.

We’re talking about key employees who are not family, independent Board members of family companies, family office executives, and of course all manner of outside professional advisors who work with the family over the long term.

Jaffe points out the importance of all of these non-family people in the successful intergenerational transition of the wealth owned by such families, because he continually saw this group of people playing key roles in the hundred successful families in his study.

 

Outside the Family System, and Bridging Both Groups

When a family business starts out, there’s often some insularity and thinking that outsiders can’t be trusted, cost too much, or that they don’t “get us” enough to be valuable resources.

Families who remain steadfast to that position and can’t get past it are often doomed to limit their success to the human capital of the family, to their own detriment.

While the benefits of outsiders are numerous and varied, one of the areas where their potential input is often overlooked is in acting as a bridge between the current “NowGen” of the family who are leading things today, and the rising “NextGen” family members who are expected to lead in the future.

 

Independence and Interdependence

Such outsiders to the family are not part of the “family system”, giving them an independent and less biased view of the family members, not clouded by family dynamics.

While that independence is important, these people also often have plenty of interdependence with the two groups, in that their own livelihoods can be intricately linked to the success of the family.

Non-family professionals play a key role in intergenerational success of legacy families that should not be overlooked, nor taken lightly, especially when they work together.

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Lessons from Squirrels at the Bird Feeder

From the Backyard to Twitter

In our backyard we’ve had a rather elaborate set-up of four bird feeders for the past few years, and my wife has assumed the role of the “bird queen”, regularly keeping them filled all summer.

We’re treated to almost daily sightings of cardinals and blue jays, among others.

Thanks to “spillage” the visitors make a big mess below, allowing some local rabbits from the neighbouring golf course to also feed on the seeds, which is a nice bonus.

Of course there are also other, less welcome, rodents.

 

Acrobatic Squirrels

Witnessing the efforts that squirrels go through to get their share of the bird food, you can only be amazed at their creativity.

They’re also cute enough, and certainly prove themselves worthy of the food they steal from the birds thanks to their work ethic. 

It’s been pointed out that without their fluffy tails they’re just rats that know how to climb, but they do have those cute tails.

So many people make the effort to feed only birds and not squirrels that there are literally hundreds of designs of feeders available that have been conceived specifically to thwart the squirrels’ efforts.

 

The Twitter Cartoon

Being a witness to the heroic efforts put out by both the squirrels and my wife to keep the feeders full for our avian friends, my antennae are attuned to stimuli relating to this constant battle.

Lo and behold while scrolling my Twitter feed recently I noticed a little cartoon that hit home.

The drawing featured a squirrel in a precarious position getting his fill from one of those feeders designed to keep him at bay, much like the one in this photo:

And the Thought Bubble Said…

The punch line was in the thought bubble, which let us in on what the little rodent was thinking as he feasted on the seeds:

     “This squirrel feeder sure wasn’t designed very well”

I had not seen that coming, and enjoyed the chuckle. 

And then I thought about how this lesson could be tied into the wonderful world of families who are preparing for an eventual transition of their business or wealth to the next generation.

 

Isn’t That a Bit of a Leap?

I mentioned my antennae earlier, and they’re attuned to this world 24/7/365, so it wasn’t much of a leap for me.

There are certainly some analogies and metaphors that I can derive from this cartoon, but I’m not sure that any are conclusive.

But we can have some fun kicking them around, so I hope you’ll join me here.

 

Your Family of Birds

I think it’s pretty safe to assume that the birds that you want to feed are the family members.  You want them to have food so that they survive and thrive and keep coming back.

So who are the squirrels? This is where it gets more confusing, or maybe just more fun.

The squirrels could be all the other forces of nature that work against families who are trying to avoid the fate of families who succumb to the “shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations”.

What About the Cartoon Squirrel?

We can’t hold anything against squirrels in general, because they’re just doing what their instincts are telling them to do, and they also need to eat.

But what about the particular squirrel from the cartoon, who actually thought that the food was being set out there for him?

I have an idea about who he represents and I need to be careful how I put this.

In my role guiding families through their intergenerational transitions, those families invariably work with other professionals who take care of the legal, structural and tax minimization details.

On occasion, some of those experts can take on a bit of a squirrelly attitude.

 

Don’t Do It “Bass Ackwards”

I suppose they’re also only doing what their instincts tell them to.  When families approach such experts not knowing what’s most important to them, priorities may get skewed and tax avoidance or limiting what heirs can do may end up driving things.

To me when the structures are put in place before the family has figured out what their legacy should look like, it’s kind of “bass ackwards”.

You really should figure out the family part first and then get the pros to draft the perfect structures to fit that.  

The priority needs to be the birds, not the squirrels.

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