Family Wealth Consulting

Fall on Your Sword

September 26, 2024Family Business Consulting, Family Wealth Consulting, Wealth Psychology Consulting

I speak regularly around the United States on the topic of families and wealth. Areas of focus include developing communication, high-functioning family ownership groups, managing inevitable conflict, distinguishing between non-working family owners and family members who work in the business to grow it. I address reaching agreement on roles and responsibilities for each, developing governance to guide families across generations, and, the big one, developing the next generation. I have seen quite a bit when it comes to parents who Read more »

George Washington – Family Business

August 20, 2024Family Business Consulting, Family Wealth Consulting, Wealth Psychology Consulting

I have been addicted to reading biographies for several years. In previous centuries, letter writing was so pervasive that we can now peer into the lives of interesting characters of the past through their own words and the words of others. I find biographies to be full of life wisdom and am struck by how similar human societies can be over the centuries—for better and for worse. Many of the books I have read recently are filled with lessons for Read more »

Stewardship: How Young to Start? Part II

June 24, 2024Family Business Consulting, Family Wealth Consulting, Wealth Psychology Consulting

Image Source: GreatSchools.org

Last month’s blog (take a quick read if you have not yet) was about how it is possible to start developing a stewardship culture in the next generation even at very young ages. I shared three videos and offered a number of food-for-thought questions to answer after viewing them. Here are the videos: 1 – The Farmhand (link to Facebook) 2 – The Warehouse Helper (link to TikTok) 3 – The Young Chef (link to Facebook) I would like to respond now to the questions I posed to the reader in Read more »

Stewardship: How Young to Start?

May 14, 2024Family Business Consulting, Family Wealth Consulting, Wealth Psychology Consulting

I work with wealthy families, some very wealthy families, and even some uber-wealthy families, and the truth is that they want what poor, working class, and all families want: happy, healthy, and productive kids. One of the growing areas of my practice is coaching wealthy couples before they have kids and parents of very young children—babies and toddlers. I call my work with them the Purposeful Legacy Family Project . While I’ve always included teens and young adults in coaching and family retreats, I’m Read more »

Fairness, Once Again

March 25, 2024Family Business Consulting, Family Wealth Consulting, Wealth Psychology Consulting

“Once Again” is in the title here because I’ve already written several blog posts about fairness in the context of family; this is one of the repeating topics arising with the enterprising families I work with. It is understandable that families often ask me for the best way to be fair in their situation. It makes complete sense that they ask this. If there was a rule book or definitive guide, I’d share it freely. Of course, there is no Read more »

Mom’s Death Gift

February 21, 2024Family Business Consulting, Family Wealth Consulting, Wealth Psychology Consulting

First of all, my mom is still alive. She is wise, has a wicked sense of humor, and is always willing to talk about topics most people find challenging. All of this is a gift, in and of itself. Let my explain, then, why I am referring to this lesson as: Mom’s Death Gift. Death is a typically challenging topic of conversation. I see people avoiding death (thinking about it, planning for it, discussing it with others, even believing it Read more »

Family Business Meets Family History

January 15, 2024Family Business Consulting, Family Wealth Consulting, Wealth Psychology Consulting

I’ve worked with numerous enterprising families in my decades of consulting. One of my favorite sayings is, “Family is tough enough on its own; when sharing a business or other complex wealth, it is a whole lot tougher and more complex.” One of the (many) sources of that complexity, and one of the most powerful, is the long history that family members share. For better AND for worse (although humans have a tendency to pay special attention to pain). I’m Read more »

Engaging Families With Flexibility

November 16, 2023Family Business Consulting, Family Wealth Consulting, Wealth Psychology Consulting

Meeting a new family is one of the most interesting parts of my consulting work. Often they are eager to meet me and tell me their story and, at the same time, are hesitant to open up that very story. There is usually some level of hope that I can help them manage the complex family dynamics that every family contends with—and families sharing a variety of assets have to manage such dynamics in exponential form. And there is usually Read more »

Mentor Or Tormentor???

September 19, 2023Family Business Consulting, Family Wealth Consulting, Wealth Psychology Consulting

I recently took on a new client, a family business going strong in the fourth generation. At our first meeting I asked the family (mom, dad, brother and sister) to tell me their story – always interesting. As they dug into the various perspectives they each held about the history of the family and the business, and there are always a variety of perspectives, the patriarch described his father and grandfather, both long gone. “I was looking for mentors but Read more »

Next Gen Pushback

July 22, 2023Family Business Consulting, Family Wealth Consulting, Wealth Psychology Consulting

“Pushing back” is one of the ways members of the next generation assert their independence and differentiate themselves from parents and other, older family members, and even the family system as a whole. Pushing back can be subtle, such as frequent polite disagreement, or it can be glaring, such as disregarding specific, important requests from parents. A natural part of growing up, resisting the control and authority of parents and other senior family members and caretakers is common in one Read more »

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