How legacy families prepare
for what comes next
From a founder preparing his children to inherit, to a dynasty orchestrating a decade-long handover, these real engagements show the Integrated Legacy Strategy™ at work in some of the world’s most significant family enterprises.
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A founder prepares his family to inherit
- Region
- North America
- Family Wealth
- Multi-billion-dollar
- Enterprise
- Founder-led energy business
- Generation
- G1 principal, five G2 children
- Focus
- Legacy strategy beyond the business
A North American G1 principal, actively involved in a large energy business he had founded, had read Strategy for the Wealthy Family and wanted to use the lessons he had learned there to upgrade all of the non-business aspects of his family's enterprise.
Among these challenges was a second generation of five children with a wide range of ages from 15 to 37, and only one formerly active in the business at a relatively low level.
Working closely with the patriarch and the head of his family office, we reviewed each of the elements of legacy strategy (with the exception of his business) with a goal of optimising the structure in the present, and preparing the enterprise and the next generation to inherit and carry on the successful business the G1 entrepreneur had created.
Using the NextGen as individual participants, and working together with the patriarch as an advisory council, we surfaced more than 70 important potential changes to support the achievement of the patriarch's long-term aspirations and put in place plans for their realisation.
Two of the inactive members of the family indicated that they would, in fact, like to become engaged in the family's enterprise, and committed to learning the missing skills to become good stewards of their inheritance in the future.
Substantial and valuable change across the family's enterprise, and better relations between NextGen members who had found a common cause they could work on together.
- Trust structures
- Family development
- Family office focus & objective-setting
- Succession planning
- Family engagement
- NextGen relationships
A ten-year transition, designed in three phases
- Region
- Europe
- Family Wealth
- Multi-billion-dollar
- Enterprise
- Branded manufacturing group
- Generation
- Three G2 leaders, seven G3 children
- Focus
- Generational transition & governance
A very well structured and sophisticated European G2 group of three members, who had substantially increased the scale and value of a multi-billion-dollar branded manufacturing business, were within sight of their retirement and wanted to ensure the generational transition to their seven children went as smoothly as possible.
They also wanted to take the opportunity to refresh their family constitution and review all aspects of family and business governance for the future success of both.
Adopting the three-phased approach to generational transition, we helped the family and its members to review and amend all aspects of their succession plans.
Preparation
A period of preparation before the transition of leadership and ownership began.
Successive Handover
The gradual handover of all roles, rights and responsibilities from G2 to G3.
The Rising Generation Leads
The G3s in charge, the G2s stepped down, and the G4s beginning their own preparation to step up.
This was a ten-year process led by a Generational Transition Task Force, reporting regularly to the Family Council and made up of selected G2 and G3 family members, with non-family support from the head of the Family Office and two outside experts. The Task Force was established and chaired by Mark Daniell.
This approach ensured that the views of each branch and generation were well represented in the design and implementation of strategy. Reporting and communications were upgraded, and the advisory network and selected constitutional approaches were changed to reflect the wishes of the rising generation.
The work of the Task Force was supplemented by a high-powered Advisory Board of respected legacy family members, who brought their own direct experience to bear on the matters at hand.
During the hybrid phase, and in the final phase, roles were allocated on either a rotating (branch) basis or by meritocratic selection, ensuring that each G2 and his or her children felt fairly represented in the process and final outcome. Regular third-party performance reviews of each G2 and G3 contributed to the credibility and value of the exercise, and to the eventual smooth transition of ownership and authority.
The Task Force completed its work with universal praise for its accomplishments, and an ownership and authority transition that unfolded smoothly.
Matters such as the NextGen education programme, appointments and promotions, and the revision of key documents were folded back into the Family Strategy and Development Committee of the Family Council, where they continue until the next generational transition calls for a dedicated resource of its own.
Six generations strong, ready for the seventh
- Region
- Asia, with a global footprint
- Family Wealth
- Multi-billion-dollar
- Enterprise
- Long-established home-country business, expanding abroad
- Generation
- G6 leaders, G7 owner-managers
- Focus
- Constitution, governance & leadership
A prominent Asian family, long successful in their home-country business and beginning to venture abroad in complementary areas of investment, wanted to ensure a successful transition from their G6 group of future shareholders and managers to a growing group of G7 owner-managers. Notably cohesive, the family was looking forward to keeping the positive aspects of their family enterprise alive and growing, even as the family spread out around the world.
Although they had a constitution, there was a collective sense that they needed a better document, and better governance institutions defined by it, for their family and business activities.
Addressing all aspects of family strategy, governance and leadership, we worked together with the leader of the G6, the natural leader of both business and family, supported by a group of G6 and G7 representatives, to ensure that the family was ready for the future they saw in front of them.
This required reviewing, revising and aligning family and business governance; setting in place criteria for senior family engagements and business leadership; and reinforcing their common approach to governance, culture, communications and cohesiveness for the future.
In this family, the business played a central role in family affairs, with shareholding of paramount importance in determining the future of the family.
After a particularly open-minded and harmonious process, designed and led by our team, the new approaches to G6 and G7 positions in family and business roles were put in place and worked well for many years.
A second assignment some years later engaged again with the G7, to ensure that they worked well together in the absence of their G6 parents, who had moved on from active roles in the family enterprise.
Every family has its own next chapter.
What is yours?
See where your family stands across the ten elements of the Integrated Legacy Strategy™ framework, and leave with your initial priorities. It’s private and takes just a few minutes.
Learn the frameworks, tools and practices behind lasting family legacies, and use them to build your own.
Work with Mark and our team on a single element or your whole legacy plan. Or choose a Customized Family Learning Program, offered to four families each year.