The Challenge of Attaining Happiness in the Family Business

I read a post on LinkedIn recently which gave me pause for some thoughts. Like so many pieces about family business they assume that longevity is a good thing for the business, that succession is always a problem, and that preserving family wealth is paramount. I’d contend that none of these are as big a deal as is usually presented.

I write as someone who has lost a family business and its wealth, and as someone who declined the possibility of succeeding to the top role in our business.

Fear of losing wealth is such a petty perspective. Prioritising preservation of wealth is a closed-minded and mean-minded philosophy. Of course most family offices will disagree but then their primary role seems to be helping families do these two things. I’m not a Christian but didn’t Jesus say to the rich man, not only to not preserve his wealth or fear losing it, but to give away all he had and follow Jesus? Granted that’s just one person’s view on wealth but quite an influential person. It should make us all stop and think about what we’re doing in life and why.

It is natural for people to think that money is so important, and at a basic level it is. Not having enough money means going hungry, losing your home, not being able to clothe yourself or your children. However I suspect most family businesses who use a family office probably aren’t thinking of those matters. But that is actually what matters: food, clothing, shelter. Most of the rest of what we spend money on comes under the category of luxuries, a category of belongings that Henry David Thoreau described as “hindrances to the elevation of mankind”. In other words, trash.

Sadly, many people in family businesses - and most of those who professionally advise them - have lost sight of what matters in life. We get caught up in the business of business, in the business of money, in the business also of ego and status, and in the business of material statements of that wished-for status.

Obviously it is important to manage the business and explore its direction and future. But business is far from the whole of life. Life itself is inherently simple. We need the means to have that food, that clothing, that shelter. Secure these and life should be a breeze, the rare gift of exploring and enjoying what it means to be alive. Ask yourself, is your life like that? Free and easy, at peace and light-hearted? If not, what is causing the blockage? Only you can answer that.