Heirlooming: Futureproofing the Multigenerational

I'm always amazed by those stats that say things like "We've learned more in the last ___ months than we have in the last ___ years." It's typically a stat that's less than 20 months yet dozens if not hundreds of years. And maybe I'm not listening well enough, and it's really single-digit months compared to centuries.

But I also like the fact that there's still so much we don't know and so much that has not been invented yet, Mr. Duell (if it's he that really said that).

Yet, we seem to know so little about what makes entrepreneurs successful. We know grit helps. That makes sense. What I've observed with hundreds of entrepreneurs is that they take that chip on their shoulder to prove that they should not have been overlooked.

But if you ask what makes family businesses successful generation after generation, that knowledge I can boil down so far to two main focuses: philanthropy and the grandchildren.

See, the focus is not on the next generation. It's on the next next generation. This is no surprise at all to many cultures around the world. I might even say most cultures.

This is really fun when...there are no grandchildren yet. But this focus seems to work anyway.

And the philanthropy focus is even more interesting. You'll find that family business owners donate individually on their own, as a business (from the business), and, if established, from a foundation. I can go on about family offices, but that's another whole topic and rabbit trails unto themselves.

So all that to say this: many of us have heirlooms in our families. If not, we can start them.

In your business, what are you heirlooming? I hope its your grandchildren, your employees' grandchildren, and your philanthropic impact.

Share how you are heirlooming in your business below in the comments. What you have to share might be the exact thing that someone else needs to hear.

ryan

Ryan Kauth

Ryan Kauth is a business coach for family enterprise owners and serial founders, fractional executive, university lecturer, and founder. When someone asks him what is offer is, he typically says something like "Futureproofed multigeneration family business harmony." You can get on his calendar by clicking here.