Guest Post: Investing in Collaboration for the Long(er) Run

What happens when four generations share not just a family tree, but a future.

By David R. Smith

Chip’s Note: MEA is starting to work with families who want to share intergenerational wisdom, develop a familial purpose, and learn the value of TQ (Transitional Intelligence) at any age. David’s post is a reminder that we are stronger together than apart.

I experienced my first modern circus performance this spring, and as I watched Mystère unfold, I was reminded that what appears effortless to the audience is the product of incredible discipline behind the scenes requiring coordination and remarkable interdependence. The enterprising families I serve face a similar balancing act made even more complex by lengthening lifespans and longer intergenerational overlaps.

Depending on the country, between 25 – 50% of the GDP for each of the US, Canada, Europe and the UK comes from family enterprises. The importance of these businesses to their national economies and the communities where they operate is enormous, and the largest among them have an outsized impact.

Therefore, leaders in these larger families must continually invest in their assets, including relational capital, to ensure they function at their best given that millions of customers, employees and other stakeholders depend on them. This means ensuring their collaborative muscles are both strong and flexible and that each member of the family system understands how they contribute to this stewardship. This is particularly important given the longevity boom and the growing importance of intergenerational collaboration in family decision-making.

Interestingly, to become a more effective collaborator one must also commit to developing a greater self-understanding. I have visited both MEA campuses and there is vast beauty and wisdom embedded in the land, ocean and among the people who are drawn to together with gravitational force. My most recent sojourn in Baja hosted an age range of 37-75 and one truly amazing soul surprised us all by cartwheeling to the front of the room to accept her graduation certificate! I marvelled at her vitality and wondered how she kept so nimble. Turns out, she comes from her own family business – three generations of elite circus performers and she needs that acrobatic flexibility to juggle the dynamics of managing her thriving PR business, supporting her still mighty 90+ year old father, her adult children and an array of nieces and nephews navigating life’s transitions.

Transitions are a natural part of growth and learning and can be found at multiple points of an adult’s work, family and community lives. Constructive tension can be deeply illuminating and in Baja everyone was processing the personal frictions that accompany each chapter of our lives. It inspired some reflection on my own personal and professional evolution beginning with: Who am I becoming and how will this change how I support my clients? What follows are some questions that emerged from my meditation. They may be relevant to you and your family.

1. Identity and self-understanding

• Who are my clients becoming as individuals and how will that affect their role(s) inside their family system?
• Will advances in their self-understanding lead to increases in what Chip Conley calls Transitional Intelligence (TQ) and by applying this wisdom thereby easing tension and increasing family harmony?
• Will norms shift so that rising generations see their lives in chapters, devote less time to building and stewarding their businesses, and more easily transition into new identities and sources of meaning beyond family leadership roles?

2. Succession, tenure and leadership roles

• What are the implications for key leadership roles in an environment where physical and mental vitality is extended due to longevity improvements over time?
• What will happen inside enterprising families when we find situations where three and maybe four generations of family could be in the same workplace or supported by the same family office?
• Will they be able to reframe the anxiety producing succession process to one of continuity planning welcoming those ready and able to continue to scale the impact intended?
• Or will reluctant ‘now’ generations hold on to power longer due to increased longevity? If so, what would this mean for those rising generations and their desire to put their hand(s) on the tiller? Where will their energy be directed if there is less turnover at the leadership table?

3. Collaboration, values and governance

• Will models of collaboration be re-imagined to balance these generational tensions to reduce unproductive friction inside the family system?
• How can alignment of personal values contribute to stronger intergenerational collaborative outcomes? What to do when values are not aligned?
• How can enlightened families better integrate novel insights from rising generations along with the wisdom of long tenured family members in mutually respectful and productive ways?
• How can we optimize governance renewal in light of this need to integrate transitional capacity and wisdom over longer cooperative cycles?
• Given these possibilities, what capacities will these families need from their professional advisors to support their collaborative evolution?

One question leads to another, and I have intuitions about them all, but not definitive answers; each family situation is unique, yet these general shifts and implications apply to everyone. This rising generation of family enterprise leaders has an opportunity to re-imagine what intergenerational collaboration and stewardship can look like as it readies for each successive generation living longer. It will take some vision, fortitude and likely some acrobatics while we establish some new collaborative norms, but with a shared set of intentions, several generations can bring their capacities together to navigate the complex world that awaits them.

Chip and I want to know what you think. Send us an email if you want to be among a cadre of progressive families that will explore these questions together online or in the serenity of an MEA private retreat as we’re considering convening a small group of families for this kind of deep dive. We welcome your thoughts!