A listening path · 8 conversations
The cousin generation
By the cousin generation, the owners grew up in different houses and many of them have never worked in the business. The families in these conversations keep dozens, and in one case hundreds, of family shareholders close. I'd listen for what they wrote down early and what they still do together in person.
Mike Boyd
12Spencer BurkeThe St Louis Trust Company Multi-Family Office
Start with Spencer Burke's case for agreeing who can work in the business, own shares and sit on the board while there are no names attached.
Listen for Which of those three questions has your family already answered?
15Richard EuFamily Politics, Consolidating Power, Going Public & Taking Private
Thirteen uncles on one board, and nobody called the shots, so the company stood still. Richard Eu on what changed, and how he kept the social ties.
Listen for Could one branch of your family block every new idea?
02Tim Cosulich6th Generation CEO of Italian Family Business
At Fratelli Cosulich the shares sit in a trust owned by nobody, and joining the family business is harder than getting hired.
Listen for What does a family member have to do to earn a job in your business?
45Anthony R ContrucciA 5th Generation Member of the Schrage Family, Owners of the 126 Year Old Centier Bank
The Schrage family began its governance with a one-page agenda at a quarterly dinner, then built from there.
Listen for What would go on the first page of your family's agenda?
21Val Hollingsworth & Annie Hollingsworth7th Gen Hollingsworth & Vose - Manufacturing Innovation Since 1728
First cousins Val and Annie Hollingsworth on keeping fifty-plus cousins interested in a company the family has owned since 1793.
Listen for What do the cousins outside the business actually know about it?
48Peter EvansTrusted Advisor to Legacy Families & Member of a 7th Generation Family Holding Company
More than 500 family shareholders, and a coming-of-age ritual that gives every 14-year-old a front-row seat at the business meeting.
Listen for When does a young member of your family first get a seat at the table?
27Mitzi PerdueMatriarch of the Sheraton Hotels and Perdue Chicken Families
Two families that have each lasted over a century, and the small rituals that hold them together, from a service award to endowed reunions.
Listen for What does your family do on purpose to bring the cousins together?
49Scott PeppetBuilding a Family-Focused Office for Sam Zell
End on Scott Peppet's view that most family offices are really money offices, and that a family-focused one is measured by trust.
Listen for Could your family hold a year of meetings where nobody talks about the money?
Other places to start
The Business Family Diagnostic · Governance
Cousins need a way to decide together.
The families in these conversations wrote down how they make decisions, then kept turning up in person. Does your family have an agreed way to make the decisions that affect everyone?
“When family members disagree about the family enterprise or the wealth, there is an agreed way to settle it.”