How to Protect Legacy and Harmony Across Generations
Most business-owning families can tell you exactly what they spend to protect their company. Insurance, advisors, legal work, investment management, it all adds up to one or two percent a year, tracked to the decimal. But when I ask families what they invest in the family itself, in the relationships that will carry the business […]
Why You And The People You Love End Up On Opposite Sides of the Table, and What To Do About It
There is a moment in almost every family business transition where you look across the table at someone you love and realize you want a different thing than they do. Not in a small way. In a way that can make the whole deal feel like it might not work. And it can be a […]
How to Prepare the Next Generation for a Family Business Transition
Most of the next gens I talk with are not afraid of responsibility. They are afraid of the gap between what they will one day carry and what they were ever actually taught. Nobody hands you a manual for this. At some point you realize, often all at once, that there is a whole world […]
What Every Family Business Successor Actually Wants from a Succession Plan
They’re not asking for a perfect plan. They’re asking for any plan. Over the last year and a half, I’ve had so many conversations with successors and next gens who are in the middle of family business succession. And I started running some analysis on the patterns showing up across all of them. There are […]
Building Her Own Name: Brecken Glenn on Identity, Legacy, and Leadership in a Family Business
I met Brecken Glenn through the Bailey Program for Family Enterprise, and within minutes I knew her story would resonate with so many next-gens navigating what’s next in their family business journey. Four and a half years into working at Affinity Partners—her family’s real estate development firm in Northern Colorado—Brecken is already asking the hard […]
The 5 Players and Money Moves That Can Make or Break Your Business Exit
Have you seen the new F1 movie with Brad Pitt? It’s a great reminder that even the fastest driver cannot win without the right team in the pit. Passing the torch in your business is no different. Roughly half of business sales collapse before closing. Not because the numbers don’t add up, but because planning, people, and process aren’t aligned.
A business exit is a high-stakes race. Even the best car will not cross the finish line without the right pit crew. These are the five players every owner needs and the transition approaches that keep relationships intact while protecting the legacy you’ve worked decades to build.
The Succession Crisis No One’s Talking About: Why Next Gens Are Walking Away
“Call me when you’re serious.”
That’s what some next gens are essentially saying when they leave the family business.
And I get it.
In a recent podcast conversation with Meghan Lynch from Six-Point Strategy, we talked about something we both see all the time: next gens begging for a roadmap. They’re not leaving because they lack opportunity. They’re leaving because they lack clarity.
Stewarding the Seat: How Family Governance Evolves Across Generations
In family enterprises, leadership isn’t something you “own” forever. At best, you’re stewarding the seat until the next person is ready.
That mindset shift — from ownership to stewardship — changes everything. It reframes leadership as a responsibility, not a prize. It encourages successors to focus on developing people, not clinging to titles. And it reminds every generation that the family enterprise is bigger than any one person.
So how do families put this philosophy into practice? Through governance, clear boundaries, and ongoing conversations that evolve with every generation.
When Leadership Doesn’t Fit Like a Hand-Me-Down
Redefining succession planning, family business leadership, and what legacy actually looks like
In a recent episode of Your Next Gen Friend, I spoke with Anne Bauer, a sixth-generation CEO of her family business. She shared a line that sums up a reality many rising leaders face in family enterprises:
“I’m the sixth generation president and CEO, but I’m the first generation that’s also raising the next generation at the same time.”