What if everyone in your family had a vision to change the world together?
What if your family enjoyed working together and trusted each other deeply?
What if you could create habits and systems that would extend this for multiple generations, not
losing steam but gaining power with each new wave?

All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. -Leo Tolstoy

  • “Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.”
    –English Proverb
  • “Rich dad, noble son, poor grandson.”
    -Brazilian Proverb
  • “From peasant shoes to peasant shoes in three generations.”
    –Chinese Proverb
  • “From clogs to clogs in three generations.”
    –Dutch Proverb

The sad truth is that most great fortunes are made at the cost of the family's health. But that trade isn't necessary. There is a way to create wealth AND create a strong family through multiple generations.

Historical results reveal that 87% of family businesses don’t last past their 60th year. And it’s not just a problem for one culture or one time. This challenge has led to sayings all over the world:

That’s the bad news. But the good news is that when a family figures out how to build a multi-generational “engine”then there is no limit to the length of their legacy.

There may be 1,000 ways to crash your family while building your company, but there is one way to build both at the same time.

And when you build a great family enterprise, you don’t just survive. The results are clear when you study the market. Family businesses that are healthy outperform businesses without family ownership. It can be either worse or better–you get to choose.

After years of working with some of the great family enterprises of our time, we discovered the pattern. There is an "engine" that delivers a rich family life and a rich financial life.

A Few Families We Have Helped

We have been helping families transfer their companies their values to the next generation for many years. You might know some of the families (or the flagship companies) that Scott and his team have worked with:

  • Cathy family, owns Chick-fil-A
  • Hoyos family, owns Frisby, biggest restaurant chain in Colombia, South America
  • Houston family, founded John Houston Homes and many other companies

My Why : My Own Family Legacy

I’m not just a student of great families. I was born into family business and I practice what I teach with my own family.

In the photo, from left to right: Emberlynn, Abigail, Lily, Scott, Evan, Rachel

My wife and I both had a grandparent who built a multimillion dollar business. But both failed to pass on a viable company. Our families experienced the proverbial “shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves” rise and fall in three generations. I did catch some of their mindset and God has blessed my businesses. However, I am determined to not repeat their mistakes. Thankfully, my work allowed me to partner with some truly great family enterprises and I learned what differentiated family empires that thrived vs. those that crashed. Now I help leaders build great companies AND great families.

There is an “engine” all great families use to stay close, grow their wealth, and leave a legacy that lasts for generation after generation.

The elements of this engine are:

Compelling Purpose – Building a great business is a lot of work. Building a great family is at least as much hard work, too. And both efforts are a long play. You will need a “why” big enough to keep you going–and to keep future generations going as well.. And money can’t be the purpose. It’s not big enough on its own.

Authentic Community – You don’t have to hope that real connections happen. There are tactics and tools that create deep, lasting bonds across the family, no matter than generational differences or personality styles.

This is the biggest gear in the engine because: 1) without it, none of the other gears will work, 2) it takes more work than the others gears, and 3) when it’s going strong it generates momentum and energy to power the other gears.

Wealth Deployment – It’s critical that you do not divorce the deployment of the wealth from the family development. From investment to philanthropy to even things like vacations, you can set up systems that allow you to grow closer, grow skills, and grow wealth all at the same time.

 

Leadership Development – The key challenge of a family is passing on skills and perspective from one generation to another so all the hard won lessons don’t get lost–while adding new skills and ideas to keep the business and family growing as the world changes. The assets are the outcome. The driver of this is great leaders. So all great families are leadership development machines.

Smart Legal Structures – Too many families great inentions–only to find all that undermined failing to understand their legal options, restrictions and tools available to them. From massive tax penalties forcing companies to be liquidated to succession wars, you can avoid many of the biggest family killers through setting up smart legal structures in advance.

No one drifts toward greatness. But you're not doomed to dissolve, either. You can build a business you're proud of, a family you love, and a legacy that lasts for many generations.
For more information, contact
scott@swozconsulting.com