Fact: Your family’s long-term success depends on the strength of family relationships

Learn why family relationships are key
to transgenerational wealth

Conventional approaches to focusing on the “family side” of family enterprise are directed largely to family governance.

“Family governance” consists of the structures, practices, and protocols that define how your family organizes itself and makes decisions. Family governance is particularly important for families who need to manage shared financial assets. It generally includes helping your family to:

Articulate your core values
Preserve family history
Conduct family meetings
Engage in financial education
Prepare the rising generation

As important as these features are, family governance is the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Family governance alone will not help your family overcome hurdles like:

Avoiding tough conversations, leading to confusion, misaligned expectations, and lack of trust
Sending unclear or mixed signals about roles, rights, and responsibilities, resulting in misunderstandings, resentment, and frustration
Struggling to discuss difficult topics without ending in anger, hurt feelings, and emotional distancing
Failing to proactively prepare for and manage generational transitions, prompting anxiety and uncertainty about the future
Inadvertently creating tension between spouses and partners who join the family, as well as difficulties for those caught in the middle
Developing a culture where people are afraid of not being heard or respected, or worse, retribution
Wrestling with a lack of transparency around who is entitled to what information and which resources
Worrying about how to strike a balance between enjoying your family wealth and avoiding entitlement

The effectiveness of any family governance apparatus is dependent upon the people who are expected to abide by it.

What Clients Say

I have only one sibling, an older brother. To say that we are very different would be an understatement. We were not close growing up, and were estranged as adults – until recently. I’ve never worked in our family business; it’s the only place he’s ever worked. He and I are still worlds apart in terms of our social and political views, but thanks to Thomasina, my brother and I talk all the time now.

It didn’t happen overnight, and it wasn’t easy. But as a result of Thomasina working with us to open the door, and encouraging and supporting us to walk through it, my brother and I are enjoying a relationship in our Baby Boomer years that neither he nor I thought was possible before.

- Second-generation family business owner

I got more out of my conversations with Thomasina than talking to a therapist. She helped me to see and understand my family in a way that I had never considered before. She also helped me think through some family business issues I was having difficulty navigating because of the emotion involved.
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With Thomasina’s coaching and support, I’m learning to communicate better with my adult children and manage how I interact with them. My children have even noticed the change in me. They too are making strides. They are now talking to each other with love and patience, and working through their differences. As she reminds us, it’s a process that will take time and nurturing, but my family and I have made significant progress working with Thomasina.

- Chair of family foundation & retired CEO of family business