Family Enterprise Insights
Family enterprises face unique challenges as family relationships, ownership structures, and operating businesses evolve across generations. This collection of articles reflects Generation6’s research and advisory experience, exploring the frameworks and decisions that shape alignment, leadership, and continuity over time.
Explore Thought Leadership by Topic
FAMILY DEVELOPMENT & DYNAMICS
Family relationships shape how effectively governance and ownership systems function over time. These articles examine communication, cohesion, and generational transitions that influence alignment and continuity.
FAMILY & BUSINESS GOVERNANCE
Family enterprise governance defines how decisions are made, roles are clarified, and accountability is sustained across generations. These articles explore governance structures, boards, and frameworks that support alignment and long-term continuity.
FAMILY OFFICE & ENTERPRISE STRUCTURES
Family offices and enterprise structures sit at the intersection of family, ownership, and shared assets. These articles explore how structures are designed and evolve to support coordination, clarity, and long-term performance.
STEWARDSHIP & OWNERSHIP
Ownership in a family enterprise carries responsibilities that extend beyond financial interests. These articles explore ownership roles, decision-making, and the development of capable stewards across generations.
STRATEGY & DECISION-MAKING
Family enterprises face complex strategic and financial decisions shaped by both business realities and family priorities. These articles explore how families approach growth, investment, risk, and long-term decision-making.
ADVISORY APPROACH
Effective advisory in family enterprise requires both structural clarity and relational understanding. These articles reflect how Generation6 works with families, including our philosophy, partnership model, and perspectives on long-term continuity.
Our Recent Articles
Listening to the Family: The Strategic Value of Surveys
Surveys can reveal differing perspectives, surface hidden tensions, and – when done well – build trust, and serve as an educational opportunity.
The 7 Gears of Leadership, And When to Use Each One
Effective leaders have mastered the ability to change gears - and they have the agility to mindfully choose which gear to use in different situations.
Money & Generations: Turning Financial Disputes into Connection
Families often pressure advisors to rush to provide a technical fix to their perceived money problems - but when families fight about money, it’s typically about something else.
Want to understand your shareholder group? Ask them!
Are you curious about where your shareholder group stands—how knowledgeable and committed they are to the family enterprise, what values and personal goals they bring, and what concerns or expectations they may have?
Family Firms Must Address Mental Health Challenges
Anxiety, depression, and other conditions disrupt family business operations and strain family relationships. Ignoring them won’t make them go away.
Money education in the business family: A perspective article
Financial education is critical for business families with a generational vision - yet, it is often undervalued and not prioritized, despite its profound implications for family cohesion and business sustainability.
White Space: A Wellspring of Wisdom
Consider how much white space you have in your leadership practice. What do you do to make yourself available to these other sources of wisdom: your heart, your gut, and your soul?
Do You Treat In-Laws Like the Family Business Outlaws?
Families differ in their willingness to integrate outsiders into their family circle. These actions influence the included or excluded individuals in different ways, creating a ripple effect throughout the family that can last generations.
Let’s Continue the Conversation
Many of the topics explored in our articles arise directly from conversations with multigenerational families navigating complex transitions.
If your family is considering governance development, leadership transition, or strengthening alignment across generations, we welcome the opportunity to connect.