What Does a Family Enterprise Advisor Actually Do?
Family enterprises rarely lack advisors. Most successful business families already have trusted attorneys, accountants, wealth advisors, bankers, and other professionals who understand their respective fields and often know the family and business extremely well. So, why would a business family need a family enterprise advisor?
Consider John and Susan. John’s parents founded the family business more than 60 years ago, and John and Susan have helped lead its growth for the past three decades. Today, the company generates more than $200 million in annual revenue, employs several hundred people across multiple locations, and has an experienced management team that includes both family and non-family executives. John still serves as CEO but is beginning to think about stepping back; one of John’s siblings serves on the board, and two others are passive shareholders.
The family has evolved along with the business. Some family members have built careers within the enterprise, while others have pursued careers and interests outside it. John and Susan’s three adult children reflect these different paths. Michael and Jennifer have worked in the company for more than a decade and now hold senior leadership roles, while David has built a successful career outside the enterprise, but is becoming increasingly involved as an owner. Other family members also hold ownership interests without working in the family enterprise, and a fourth generation is beginning to come of age.
As the family and enterprise have grown, the decisions facing them have become more complex. John’s transition raises questions not only about who should lead the company next, but also about how leadership, ownership, and governance should evolve. Michael and Jennifer may be potential candidates for greater leadership responsibility, but so may non-family members of the management team. Family members who work in the business have different perspectives and responsibilities from those who participate primarily as owners. And as ownership expands across family members and generations, the family will need to consider how owners will remain informed, exercise their responsibilities, and participate in important decisions. At the same time, another generation is beginning to emerge and will eventually need to understand what it means to be part of an enterprising family.
John and Susan already have excellent professional advisors. Their attorney can help structure ownership and estate plans. Their accountant can evaluate the tax and financial implications of different alternatives. Their wealth advisor can help the family consider how business ownership fits within its broader wealth. Other advisors can help the company address questions related to strategy, operations, executive leadership, and risk.
But before determining which structures or solutions make sense, the family needs greater clarity about the future it wants to create. What does the family want to preserve, and what needs to change as the enterprise moves into its next stage? What roles should family members play in the business, ownership, and governance? How should responsibilities and decision-making authority be allocated among owners, the board, and management? Where are family members aligned about the future, and where do their expectations differ? And how can the family prepare current and future generations to contribute in different ways?
These questions cannot be answered from the perspective of the business, ownership, or family alone. They require the family to consider how all three fit together.
This is where a family enterprise advisor can help.
At Generation 6, we help families navigate questions at the intersection of family, ownership, and enterprise, particularly when there is no purely legal, financial, or business answer. However, our goal goes beyond solving the immediate problem. We help families address the issue in front of them while strengthening their capacity to navigate the challenges and decisions that will come next. Experience and research have taught us that this begins with the family, not with structures or solutions. We first seek to understand the family’s goals, relationships, and values and the future they want to build together. From there, we help them develop the structures, agreements, and processes needed to support that vision. This approach may require more time and effort upfront, but it leads to solutions that are more meaningful, durable, and aligned with what the family is trying to accomplish.
For John and Susan’s family, this means more than navigating John’s transition as CEO. It means helping the family determine how leadership, ownership, and governance need to evolve as both the family and enterprise become more complex. It also means helping family members understand how they can contribute in different ways, whether as executives, owners, directors, or family members, and preparing future generations for the responsibilities they may eventually assume.
Looking at the Whole Family-Enterprise System
In a family enterprise, decisions about leadership, ownership, governance, and family relationships are closely connected. A change in one area often has implications for the others. If John steps back as CEO, for example, the family will need to consider not only who should lead the business next, but also how that decision affects Michael and Jennifer’s roles, the broader management team, and John’s own involvement going forward. At the same time, family members who work in the business and those who participate primarily as owners may have different perspectives, expectations, and responsibilities. As ownership becomes more dispersed and another generation begins to emerge, the family will also need to consider how owners remain informed and engaged, how decisions are made, and how governance should evolve to support both the family and the enterprise.
Generation 6 helps families understand these broader implications and determine what they need to move forward. The specific work depends on the family, its circumstances, and what it is trying to accomplish. We may begin with assessment and diagnosis to understand where the family is today, what is working well, and where gaps or risks may exist. We may also provide education to help family members better understand the family-enterprise system and the different roles and responsibilities of owners, executives, directors, and family members.
Building on this understanding, we help families develop alignment and make decisions about their future together. This may involve clarifying goals and expectations, working through differences, defining roles and responsibilities, and establishing greater clarity about which decisions belong to owners, the board, management, or the family.
As those decisions become clearer, we may help families strengthen or develop the structures and plans needed to support them. These can include family and ownership governance, boards, ownership strategies, policies, transition plans, and processes for preparing current and future generations for their roles. We may also work with individual family members as they develop the knowledge and capabilities needed to take on new responsibilities.
Our work does not necessarily stop when a decision has been made or a structure has been designed. Implementation matters. We help families determine what needs to happen next, who will be responsible, and how progress will be sustained. When specialized legal, tax, financial, or other expertise is needed, we collaborate with the family’s other professional advisors to help translate the family’s decisions into solutions that work for them.
This work rarely follows a fixed sequence. As families learn, make decisions, and implement changes, new questions emerge, and priorities evolve. We help them continue moving forward, revisiting earlier conversations when needed and adapting their approach as circumstances change.
Building Capacity for What Comes Next
For John and Susan’s family, success is not simply completing John’s transition or putting the appropriate legal and governance structures in place. The family and enterprise will continue to evolve, bringing new questions with them. Family members may have different views about the direction of the business, dividends and reinvestment, or the roles family members should play in the enterprise. Ownership may become more dispersed, new family members may become owners, and some may want to work in the business while others contribute in different ways. The board and other governance structures may need to evolve. And, eventually, the family will face another leadership or ownership transition.
Families cannot anticipate every challenge they will face. They can, however, become better prepared to navigate those challenges together. That is why building family capacity and cohesion is central to our approach. We help family members strengthen the relationships, trust, communication, knowledge, and decision-making capabilities they need to work together as circumstances change. Governance, agreements, and other structures can support this capacity, but they cannot substitute for it.
For this family, a successful transition would mean that John can step away from his role as CEO with clarity about his future involvement, while family members understand their different roles and responsibilities and know how and where important decisions will be made. It would mean that family members are prepared to contribute in different ways, whether they work in the business or participate primarily as owners or directors. It would also mean that the family can work through differences, evolve its governance as circumstances change, and prepare younger generations for the responsibilities they may eventually assume.
The goal is not simply to help a family complete one transition. It is to help build a family capable of navigating many of them. Because ultimately, continuity is not about anticipating every challenge the family will face, but about developing the capacity to face those challenges together and continue adapting as the family and enterprise evolve.