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
Developing Your Business Family Strategy: Where to Start and What to Consider
Successful, long-lasting business families have a family strategy: A shared understanding of what is important to them, what they want to do together, and how they want to work together to achieve their collective goals and vision.
'Let’s Not Go There...' Taboos in Family Business
Family businesses and the families that own them are known for their secrecy and discretion. This article lays out the most common taboos that arise in family businesses and describes strategies to diagnose and deal with them.
The Single Family Office Gathering
Our hope is that our book on single family offices (SFO) deepens the conversation in the field, challenges assumptions, and ultimately better serves SFO, their families and our communities.
Case Study: What All Family Businesses Can Learn From the Merck Family
The German Merck family has succeeded where many business families have failed: Keeping a group of over 300 family members unified, aligned and committed over the course of 350 years.
Preparing the Next Generation: Is it really necessary to work outside of the family firm?
There is little empirical evidence to support the widely held claim that the next generation of family business leaders benefit from working outside the family enterprise.
Thoughtful planning and preparation for welcoming new spouses Into the Business Family
Welcoming a new spouse or committed life partner into a business owning family is a critical but often over looked aspect of Family Business continuity.
A question every leader should ponder
Every leader I coach struggles to find more white space - the time energy and space to reflect, to process, and to be available to what feelings and thoughts are beyond the immediate - in their life.
Single Family Offices: More Than Numbers
Imagine your family has just come into a great deal of (liquid) Read about the four big considerations that we think of as the guardrails of starting a family office.
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.