Family Enterprise FAQ

A family enterprise advisor helps families navigate the intersection of family, ownership, and business. This can include governance design, succession and transition support, family meetings, board effectiveness work, family office advisory, and next-generation development.

At Generation6, our work focuses on helping families build the clarity, capacity, and alignment needed to sustain both family relationships and enterprise continuity.

We combine research-based insight with hands-on advisory experience. Our focus is not only on governance structures, but on whether families can actually use those structures well over time — because transactional solutions rarely resolve the emotional and historical conflicts that become embedded in a family’s legal and ownership arrangements.

Our approach is tailored, relationship-centered, and designed to strengthen both family capacity and enterprise continuity. We also keep a clear eye on business constraints, balancing family and ownership dynamics with practical strategy and actions that ease financial and operational pressures.

It is natural to feel that your situation is different from everyone else’s. But what you are facing is very rarely something we haven’t seen before — and very likely, we’ve worked with many business families that have faced similar struggles to those you are facing now.

Generally, we can help move the family toward greater unity and alignment. In a few cases, where that’s not a realistic option, we can help the family disentangle in ways that maximize the chances of preserving family relationships in the future.

There is no single formula, but the most effective families tend to invest consistently in a few core areas:

Succession planning: identifying and preparing future leaders through mentorship, structured development, and clear role expectations.

Governance structures: family councils, advisory boards, and family constitutions that facilitate structured communication and decision-making — including informal governance, which is just as important.

Open communication: regular family meetings that create space for honest dialogue, alignment around shared values, and early resolution of concerns.

Conflict resolution mechanisms: clear protocols for addressing disputes before they affect business operations or family relationships.

Next-generation development: equipping rising family members with the ownership competence and relational skills to step into their roles with confidence.

No. While broad support is helpful, many families begin with a smaller group that wants to clarify issues, build momentum, or prepare for wider family engagement.

In many cases, thoughtful early work with a committed core group makes it easier to bring others into the process later.

Yes. Many of our team members are educators associated with 12+ universities around the world. We collaboratively design and deliver customized programs for rising and current generations of family owners and stewards — equipping family members with the skills to perform their roles well in both the enterprise and the family.

We work within your constraints — time, geography, budget — and develop a program that fits your family’s specific needs and interests. Reach out to learn more about Generation6 Academy.

How do you prepare the next generation for ownership and stewardship?

Preparing the next generation for ownership involves more than financial literacy. It includes helping rising family members understand the enterprise, develop ownership competence, strengthen relationships, and grow into their roles over time.

This often includes structured education, facilitated dialogue, and opportunities to build confidence and judgment in real family-enterprise contexts.

family business typically needs governance structures when ownership becomes more complex, decision-making becomes unclear, or the family is moving into a new generation.

Governance structures such as family councils, boards, constitutions, and policies help families make decisions more consistently, clarify roles, and reduce friction as complexity grows.

A family constitution is a shared framework that captures a family’s values, vision, expectations, and agreements related to ownership, governance, and continuity.

It is not a one-size-fits-all document. A strong family constitution reflects the family’s actual goals, relationships, and stage of development, and evolves as the family does.

A family council is a governance body that helps a business family communicate, align around shared priorities, and address family-level matters that affect ownership and continuity.

It often plays a role in education, policy development, family meetings, and preparing future generations for responsible ownership.

There is no single best practice, but there are recognizable patterns worth diagnosing first.

Most often, a family council has either lost enthusiasm among its members or become a venue for unhealthy family venting. If it’s the former, understanding the root of apathy is key: Have people lost a sense of voice? Does the council feel ignored or sidelined? Are decisions being made before meetings happen?

If the council has become a venue for negative emotions, it needs to reorient — and that requires identifying and adhering to clear boundaries. While this can be a self-driven process, an assessment that adds outside perspective and builds alignment through the process is strongly recommended.

A board adds value when it improves decision quality, supports long-term strategy, strengthens accountability, and brings the right mix of oversight, challenge, and support.

If meetings feel repetitive, directors are unevenly engaged, or strategic and talent issues aren’t getting enough depth, a board assessment can help identify where improvement is needed.

A family office is most effective when it is built on a strong governance foundation, not just investment infrastructure. The families we work with who build lasting family offices tend to share a few common characteristics:

They articulate shared purpose and values before designing structures.

They invest in intergenerational communication and education, so rising family members develop genuine ownership competence rather than passive wealth inheritance.

They balance professional advisor relationships (investment, tax, legal) with family-centered governance that keeps decision-making aligned with the family’s long-term vision.

They plan proactively for liquidity, risk, and succession, not reactively when transitions arrive.