This session goes to the heart of time: moving from the 20th-century family businesses to 21st-century enterprising families. Organizational roles have traditionally played a critical role in defining the structure and functioning of businesses. However, as the pace of technological advancement and market dynamics accelerates, there is a growing need to move beyond fixed roles and to embrace new ways of organizing work. This involves breaking down silos and encouraging cross-functional teams to tackle new opportunities and challenges.

One of the common unspoken tensions in family business is the reality that different owners (and future owners) do not all want to be involved in the same way. As time passes and families grow, different family members inevitably want to play different roles as owners. But too often time stops, those owners become stuck living with assumptions about roles from the past, their desires and expectations remain unmet, and tension erupts. In the worst-case scenarios, a disaffected owner may choose to sell his or her shares, or worse, force the breakup of the business (and maybe even the family).

The session’s objective is to make those involved in family firms—advisors as well as family members – aware of the ways in which they can improve their chances of making better judgments in the most important choices which firms and family members have to make. These include not only corporate choices, but judgments about other family members as colleagues and employees.

Time capsules are a deliberate attempt to communicate with future generations. Usually buried to mark an event, they contain common items from the time and letters from local citizens documenting current life and forecasting the future. Families rely instead on stories to convey values and history to future generations. Stories may emphasize core values and lessons learned, as well as hopes and dreams for the future, but they are ephemeral and can be lost to time. When we seek to control an outcome, we rely on legal documents, agreements, and trusts, replete with dry, overly complicated language. Helpful in court but not great at touching people’s souls.