What
is the Purpose of Money?
A Generational Values Question
for Families in Business
At
a recent Family Council Meeting the question arose as to what to do with
the family fortune. The
question raised quite a commotion.
The first generation (three brothers each in their 70’s)
quickly and somewhat aggressively stated that the family did not have
anything nearly resembling a fortune and that talk of this nature would
lead the family to ruin. They
strongly stated that what the children and grandchildren needed was to
learn were the values of hard work, saving for emergency and humility.
The
next generation of six children and their spouses were not impressed by
their parents’ remarks. Some
of them quickly responded “Work sixty hours a week like you did? This is not a life. Where
were you (my parents) when
I was growing up? How many
times did I hope to have my father witnessing some success in school or
in sports! Further, for our
whole lifetime – the great bulk of the financial resources have been
reinvested in the business. When
do we get to enjoy the fruits of this labor?”
The
patriarchs of this substantial business grew increasingly worried. They had spent a lifetime (their spouses thought two
lifetimes) building an enterprise that had not only brought stability
and stature to their family but had aided their community and country. Now in their seventies as they got ready to pass the
leadership of the family and the business to the next generation, they
did not like what they heard. Of
course each child was different, one was harder working, one had married
an American and seemed fairly unhappy, another was a loner – all
certainly enjoyed a higher life style than the patriarch and his wife
had ever imagined.
The
next generation seemed not at ease in the patriarch’s eyes.
And the third generation – this was a whole other story.
This generation was brought up with expensive homes, camps,
travel and attendants. It
wasn’t just arrogance, it was a sense of entitlement that this
generation seemed to bring with them.
They expected the finest and were aggressive in their demands.
For them wealth was taken for granted, their usual concerns were
on personal enjoyment and expensive things.
Following
the Family Council Meeting, the three patriarchs met. They were concerned about the Family Council Meeting.
What are the family’s values about money?
What will happen to the family’s wealth when we are gone?
Will our family follow so many in going from rags to riches back
to rags in three generations? What
are the right values about money? And, what can we do to increase the
probability not only of financial success but of helping each child and
grandchild to follow in the best values of the family?
They
called a Family Meeting of all generations.
They shared openly their fears and hopes for the family. They said “We know the time of our leadership is almost
over, we don’t wish to control you but we don’t believe you have
solved one of the key questions of Family Business Leadership.
We don’t think you understand the purpose of money.”
In our discussions we decided to ask you the following questions:
Is
money important? Why?
How
does money affect your character positively?
How
does money affect your character
negatively?
If
our family increases our financial wealth – does that help society?
If
our family increases our financial wealth – does that help each of you
individually?
If
our family increases our financial wealth – does that help our family?
What
is the level of trust that you have with one another in working and
owning assets together
Are
your values about money and business in alignment with each other?
At
the end of the Family Meeting the patriarchs said – “We believe we
know the right values for our generation.
Perhaps we do not know the right ones for you – this is what
you have to determine. And
it should be done now. Otherwise
the money you create may only serve your selfish needs rather than your
higher values.
We
would like to think that we taught you to value money not as an end but
rather as a means to improving your character, your knowledge to making
the world a better place and for the enjoyment of our family.
Our final question to you is what are your plans to preserve and
build the family’s wealth and how will you structure it to impact your
children and theirs positively.
