We Know The Odds…

History tells us that family owned businesses fail more than they succeed.  

  • The average life cycle of a family business is 27 years, meaning that all too many family-owned businesses never make it past the first generation.
  • Only 30% of family firms are run by children of business founders. Only 13% are run by grandchildren. Less than 3% are run by great grandchildren.
These statistics tell us that much of the family wealth created in the first generation is frequently lost by the third generation. This is aptly described in the classic proverb: "Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations. "

There are many reasons:

  • There is often a perceived conflict in differing generational values & beliefs about leadership styles.
  • Succeeding generations may experience family problems becoming business problems and opt out of taking on leadership and management roles, while still maintaining a sense of entitlement through their ownership.
The list goes on. We believe that a sustainably successful cross generational family business requires a continuity that must be consciously led and managed. We succeed by helping family businesses beat the odds by:
  • Maximizing effective communication through shared values, and building a sense of community.
  • Growing the family's Human and Intellectual capital.

Our Offering - click on a tab below for more information

Advisory Services

Value Mentors provides advisory services to clients who are dealing with the unique concerns of family businesses. We help you recognize and deal with critical issues; identify and integrate the family's values into the family business, and evolve effective family and business leadership.

We assist you in building and improving your Human and Intellectual Capital for the purpose of preserving your Financial Capital over generations. All three forms of capital are essential to the long term preservation & growth of family wealth.

  • Human Capital: The values, beliefs and principles of the individual members of the family & their relationships
  • Intellectual Capital: all of the skills and knowledge of the family members

Family Leadership, Governance & Decision Making

To successfully grow and preserve wealth, a family must have an effective governance process. Successful governance is based upon understanding and embodying the family's core values in order to make wise decisions that positively impact their Human, Intellectual and Financial capital. Family business leaders must recognize that their governance process needs to be reviewed from time to time to insure that they continue to reflect the family's core values as well as changing family and external market conditions. We help families develop and improve their system of governance through:

  • Identifying both the legacy values of the founders as well as the current generation’s priority values
  • Enhanced clarity & fairness in representational structure

Succession Planning

Value Mentors works with family members to plan for and actively mentor and train the next generation of leaders. We address:

  • A process by which emerging leaders are identified, mentored, and effectively integrated into the family business
  • Contingency planning for the possible need to bring in outside professional managers
  • Coaching for family members who are leaving the business

Human & Intellectual Capital Preservation Strategies

The Human and Intellectual capital of the family need to be identified and supported.
We provide information, guidance and coaching on:

  • Assessment of the family member’s actual values
  • Appreciative inquiry into the knowledge and skills that need to be developed
Mentoring of family members, family leaders and professional managers of the family business to improve mutual respect, clarity of communication, and an understanding and acceptance of another person’s values and beliefs.

Professional Management Development & Communication

We address the challenges of building commitment and loyalty to the family business from non-family managers and employees. Value Mentors works with management teams to improve communication and teamwork between internal family owners and non-family professional managers. This is especially important during periods of management succession when a new generation of family members come into positions of leadership within the family business.

Conflict Resolution

A variety of factors may result in intra-family business related conflicts. These include:

  • Generational differences in values and beliefs
  • Active or passive ownership positions reflecting different financial priorities
  • Ambiguous and/or perceived arbitrary or autocratic decision making processes

VM provides support for the family by identifying differences and similarities in individual family member’s values.

Values Based Philanthropy Strategies

Value Mentors assists families in planning and implementing explicit values based family philanthropic goals and strategies. These include:
  • Aligning the family's shared core values with their philanthropic goals and strategies, and where appropriate, the vision and mission of the family Foundation
  • Understanding generational differences in philanthropic goals and types of beneficiaries

 

Family & Family Business Advisory Services