All businesses need solid CEO talent, but multigenerational family businesses need another type of leadership as well. Someone (or several someones) must step up to unite the family and inspire them to work together in support of the family enterprise.
Once a business family reaches the third generation, odds are the family stakeholder group has expanded exponentially, which means factions are likely to form. There are bloodline descendants and married-ins, those who work in the business and those who donât, and those who live in and away from the companyâs hometown. Family membersâ political and religious beliefs can differ. And, of course, there are generational differences, which can be further complicated if there is a wide age range within a single generation.