Sometimes itâs easy to forget the business side of your family business â especially when it comes to money, compensation and the uncomfortable topic of wealth. If you are a working member of a family business, at some point, you will need to negotiate something money-related with your family. Youâll need to know your value and get comfortable with it. And itâs hard. Itâs hard because loyalty and passion sometimes eclipse reason and data. (And, frankly, sometimes the data doesnât exist.) And then thereâs the family part and the emotion and humility that comes with asking for something. And youâll have to deal with unspoken fairness rules. What youâre really asking for is not just money. Youâre also asking for approval. Whatâs the opposite of approval? Rejection. Ouch.
The veil of shame attached to money talk in family businesses needs to go away. Itâs too secretive to be productive. Itâs another one of those unique features (not a bug) in the family business ecosystem. Letâs start with these hard truths: It is not uncouth to discuss money. It is not uncouth to know your value in an organization and ask for it. And wealth, well, letâs get over it by educating our kids at a young age by talking about it.