Beyond Inheritance

L

egacy is one of those things that’s tricky to nail down, but you know it when you see it. Some equate it with leaving a pile of money or thriving business behind for the kids. But to me, that doesn’t quite capture it. Leaving a real legacy means solidifying specific, enduring values that the family can uphold for generations.

My great-grandfather Titus Schmid left a substantial legacy. Sure, he founded our family business, Crescent Electric Supply Company, which has survived for over a century. But it’s the little things he did that the family really remembers him by — the handwritten cards that made people feel seen, the deep appreciation he had for employees and his tireless work ethic. The principles that guided his life persist throughout the Schmid family and Crescent to this day.

As a fourth-generation family member, I never got to meet Titus. Everything I know about him comes from his writings and stories from family. Without that connective tissue, he’d be just another ancestor. Building on his legacy has been the focus for three generations of Schmids after him, and it’s taken a commitment from all of us to keep it alive.

But let me tell you, doing so has been far from easy. With a big family like ours, identifying and solidifying the values that we all hold dear has taken a consistent, focused effort.

Balancing change and tradition

Family businesses, especially thriving ones, face a temptation to set everything in stone for future generations. After all, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?

That kind of thinking has fractured countless family businesses in the past. It ignores the reality that change is a part of life, both in business and in the family. When Titus founded Crescent, many of his relatives lived in the Midwest and were especially concentrated in and around Dubuque, Iowa. Since then, the Schmids have spread out across the country, and some have even moved overseas. Not to mention, the electrical supply business, and the world in general, have seen their fair share of changes too.

Rather than fighting against these inevitable transformations, we’ve tried to roll with them as best we can while staying true to the values that Titus embodied. One of these was having fun together as a family. This was much easier when the cousins were just a short drive away, but we’ve adapted by setting up regular family reunions every other year. We rotate the locations around the country so that, no matter where everyone lives, they’ll periodically have a short journey. In general, our attendance at these reunions tends to be pretty strong, and we always have a blast.

Throughout his life, Titus emphasized that employees were the lifeblood of Crescent. He prioritized treating them well, even when it came at a cost to the company. As a family, we’ve continued to uphold that value through a number of initiatives. These include setting up an Employee Assistance Fund (EAF), which helps support employees affected by natural disasters and personal crises. Doing so has created a philanthropic effort that the whole family can participate in and feel proud of, and it’s something we know Titus would’ve supported.

Our EAF wouldn’t have been possible if not for a few leaders in our family that stepped up and rallied everyone around a common cause. After all, creating a lasting legacy requires broad involvement from all age groups and branches within the family.

Building a legacy is a team sport

Titus was a central figure in our family history. But carrying on his legacy, and adding to it, has required contributions from the whole family.

This is one of the reasons why we’ve been so focused on preparing and educating the next generation to take over the reins. Our new education initiative, SchmidU, is a program designed to get younger family members and new in-laws up to speed on how the family and business operate. We’re designing separate curriculua for each age group — the program for teenagers focuses mostly on family history, while the young adult program gets into more detail on the business and family philanthropic efforts. We hope that SchmidU will serve as a concrete way of preserving our values and showing the next generation how they can continue building on them.

While this formalized program is a cornerstone in our legacy-building efforts, we also try to “walk the walk” by living out our values on a daily basis. When I was a kid, every time I saw my grandma, she’d ask me, “What’s one nice thing you did for someone today?” At first, I would get caught flat-footed and had to admit I couldn’t think of anything. Eventually, I came to expect the question and made sure I did my good deed for the day before we got to her house!

That’s a small example, but it’s stuck with me. Clearly, making a conscious effort to give back is something she prioritized, and I’ve felt a responsibility to carry that on. I think as adults we overlook how younger family members pick up on these little actions, good and bad.  It may sound cliché, but living in accordance with our values is another key pillar of making sure they continue into future generations. Doing so is even more important with the diverse set of beliefs and opinions within our family.

Finding common ground amid diverse opinions

As our family has expanded across the country, so have our worldviews. You’ll find a wide range of opinions on politics, economics and just about any other issue among our ranks. Rather than resisting this diversity of thought, we’ve tried to embrace it while encouraging our shared family values. Doing so can often feel like walking a tightrope.

From an early age, I remember my dad emphasizing that topics like religion and politics can get people worked up, but they shouldn’t be a barrier to close relationships. You can disagree vehemently with someone, he told me, but also respect them as a friend or family member.

In our hyper-partisan political climate, that can feel harder and harder to do. Politics seems to seep into just about everything — how can it possibly be put to the side? Focusing on the things that we agree on and principles we share is one way we try to get around political differences. For a family that has both red and blue parts, I’d say we do a pretty good job. Politics almost never comes up during our shareholder meetings or family reunions.

But these sensitive areas aren’t the only things we differ on. Each of us has our own particular causes we’d like to family to rally behind. Whether it’s protecting the environment, cancer research or something else, there’s no shortage of worthy problems that deserve our time and expense. But at the end of the day, we only have so many resources, and we need to figure out a way to allocate them well.

By no means do we have this part all figured out. But, similar to how we deal with sensitive topics, we try to focus on causes that we can all get behind. These include the Crescent Community Health Center,  which provides affordable healthcare to patients in and around Dubuque, Iowa. Each of us still has their own pet causes, but we’re all proud of the impact the Health Center has made because of our family’s united support.

As the family continues to grow, I’m sure our opinions on a multitude of issues will continue to differ. But that’s to be expected, and it’s OK. As long as we focus on the things we do agree on, I’m confident we can pass on our shared principles to future generations.

Leaving a legacy is much more than a wealth transfer

Leaving a legacy is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s a complex, multifaceted endeavor that goes far beyond merely passing the business down or leaving a large nest egg to the kids. For us, it’s really about cementing the principles that have guided us for four generations, while embracing the inevitable changes that come with time. We recognize that we’re a family with a wide range of views on a variety of issues. But we also understand that our strength lies on our unity, and focusing on those things that bring us together is a key part of our secret sauce.

No one person, or even a few people, can be entirely responsible for legacy-building. If that’s the case, certain branches may continue to uphold those values, but the others will eventually lose them over time. To create a legacy that lasts, a critical mass of the family needs to be on board.

We’re all a part of this journey. At the end of the day, a legacy isn’t just about what we leave behind, but also about what we build together.

Charlie Rhomberg is a freelance writer and a fourth-generation member of the Crescent Electric Supply family.