Wealth of Wisdom

CHAPTER 2Identifying Actionable Values for Family and Enterprise

Doug Baumoel and Blair Trippe

Values statements, whether for corporate, family or individual purposes, are too often aspirational rather than actionable. A common fate is for these well-intentioned statements to simply hang on a wall, get included in a governance document of some sort, and gather dust. This exercise is designed to uncover values that are specific to individuals and families that serve to actively guide desired behaviors and help avoid undesirable behaviors, both in the family and in their enterprise. The exercise is based on identifying important events in the evolution of a family and its enterprise, and connecting those events to the underlying values which drove those outcomes.

By focusing on events that impacted the family and its enterprise and teasing out the underlying values that drove those events, we can shift the focus from individual values to group values. Exercises that begin with identifying individual values, hoping to generate consensus around group values, rely on the implicit conclusion that those values are indeed relevant to the group and/or its enterprise. Instead, we have found that investigating values that have impacted the group or enterprise in the past is a more direct and relevant way to uncover a set of values that can be actionable for the group.

This exercise also posits that articulating the values families would like to avoid is as important and useful as articulating ...