Wealth of Wisdom

CHAPTER 14Finding What's Next for Your Family

Barton Parrott

Families and their enterprises need ways to find what's next after a big change in the life of the family. That change could result from the sale of a business, the death of a patriarch or matriarch, a shift in the business landscape, or myriad other reasons. Change brings disruption, even when it results from positive events; with it comes the need to make sense of what's happening and take new action. After a big change we know that the future won't be the same as the past and that our old strategies and tactics won't work forever, but often we're not sure what do to about it. We need a process for moving forward.

One advantage of a big event in the life of a family, such as the sale of a business, is that it can push us to update our stories about what we do and how we do it. Too often we miss this chance and simply carry on with what worked before—even if it no longer succeeds in our new circumstances. It's part of the human condition that change is hard. But life is a cycle of endings and beginnings, of completion and renewal. Understanding how to master this cycle, instead of being mastered by it, is an essential practice for families who want to prosper together through multiple generations.

This chapter will describe a proven practice for actively engaging in this cycle of renewal, for finding what's next. The three-step practice involves asking a set of deceptively simple questions—What's true now? What's ...