Family business adviser and researcher Dennis Jaffe, Ph.D., has been working on a “100-Year Family Enterprise Project,” a study of successful business families from around the world. The study has been conducted by Wise Counsel Research, a public charity and think tank, with funding from Merrill Lynch.
In the just-completed third working paper based on his research, entitled “Releasing the Potential of the Next Generation,” Jaffe discusses how these families prepare their next-generation members. Here are the desired capabilities that their family education programs aim to develop in the rising generation:
- Character: Ethical sensitivity
- Competence: Financial and governance/ownership skills
- Commitment/Caring: Stewardship; being a productive part of the family and a good partner
- Connections/Community: Building trust, personal commitment to each other
- Collaboration/Compromise: Ability to work together with give and take
- Communication/Transparency: Sharing information, knowing what there is
- Change-ability/Resilience: Ability to adapt and change
- Curiosity/Creativity: Ability to seek out and discover novel possibilities