As a professor of family business, I have been teaching the “next generation” for almost 20 years. As might be expected, my role has resulted in many conversations with parents of these next generation leaders. In almost every one of these conversations, questions arise about parental influence. The specifics of the question might vary from family to family, but the intent is the same: How can I get my son or daughter to…? A common theme in this questioning is resilience. Parents are desperate to understand how they can prepare their children for the problems they will inevitably face. The concern is both for the continuation of the family legacy through the business, as well as the success of the next generation member as an individual.
How Parents Can Promote Resilience in the Family Business
Focus on providing learning experiences for the next generation — and room for them to make mistakes.
October 06, 2022
HBR Staff/by Alfian Widiantono/Softulka/Getty Images
Summary.
Parents in a family business often want to know how they can prepare their children for the problems they will inevitably face when they transition into leadership roles within the company. The concern is both for the continuation of the family legacy through the business, as well as for the success of the next generation member as an individual. The most important thing parents can do to promote competence and resilience in the next generation is to provide opportunities for kids to develop an internal locus of control — a belief that they can control what happens in their lives; not that their lives are controlled by external forces. For next generation members to understand that they can control their own outcomes, parents need to 1) promote active experimentation, 2) embrace failure, 3) ask kids to identify multiple solutions to a problem, and 4) avoid micromanagement. A reduced emphasis on telling and a greater focus on providing learning experiences can make all the difference.