WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:06.015 --> 00:00:06.435 Adam Hatcher: Hey there. 00:00:06.745 --> 00:00:11.075 Welcome to another episode of the 21 Clear Podcast where we talk about 00:00:11.755 --> 00:00:16.835 anything to help you chaos, proof your family business so you can build a great 00:00:16.835 --> 00:00:18.995 company with a strong family around it. 00:00:20.060 --> 00:00:24.060 I am your host, Adam Hatcher, drawing on a lifetime in and around 00:00:24.240 --> 00:00:29.060 my own family's company, including 13 years scaling it from a regional 00:00:29.300 --> 00:00:30.620 business to coast to coast. 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:37.300 And today I want to answer a question that a number of listeners have posed to me. 00:00:38.450 --> 00:00:42.740 What I've been asked is, can I lay out the framework? 00:00:43.440 --> 00:00:47.530 That this podcast, the newsletter, even the post we put up on LinkedIn, what 00:00:47.530 --> 00:00:49.650 is the framework that we're following? 00:00:50.310 --> 00:00:55.330 And really this family business framework is the backbone and the structure 00:00:55.990 --> 00:01:00.930 of the book that I'm finishing, uh, tentatively titled Chaos Proof, how 00:01:00.930 --> 00:01:03.090 to Chaos Proof Your Family Business. 00:01:04.730 --> 00:01:09.170 I wanna take about 15 minutes and lay this out for you. 00:01:09.805 --> 00:01:12.935 Because it's gonna help us in our episodes going forward. 00:01:13.155 --> 00:01:17.215 As I looked back over the first three episodes, I realized that 00:01:17.215 --> 00:01:20.135 the first episode, we really just introduced this idea of a 00:01:20.135 --> 00:01:21.615 family business inside a company. 00:01:22.315 --> 00:01:27.295 The second I pivoted and we talked about when you own a company with your 00:01:27.295 --> 00:01:32.015 family and you get to set ownership goals with executive coach Shane Arthur, 00:01:32.235 --> 00:01:36.495 we explored how you do that in a way that you don't look back with regret. 00:01:37.510 --> 00:01:43.010 In the third episode from last month, I got to interview Sarah Davis, the 00:01:43.290 --> 00:01:47.810 Director of the Family Enterprise Center at Kennesaw State University, and we 00:01:47.810 --> 00:01:52.290 talked about the rise of family offices, particularly how you're starting to see 00:01:52.290 --> 00:01:57.810 family offices and that conversation start earlier in the lifecycle of 00:01:57.850 --> 00:01:59.370 a family business than it used to. 00:02:00.990 --> 00:02:04.530 But for you, if you're thinking about your own family business. 00:02:05.975 --> 00:02:10.755 How do you put all these ideas into a framework and then start to make progress? 00:02:11.375 --> 00:02:16.155 So that's the idea I've wrestled with for a year in writing a book, and 00:02:16.195 --> 00:02:19.715 I wanna share that with you because then our podcast, our newsletters 00:02:19.715 --> 00:02:24.355 from here, you'll be able to see how they bolt in to part of this chaos 00:02:24.525 --> 00:02:26.755 proof family business framework. 00:02:27.925 --> 00:02:33.795 About a year or a year and a half ago, I got really interested with a question. 00:02:34.750 --> 00:02:38.440 When you work together with your family, you want two things, and 00:02:38.440 --> 00:02:41.640 I realize this even reflecting on my own time in a family company. 00:02:42.740 --> 00:02:47.720 And those two things are first, uh, a great company and it that doesn't 00:02:47.720 --> 00:02:48.960 necessarily mean a big company. 00:02:49.480 --> 00:02:52.400 A great company can be accomplishing the goals that you want it to 00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:57.360 have and reaching full value for whatever size the business is. 00:02:57.980 --> 00:03:01.440 So you wanna build a great company and have a. 00:03:02.450 --> 00:03:04.610 A strong or a healthy family around it. 00:03:04.710 --> 00:03:07.930 That's what everyone who works with their family, what we want, 00:03:08.660 --> 00:03:10.290 great company, strong family. 00:03:10.680 --> 00:03:12.570 Well, then what fascinated me was. 00:03:13.800 --> 00:03:14.780 Why doesn't that happen? 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:19.220 And in fact, why does the opposite happen so often? 00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:24.300 But then when I loved in my own time in my family's company is I get 00:03:24.300 --> 00:03:27.980 introduced and even got to meet a number of incredible business minds. 00:03:28.480 --> 00:03:34.420 Pat Lencioni, Jeff Smart, Jim Collins, and I realized that each of these 00:03:34.420 --> 00:03:37.100 people took these big questions. 00:03:38.600 --> 00:03:40.020 How do you become good to great? 00:03:40.360 --> 00:03:42.460 How do you never make a mistake in interviewing? 00:03:42.920 --> 00:03:43.420 How do you. 00:03:44.455 --> 00:03:47.595 Uh, give your company an advantage through organizational health. 00:03:47.705 --> 00:03:51.555 They took these big questions and then created a framework 00:03:51.725 --> 00:03:53.155 where you could go tackle them. 00:03:53.735 --> 00:03:57.915 And so as I stared at these daunting two questions with a family business, why 00:03:57.935 --> 00:04:03.195 do so, why so infrequently is there both a great company with a strong family? 00:04:03.655 --> 00:04:06.275 And then what can you do to give yourself a better chance 00:04:06.615 --> 00:04:08.235 of achieving that dual goal? 00:04:10.115 --> 00:04:13.155 I thought there's got to be a framework for us too. 00:04:15.275 --> 00:04:17.575 That's the family business framework. 00:04:18.235 --> 00:04:22.095 Before we get to it, if you missed the first episode, I want to give you 00:04:22.215 --> 00:04:28.775 a quick fundamental concept before we get down to the four part framework. 00:04:30.415 --> 00:04:33.215 I want you to imagine a box of. 00:04:34.020 --> 00:04:37.310 It's been interesting for me over the last year to explain this concept 00:04:37.570 --> 00:04:41.950 to a number of family, business, academics and family business members. 00:04:42.650 --> 00:04:46.750 And it usually takes, I'm gonna be honest, two times, but on the second 00:04:46.860 --> 00:04:49.070 time, uh, it, it, it connects. 00:04:49.130 --> 00:04:49.390 All right? 00:04:49.390 --> 00:04:53.070 So I want you to imagine a box and that's your company. 00:04:53.180 --> 00:04:56.230 Just a rectangle, two dimensional, that's your company. 00:04:56.810 --> 00:05:00.470 And then I want you to put a rectangle inside of it, and 00:05:00.690 --> 00:05:02.630 that's the family business. 00:05:04.445 --> 00:05:11.785 The family business is its own entity inside your organization. 00:05:13.515 --> 00:05:16.535 If you want me to differentiate that, think about hiring. 00:05:17.155 --> 00:05:20.655 If you're hiring anyone into a company, you need to be careful 00:05:20.795 --> 00:05:22.495 and you need a hiring scorecard. 00:05:22.795 --> 00:05:25.975 You need objective pass base interviews, assessments that 00:05:25.975 --> 00:05:27.095 are tailored to the position. 00:05:27.555 --> 00:05:33.295 You need to do a good job with that, but more than likely, the way that 00:05:33.295 --> 00:05:38.895 hiring process is run will not have ripple effects into the heart of the 00:05:38.895 --> 00:05:41.895 company when you hire a family member. 00:05:43.215 --> 00:05:48.635 Or you don't hire a family member, it's completely different. 00:05:49.735 --> 00:05:53.715 That's the difference between a family business and a company. 00:05:54.155 --> 00:05:57.075 I, I thought about this in the context of Chick-fil-A. 00:05:57.255 --> 00:06:02.475 Uh, the Kathy family has done an amazing job as best, uh. 00:06:03.530 --> 00:06:06.270 As best it appears with the family business work they do. 00:06:06.300 --> 00:06:07.430 They do a lot. 00:06:08.370 --> 00:06:13.750 And if the Kathy's sold Chick-fil-A, all of us would still be able to go around 00:06:13.750 --> 00:06:15.470 the corner wherever we like to go. 00:06:15.810 --> 00:06:17.870 And you'd be able to buy chicken sandwiches. 00:06:18.290 --> 00:06:23.470 But what would be gone, it's that inner family business work. 00:06:24.065 --> 00:06:24.355 Yeah. 00:06:24.365 --> 00:06:28.275 Everything that they do in and amongst themselves, whether that's related to 00:06:28.275 --> 00:06:31.115 how they work with each other in the business, how they make decisions, 00:06:31.535 --> 00:06:36.955 how wealth is managed, how uh, the company makes statements, how they 00:06:36.955 --> 00:06:41.595 give away to nonprofits or fund things, all of that is what would be gone 00:06:41.735 --> 00:06:44.715 out from the center of Chick-fil-A. 00:06:44.775 --> 00:06:49.515 That's the difference between the company and the family business. 00:06:50.855 --> 00:06:51.995 And when I realized that. 00:06:53.065 --> 00:06:56.035 That all of us who work with family have this inner family business. 00:06:56.355 --> 00:06:59.715 I remembered a lesson that my dad taught me very early in my 00:06:59.715 --> 00:07:01.395 time in our family's company. 00:07:01.975 --> 00:07:02.675 He said, Adam, 00:07:04.755 --> 00:07:06.435 companies are doing one of two things. 00:07:06.945 --> 00:07:09.275 They are growing or they are shrinking. 00:07:10.255 --> 00:07:10.875 That's it. 00:07:11.415 --> 00:07:16.355 And if you're not growing, that's just, that's a harbinger of a, 00:07:16.355 --> 00:07:17.555 you're going to be shrinking. 00:07:18.055 --> 00:07:20.715 And so likewise with families. 00:07:22.415 --> 00:07:27.275 You're either as a family business, that inner family business, the way you 00:07:27.555 --> 00:07:30.755 interact with each other, the way you hire each other, the way you work together, 00:07:31.295 --> 00:07:36.715 uh, the way you coexist in and around the company that's either getting better 00:07:36.735 --> 00:07:45.075 or healthier, or it's sliding worse, and it will eventually tip into chaos. 00:07:46.055 --> 00:07:48.275 And when a family business gets into chaos. 00:07:49.460 --> 00:07:55.940 Remember that the family business sits right in the heart of the company and when 00:07:55.940 --> 00:08:01.500 there's chaos in the family business, it inevitably reverberates into the business. 00:08:02.520 --> 00:08:04.980 Now you may be thinking, hang on, I. 00:08:05.705 --> 00:08:11.925 Are you telling me that there is a way to never have tension and work with family? 00:08:12.505 --> 00:08:13.405 Uh, no. 00:08:15.045 --> 00:08:20.205 13 years working with my cousin, my brother, my dad, uh, my grandfather 00:08:20.735 --> 00:08:25.805 doing about 20 years worth of different types of family business work as well. 00:08:25.985 --> 00:08:30.965 Uh, that inner family business work, you will always have tension and here's why. 00:08:32.895 --> 00:08:37.545 When you work together with family, you are mixing the unconditional 00:08:37.685 --> 00:08:42.145 nature of family with the conditional nature of business. 00:08:43.125 --> 00:08:49.265 If you go back to my wedding photo, there is always a spot for my father-in-law. 00:08:49.545 --> 00:08:51.905 I shared this in the first episode of the podcast. 00:08:52.255 --> 00:08:56.935 There's always a spot for my father-in-law with whom I have a great relationship. 00:08:58.305 --> 00:09:03.260 but even over time, if that relationship were difficult, or even if I lost 00:09:03.260 --> 00:09:06.420 him, he's still, he's in his eighties, lives in Virginia Beach, but if I lost 00:09:06.420 --> 00:09:09.340 him, it doesn't change that spot in. 00:09:09.340 --> 00:09:12.940 My wedding photo is unconditionally for my father-in-law. 00:09:14.180 --> 00:09:14.940 Business is very different. 00:09:16.210 --> 00:09:20.290 Business is conditioned on competitors and market forces and decisions, and 00:09:20.290 --> 00:09:25.090 when you work together with family, you are mixing those two things and there is 00:09:25.700 --> 00:09:31.570 inevitably a tension and ignoring it will not make it go away is what I realized. 00:09:32.590 --> 00:09:38.610 That's why seeing the family business as its own entity is so important because 00:09:38.620 --> 00:09:42.570 there is tension that's there, and you're either going to work on it and 00:09:42.570 --> 00:09:44.770 manage it, or you're gonna ignore it. 00:09:44.990 --> 00:09:48.930 And then one day an inflection point's gonna come that you are not ready for. 00:09:49.160 --> 00:09:53.210 Someone could die, someone wants to be hired, someone wants to get out. 00:09:53.590 --> 00:09:56.890 Uh, a disruption happens in the business that impacts the 00:09:56.890 --> 00:09:58.530 family and you're not ready. 00:09:58.750 --> 00:09:58.970 And. 00:09:59.405 --> 00:10:01.185 That's when chaos gets exposed. 00:10:01.685 --> 00:10:04.865 So how do you prepare yourself for that? 00:10:05.445 --> 00:10:09.225 That's the chaos proof family business framework. 00:10:10.085 --> 00:10:15.185 So now that we've got this family business inside the company and we're okay with 00:10:15.235 --> 00:10:20.145 there being tension in the family business because we've mixed the conditional 00:10:20.145 --> 00:10:22.545 and unconditional, what can you do? 00:10:23.615 --> 00:10:27.705 Imagine with me a hub and spokes. 00:10:29.230 --> 00:10:34.240 There's a hub in the center and then off of it, there are four 00:10:34.460 --> 00:10:41.090 spokes coming out at the center of this hub and spokes is trust. 00:10:41.090 --> 00:10:45.080 The As we go around to the different spokes, uh, for example, the 00:10:45.080 --> 00:10:50.560 first spoke is gonna be how do you chaos proof hiring family members. 00:10:53.370 --> 00:10:57.640 We're gonna make a series of decisions about how to do that 00:10:58.230 --> 00:11:04.320 clearly collaboratively, perhaps, and how to do that well, but. 00:11:05.320 --> 00:11:11.300 Any smart decision that's made around how you hire family is ultimately held 00:11:11.740 --> 00:11:17.260 together, glued together by the trust or the lack thereof between the family 00:11:17.660 --> 00:11:23.460 employees, the family owners, and the other family members around the. 00:11:24.050 --> 00:11:30.030 Family company, even the, the smartest decisions that you may make will 00:11:30.030 --> 00:11:35.950 eventually come to nothing or be nothing more than words on paper if you do not 00:11:36.160 --> 00:11:39.510 build trust between the family members. 00:11:39.930 --> 00:11:43.550 And that trust can look like showing each other mutual respect. 00:11:43.970 --> 00:11:47.550 Uh, that can look like not triangulating or gossiping about each other. 00:11:47.930 --> 00:11:51.830 Oh, heavens inside the company or outside of it as well. 00:11:52.130 --> 00:11:52.350 Uh. 00:11:53.305 --> 00:11:55.605 Not airing family drama inside the company. 00:11:56.185 --> 00:12:00.565 That's, those are some of the practical steps that you have to take to 00:12:00.715 --> 00:12:05.765 proactively build trust amongst the family, employees, family owners, and 00:12:05.765 --> 00:12:07.485 then the family members who are around. 00:12:07.635 --> 00:12:11.685 Even if they don't work in our own, the family company, the 00:12:11.685 --> 00:12:13.365 center of our framework is trust. 00:12:14.145 --> 00:12:16.165 So then let's go out to the four spokes. 00:12:17.105 --> 00:12:17.965 The first spoke. 00:12:19.225 --> 00:12:20.605 How do you chaos proof. 00:12:21.615 --> 00:12:25.375 Hiring family members or not hiring them. 00:12:26.875 --> 00:12:33.095 You have or need to have a unique approach to how you are 00:12:33.095 --> 00:12:34.935 going to hire family members. 00:12:35.735 --> 00:12:41.495 I remember talking with someone who had lost their family business because 00:12:41.715 --> 00:12:46.215 he and his brother had gotten into an argument about whether or not. 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:50.020 The brother's son was qualified to work in the company. 00:12:50.570 --> 00:12:52.980 They didn't have a way they managed conflict in the business. 00:12:52.980 --> 00:12:57.260 They didn't have anything written down, hiring criteria that any family 00:12:57.260 --> 00:12:58.740 member has to meet before joining. 00:12:59.840 --> 00:13:05.260 And the argument exploded and within a matter of months, if evaporated, 00:13:05.490 --> 00:13:07.420 what was 20 years of working together. 00:13:08.400 --> 00:13:09.900 And they're not a unique story. 00:13:10.220 --> 00:13:10.660 I was at. 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:17.940 Uh, my maternal grandfather passed last year and I was at his funeral, uh, the 00:13:18.140 --> 00:13:22.380 reception after his funeral and got to talking with a friend of his who'd been in 00:13:22.380 --> 00:13:25.700 a civic group with him who bemoaned to me. 00:13:25.930 --> 00:13:30.300 Once he realized that I had worked in a family company, had bemoaned to 00:13:30.500 --> 00:13:36.980 me that his son was great, had spent about 25 years in the company and. 00:13:37.780 --> 00:13:42.360 Was positioned to take over and succeed him and take the business forward. 00:13:42.940 --> 00:13:48.480 But the bemoaning was the grandson that the son was bringing along. 00:13:49.110 --> 00:13:52.440 This man I was talking to just believed would wreck the business one day. 00:13:53.060 --> 00:13:56.720 And so I asked him, have you ever written down criteria for 00:13:56.840 --> 00:13:58.680 family members that want to join? 00:13:59.020 --> 00:13:59.680 And he said, no. 00:13:59.680 --> 00:14:01.560 And I said, well, let me tell you. 00:14:02.430 --> 00:14:07.260 Every, uh, family business person, I know none of us like to make lists. 00:14:07.680 --> 00:14:11.980 We certainly don't like to be governed by these lists, but it's way better 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:16.060 to have an argument about some bullet points that go in a letter than about 00:14:16.060 --> 00:14:17.420 the intelligence of your grandson. 00:14:18.690 --> 00:14:23.820 That is ca how you intentionally, clearly and purposefully chaos 00:14:23.950 --> 00:14:25.900 proof the hiring of family. 00:14:26.360 --> 00:14:27.540 So then the second spoke. 00:14:28.175 --> 00:14:32.915 In our hub and spoke model is how do you chaos proof working together. 00:14:33.215 --> 00:14:34.315 So hiring the family. 00:14:34.495 --> 00:14:37.635 Hiring family is one thing, okay? 00:14:37.635 --> 00:14:39.675 But now you, now you're together. 00:14:40.225 --> 00:14:40.875 What do you do? 00:14:41.415 --> 00:14:45.035 How do you make decisions and be clear about how you're going to collaborate 00:14:45.035 --> 00:14:50.155 with each other, how you're gonna operate, how you interact, for those of you who 00:14:50.185 --> 00:14:54.915 work together in the business, and one thing that will inevitably come up. 00:14:56.170 --> 00:15:00.550 If you work together with family, there are gonna be some different rules. 00:15:01.770 --> 00:15:04.550 It always happens, and it could be as simple as when you 00:15:04.550 --> 00:15:06.030 do a family business meeting. 00:15:06.460 --> 00:15:09.830 None of the family employees who come to the meeting have to take 00:15:09.870 --> 00:15:12.670 a day of personal time off to come to the family business meeting. 00:15:13.690 --> 00:15:18.710 Any other employee in the company would have to take a day off to go to a family 00:15:19.070 --> 00:15:22.070 employee meeting if they own something, you know, outside of your company. 00:15:24.530 --> 00:15:29.340 When you work together, there's a series of decisions that you need to make to 00:15:29.340 --> 00:15:35.940 chaos, proof, working together, even being very clear about how you do variances 00:15:36.400 --> 00:15:38.380 to the norms in the rest of the company. 00:15:38.760 --> 00:15:42.980 So that's the first two spokes, how you hire family, chaos 00:15:42.980 --> 00:15:44.420 proofing, how you work together. 00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:50.020 And then the third and with trust is our sinner. 00:15:51.270 --> 00:15:56.770 How do you chaos proof coexisting in and around the company. 00:15:57.960 --> 00:16:04.090 John Davis is out of MIT, formerly out of Harvard, and decades ago he and a 00:16:04.090 --> 00:16:08.450 few other academics created the three circle model for family businesses. 00:16:09.070 --> 00:16:12.690 And in it, imagine a Venn diagram where you have family. 00:16:13.810 --> 00:16:15.580 Ownership and employment. 00:16:16.400 --> 00:16:20.660 And so if you don't work in the company or own it, you sit up there 00:16:20.800 --> 00:16:24.860 in just the family circle without being in one of those overlaps. 00:16:25.560 --> 00:16:29.380 But if you're a family member and an owner, now you sit and have a 00:16:29.740 --> 00:16:34.740 distinct set of responsibilities and concerns sitting in that overlap, 00:16:35.480 --> 00:16:37.260 and you see everything one way. 00:16:37.560 --> 00:16:40.460 But then what about someone who's a family employee but not an owner? 00:16:41.075 --> 00:16:43.375 But then what about the family owners and employees? 00:16:44.075 --> 00:16:49.095 And then you can see that there are lots of different combinations 00:16:49.115 --> 00:16:52.175 in this Venn diagram that changes people's perspectives. 00:16:52.715 --> 00:16:55.055 And someone may or may not be an owner in the business. 00:16:55.965 --> 00:16:59.095 They may, may or may not work in the company. 00:17:00.360 --> 00:17:04.060 And even if they work in the company, they may be in a more senior position 00:17:04.440 --> 00:17:05.980 or more entry-level position. 00:17:06.760 --> 00:17:11.100 But regardless of where someone sits, where any family member sits in this big 00:17:11.100 --> 00:17:18.620 diagram, they exist around this company and thus they co-exist with each other. 00:17:20.970 --> 00:17:24.710 And that is where the family business work gets done. 00:17:24.820 --> 00:17:28.550 When you, when you're gonna make decisions about how you hire family members, well, 00:17:28.550 --> 00:17:33.030 you don't have that conversation with your executive team or with your board. 00:17:33.080 --> 00:17:34.470 Where does that conversation happen? 00:17:35.140 --> 00:17:39.350 It's in whatever processes, whatever governance you set up 00:17:39.350 --> 00:17:40.590 and how you coexist together. 00:17:41.050 --> 00:17:44.990 Be that family business communications, family business meetings, those 00:17:44.990 --> 00:17:46.230 could be quarterly, annual. 00:17:47.885 --> 00:17:50.225 That's how you coexist together. 00:17:50.805 --> 00:17:53.145 And what's interesting to me is. 00:17:54.245 --> 00:18:00.205 I have seen chaos fire itself right into the heart of a family business and into a 00:18:00.205 --> 00:18:03.005 company from people who don't work there. 00:18:03.185 --> 00:18:05.765 And if you think for a minute, you probably can too. 00:18:06.265 --> 00:18:09.405 Either family members who are concerned about what's going on in the company 00:18:09.745 --> 00:18:11.325 and take a step to do something. 00:18:11.645 --> 00:18:14.365 'cause they don't have a way that they can have their voice heard. 00:18:15.025 --> 00:18:16.685 Or owners, family owners who. 00:18:17.470 --> 00:18:20.640 They have never had their authority or lack thereof, 00:18:21.070 --> 00:18:22.960 clearly defined and agreed to. 00:18:23.020 --> 00:18:24.320 That's that coexisting. 00:18:24.620 --> 00:18:27.800 And so they start to exert control and authority, where 00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:29.120 arguably they don't have it. 00:18:30.540 --> 00:18:37.160 How you coexist, if you ignore it, will eventually set the stage for chaos. 00:18:37.500 --> 00:18:39.760 And so with trust in the middle. 00:18:40.905 --> 00:18:43.805 We make a series of decisions, how we hire family, how we 00:18:43.805 --> 00:18:45.605 work together, how we coexist. 00:18:46.105 --> 00:18:52.405 And then the last one is, how do you chaos proof leaving a family company? 00:18:53.315 --> 00:18:58.365 Because the only way you can have a family business is by hiring family members. 00:18:59.625 --> 00:19:04.725 All of us, if we have a family company, have hired family. 00:19:06.390 --> 00:19:13.330 But also 100% of family employees have left their family 00:19:13.330 --> 00:19:16.370 company one way or the other. 00:19:17.670 --> 00:19:21.370 And so when people leave, and what's interesting to me is this is the 00:19:21.390 --> 00:19:25.610 one that's so easy to ignore and you can leave several different ways. 00:19:26.150 --> 00:19:30.090 Two of them are leaving by succession at the end of your career or. 00:19:30.680 --> 00:19:35.810 Leaving mid-career and both of these, certainly the last one is 00:19:35.810 --> 00:19:37.290 difficult for families to talk about. 00:19:37.910 --> 00:19:44.010 The one in the middle that leaving mid-career, that can be a sneaky one 00:19:44.280 --> 00:19:50.730 that causes pressure, causes chaos, but also has an opportunity if you 00:19:50.760 --> 00:19:54.970 lean into it and if you make clear, consistent, and proactive decisions 00:19:55.430 --> 00:19:57.450 can take a lot of pressure off. 00:19:58.730 --> 00:20:02.110 That's the family business framework trust in the middle. 00:20:03.090 --> 00:20:04.750 How do you build trust with your family? 00:20:04.850 --> 00:20:08.190 And then how do you make key decisions around how you hire, 00:20:08.700 --> 00:20:11.350 work together, coexist and leave. 00:20:13.325 --> 00:20:17.865 And we do this not for the sake of creating governance, but 00:20:17.865 --> 00:20:19.945 because we know that we ha it. 00:20:19.965 --> 00:20:21.625 It doesn't happen by accident. 00:20:21.885 --> 00:20:26.345 You don't drift into a family company and have it go well by accident. 00:20:26.645 --> 00:20:30.785 You don't drift into succession, you don't drift into working 00:20:31.105 --> 00:20:32.945 together, and it just goes well. 00:20:33.125 --> 00:20:37.945 You have to work at it and you can make progress in each of the 00:20:37.945 --> 00:20:39.585 five areas of that framework. 00:20:40.780 --> 00:20:46.680 The dream then for all of us is to have a healthy family business that sets the 00:20:46.680 --> 00:20:51.760 stage for a great company around it, and hopefully one day allows the family 00:20:51.780 --> 00:20:53.360 to have conversations about legacy. 00:20:53.590 --> 00:20:58.240 Whether that legacy is the company wealth, reputation, whatever it may 00:20:58.240 --> 00:21:02.560 be, the stronger the company and the healthier the family business 00:21:02.580 --> 00:21:07.160 inside of it, the bigger, the longer that conversation is about legacy. 00:21:08.165 --> 00:21:11.505 That's why it's important that we see the family business as its own 00:21:11.505 --> 00:21:15.545 entity, and then we work on the framework to improve the health of it. 00:21:16.285 --> 00:21:19.425 That's what we're gonna do with these podcasts as they go forward. 00:21:21.110 --> 00:21:24.490 If you want more information, the website's 21 clear.com. 00:21:24.840 --> 00:21:26.170 I've linked it in the show notes. 00:21:26.710 --> 00:21:29.570 Uh, you can go back if you missed any of the earlier episodes of 00:21:29.570 --> 00:21:30.970 the podcast, you can grab those. 00:21:31.370 --> 00:21:35.010 I would ask you, helps me a lot, if you will. 00:21:35.955 --> 00:21:39.615 On whatever app you use, it's for a lot of people, it's Spotify and 00:21:39.615 --> 00:21:43.175 Apple, if you will either subscribe or follow the podcast and then 00:21:43.175 --> 00:21:44.455 they'll come to you automatically. 00:21:44.685 --> 00:21:48.495 I've also started a monthly newsletter and have linked 00:21:48.495 --> 00:21:49.895 that in the show notes as well. 00:21:49.895 --> 00:21:52.575 If you wanna go subscribe to that, that will help us and 00:21:52.575 --> 00:21:53.975 we've got some different content. 00:21:54.755 --> 00:21:55.685 That'll go with this. 00:21:56.020 --> 00:21:58.960 Uh, I'm excited on August 4th. 00:21:59.600 --> 00:22:03.240 Kennesaw State is gonna be allowing me to talk about one of the spokes 00:22:03.340 --> 00:22:05.280 on the wheel or the hub here. 00:22:05.780 --> 00:22:09.240 And we're gonna be talking about how you, chaos proof, hiring family, and 00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:12.920 actually walk through some practical steps, examples and exercises to 00:22:12.920 --> 00:22:14.600 help, uh, if you're able to join. 00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:15.320 I hope it's great. 00:22:15.370 --> 00:22:18.160 It'll also be our podcast for the month of August. 00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:21.440 We're gonna bring part of that there and talk about one of these spokes. 00:22:23.140 --> 00:22:25.140 I appreciate you letting me lay this out. 00:22:25.140 --> 00:22:28.580 Thanks to the listeners who asked me to lay out a framework so that 00:22:28.580 --> 00:22:31.660 as we release future episodes, they can see where to put 'em. 00:22:32.120 --> 00:22:33.060 My hope for you is that. 00:22:33.730 --> 00:22:39.440 Every time you touch, uh, our website, our newsletter, this podcast, any of the 00:22:39.640 --> 00:22:46.120 resources, the webinars that we do, that you get that rare 15, 20, 25 minutes to 00:22:46.170 --> 00:22:48.760 focus on your internal family business. 00:22:50.120 --> 00:22:54.800 I look forward to talking with you in the next episode, and as my 00:22:54.800 --> 00:22:59.880 grandfather would say, thank you so very, very much for listening.