Decision Alignment: Connecting Family Values to Business Strategy

Today, we welcome Joshua Nacht, Senior Consultant at The Family Business Consulting Group. Joshua brings expertise in creating structured continuity plans for business families, focusing on governance, communication, and transitions. He’s excelled in academia, winning the ‘Best Dissertation Award’ from the Family Firm Institute for his research on family business leadership. An accomplished author, Joshua co-wrote “Family Champions and Champion Families,” exploring enduring business family success. 

My goal is to be the most curious person in today’s conversation with Joshua, where we delve into his expertise in guiding business families through continuity planning and generational transitions. We’ll explore how Joshua’s diverse background, from wilderness leadership to family counselling, has informed his approach to family business consulting. Together, we’ll uncover the nuances of effective governance, the power of shared vision, and the delicate balance between tradition and innovation in multigenerational enterprises.

Now, let’s dive in!

Cory: Alright. Welcome, Josh.

We’re excited to have you here today to share your wealth of knowledge and experiences with us. Let’s dive in, shall we?

Joshua: yes. Sounds good, Cory.

Cory: Josh, imagine you’re delivering a commencement speech to the graduating class 2024, and you have the chance to inspire them with your story.

How would you begin your speech to convey the incredible lessons and expertise you’ve gained throughout your career?

Joshua: I think the first one would be that intention matters, and you’d need to create goals and a vision of where you’re going and what you want to be able to achieve.

I think the intention matters because our actions follow our thoughts. And so if we outline a vision, if we outline goals, if we outline an intention of what we want in our lives, that gives us something to go for.

That’s true for me personally in terms of how my career has progressed and grown. And it’s really true for the clients that I work with because I see those that have clear goals, clear vision clear intention of what they want. They’re able to achieve that because they know what is that they’re going for and then can put together plans for how to get there.

Following that, investing time and energy pays off. Nothing happens on its own. Nothing happens without work. I mean, sometimes we get lucky, but I think that’s really only because we’ve invested the time and energy for those pieces to come together.

So, being conscious and intentional about the time and energy that we spend and where we spend it really matters, and it has paid off in the long term again for me and for the clients that I work with.

And then the last one is that I think everything is interpersonal, Meaning that all business is people business.

Right? We’re interacting with people to provide a service, and then we’re interacting with people, as customers, who are taking advantage of that service.

What I mean by everything is interpersonal; everything is relational. We’re interacting with other people all the time, and so our language, thoughts, and actions all really add up to say, is this a situation that people want to be part of?

Is this something where we enjoy working together? And that creates a culture.

I’ve found that, in my interactions and what I’ve seen with my clients, the ones who pay attention to their relationships, their culture, and how they’re interacting tend to create places that are a lot more enjoyable to be part of.

They tend to produce better outcomes because they know how to disagree constructively and not have disagreement be detrimental. Instead, disagreement is actually an asset because they can build off of each other’s ideas because they trust each other. So when I’d say everything is interpersonal, all really successful businesses and family businesses have really come down to the core of good, solid, trusting, honest relationships.

Cory: I love that Josh, going back to creating goals, and we talk about vision and putting that vision together. What does that mean in action to you when that family has a vision and something that can be anchored to and follow those thoughts succinctly?

Joshua: Yes, It means that they have articulated their goals of where they would like to be. I often ask people when you’re retiring, you’re stepping out, and you’re passing it along to your kids, which is obviously a process, not just an event, but what do things look like?

And for some families, that gets very granular in terms of financial details. Others say, I just want us all to get along. It’s an opportunity to really press people on what are the most important things for you about how this looks in the future.

If you have an ideal state, what does that look like? What I find is that there’s a real power in having people address that individually and then bringing that together into what do you want as a group.

When we’re talking about family enterprises, it is ideally and rarely works if it’s just the vision of one person. With multigenerational family enterprises, the vision needs to be the product of many different people’s perspectives that they can all agree on.

And I find the more succinct and concise and focused those statements are, the more effective they are. Because it’s it’s one point that everybody’s going for. Then under that, of course, are all the details of what that looks like and what that means.

But if everybody can articulate the same vision and goal or goals fairly readily, that builds alignment. Everybody’s moving in the same direction.

Cory: Right. And so, getting to that ideal state where the group agrees on that, what does that look like to get to that state?

Joshua: I think oftentimes in my work with families, we’re balancing tradition and innovation. Meaning, what has come before? Unless you’re the founder you’re coming into a family enterprise that has previous generations in place in terms of what they’ve wanted and what they’re driving for.

There is a legacy and a tradition that is already in place and then the question is for the younger generations, for these upcoming generations, what would you envision for the future?

That’s always building on what’s come before, but it’s also taking the next step in terms of innovation and what they would like to see and so it’s a balancing of those two. Sometimes, they stand in some degree of tension, but oftentimes, I think that’s a healthy tension. 

To say, how can you honour where you’ve come from and take it the next step? Because the future is going to look different than the past.

Cory: So the family says succession’s on the horizon. There are members who’ve stated that when I retire, I want this business. I want this enterprise to look this way.

How do we set this up now to ensure that everyone is following it and that it’s not just one-and-done? We had this conversation, had some disagreements, and now, hopefully, everyone can continue to progress in that way.

Joshua: I think that this is an ongoing process and then it’s not, that we establish a vision at one point in time, and then that’s it for the rest of the existence of the business. Each generation has the opportunity to refresh update and build on what’s come before by revising the vision, looking at it, and updating it.

Sometimes, we go through this process of getting input from everybody; there’s individual collection, and then there’s a group project to say, this is what’s important to a lot of different people. Let’s consolidate this. Let’s build alignment around this.

And sometimes that ends up very, very close to what’s already in place.

Cory: Right.

Joshua: Sometimes it really takes the next step, and sometimes it really represents quite a shift from what’s come before. And in each case, that can present opportunities and challenges.

And so I think a lot of times, what we’re working to rectify are those different perspectives. One of the biggest fears of the outgoing generation a lot of times is they’re just going to take everything I’ve done and sort of throw it in the dumpster and do something different.

Rarely is that the case, and it’s more a case of how can we build on what’s come before and appreciate that what’s gotten us to this point may not may not get us to a future point.

Cory: Right.

Joshua: Because the world is different. The business is different. The family is different. And so we have to adapt to each of those factors to ensure that the business succeeds.

Cory: Absolutely. And going back to your comment that everything is interpersonal, I want to go back to those groups.

When you talked about the individuals and breaking into groups, I think that there’s some magic there in how a collective can come to some level of consensus and bring those ideas to some level of common ground.

How have you found success in that?

Joshua: People do best when there are some idea starters. It really starts with some ideas and some thought-provoking questions and then has people think about those and respond to them in some manner on an individual level.

So, they are really focusing on themselves and their thoughts and feelings about the topic or the questions. And then it’s a process of gathering those and identifying the themes.

If we’ve got 20 people, 15 are saying the same thing, and maybe 5 aren’t, that’s okay. There’s a clear theme there: putting together those areas of commonality as well as appreciating some of the outline comments because sometimes outline comments have some real interesting thought-provoking aspects to them.

But when we start to look at the themes, we distill those down, and then we’re able to test run them in front of the family, have them give feedback, and have them adjust it. It’s this constant process of distilling it down to the essence, the core piece of what people are saying.

That you see people start to nod their heads, and they start to say, that’s it. And it’s something that’s, it’s something that’s compelling. It’s moving. It’s motivational, and it’s something that people get excited about. 

And when you’ve got that, you can start to see the energy in the room shift from, we’re working on this thing, and it’s a lot of different ideas and it starts to come together and it starts to come together.

Oftentimes, as I’ve said, you can see where there’s an moment and people are like, that’s that’s it. That’s really good. That’s when you’ve got some gold, and you’ve know that we’ve distilled it down into something that people can really rally behind.

Cory: Right. And so they’ve rallied, and is that enthusiasm coming from the group, or is there somebody or a smaller group that might be bringing some of that enthusiasm and helping get this moving forward and continuing to move forward?

Joshua: Oftentimes, this work is too much for a large group to start with. And so oftentimes, this is the work of a family council or a task force or a smaller group of people who have the motivation, they have the time, and the energy to engage with it first in a smaller format.

But then it’s important to know when to take that to the larger group. Starting with a large group on these things is possible, but it can be challenging. Oftentimes, starting with that smaller group lets us grapple with some of the topics, lets us work through some of this so they can take something of a larger group that’s, it’s a straw man. It’s not fully formed, but at least there’s a starting place for people to react to. 

Cory: And so we get to that place, the larger group agrees. Now what? Is there something that needs to be documented? I’m guessing that there’s now some business leaders who might need to implement things, maybe some dialogue there.

How are we getting the business and the family now talking there’s probably some overlap, but maybe some members that don’t overlap in that case.

Joshua: I think what’s important is that there is really good communication between the owners and the people involved in running the business, who might be family members, might not be family members, and that we’re building alignment.

The family we don’t want the family to come up with something that the business can’t execute on. That’s not realist, and that’s not a good relationship. 

So at the appropriate time and and some of this depends on how detailed that vision is and how far into the details the family wants to go. But oftentimes I really hear non family executives, non family CEOs saying, I really need to know what the family wants.

Like, where are we going? And then I can execute on it? And so as the family comes up with something and approves it, they approve this statement, oftentimes then we’ll say, okay.

Let’s make sure now let’s get the input of people from the business. If there are family members in the room who wear those doable roles, it’s that much easier. If not, then it’s really a process of taking it to the business, taking it to the board of directors if there’s one in place and saying, here’s what the family has come up with.

Does this make sense? What questions do you have? How might we refine this? We have a really good alignment between the business owners and operators. So this is actually achievable and realistic.

Cory: Right. And so the board or the executive, if there isn’t necessarily that formal board in place, there’s no alignment and how does that communication continue?

Now they’ve got the vision from the family. I’m guessing there’s some work that needs to be done now in the business to figure out how to execute that.

But this vision is not a one-year vision. We’re talking about the longer term here. How does the business continue to report back on that and continue to have that appropriate dialogue that will reinforce this?

Joshua: I mean, I think this is where we talk about governance, right, and an effective governance. And that’s making sure that there is effective governance for the business, ideally through a board of directors with independent members.

You have a mix of owners who represent the larger ownership group. Ideally, you have independent members who the family has hired in conjunction with the business specific areas of expertise and perspective that can really help the business succeed and help the owner succeed.

And so along with business governance is family governance, and that’s making sure that the ownership group, small or large, whatever it looks like, is well represented by a smaller group of people that can interact with the board of directors or specific members on the board of directors in a really effective way so that there’s there’s effective oversight of the business.

There’s accountability, and there’s a degree that the family is not going too far in the business operations. The board is is acting as kind of a let me restate this.

What we want with effective governance is the board of directors and the family council working in alignment to provide accountability, and oversight, ensure that performance metrics are being met, and align on strategic direction.

So the board is really focused on business performance, and the family council or other governance council is really focused on representing the the interest of the owners and that there’s a little overlap there. Sometimes people play some key positions in in which they are on both, but they they’re really vital for serving as a bridge between family governance and business governance.

Cory: Right. And so let’s talk about that. You painted a really great picture of two mechanisms overlapping that are doing exactly what we want them to do.

Maybe there is some concept of a family council. Maybe we have a board, but, there’s not really independent members. And now it’s time to renovate and to say what we have in place just isn’t suiting us.

How would we go about kind of revamping things and looking at getting from where we are of somebody told us to do it so it’s in place to now we need to get this effective and maybe adjust some of our governance principles?

Joshua: yes. I think oftentimes there’s an individual. A lot of times, they call us a family champion—somebody who really plays a notable leadership role among the owners.

And oftentimes, this family champion role is somebody who says. If we want to continue to own and operate this business as a family, we need to do better than what we’re doing right now.

We need to do x, y, and z. In one case, family champion really said, you when we started speaking with the family champion, he said, well, do you have a family council charter?

Well, yes. Well, let’s take a look at it. What is it? And then it was 5 bullet points from 20 years ago. It actually worked 20 years ago, but it no longer works for right now.

And so that was the impetus to refresh and create a new charter to really guide what is the family council doing. In another case, I asked, do you have a buy sell agreement?

Or how you can buy and and sell shares from each other? So there’s the the opportunity for liquidity. Well, we do, but it was made in the fifties. We chuckle about it, but this is what happens where something gets in place, and then it’s never revised.

It’s never refreshed, and it’s never updated until it it causes problems. That’s where an individual leader can often say, hey. We need to put some attention into this because when it was created, the family was very different.

The business was very different. Ideally, the family has grown. It’s gotten a lot more complex. Ideally, the business has grown as well. It’s a lot more it it’s much more sizable.

Those things do need to be refreshed, and oftentimes, it’s a notable leader within the family who really takes notice and says, we need to invest some time and energy into updating, our agreements, how we’re working together, and in a lot of the cases, if we said at the beginning that that vision and goals, where are we going, and then how do we get there?

Cory: Right. And, as I chuckle, I think of grandma and grandpa’s house that was built in the fifties.

And the now generation is moving in and, just that an assumption that they would move in without updating anything and thinking that the way that house was built would be, the way that the the future generations would take over.

Going back to that charter and starting out with 5 bullet points worked, but now we’re updating it. And there’s this family champion who’s in place and saying, guys, the writing’s on the wall.

We might not be able to survive here if we don’t update this. How complicated do those agreements need to be?

What needs to be in place to ensure that we’ve gone from something that worked to something that works now, that we’re looking to the future, and that innovation is what the next generation needs?

Joshua: It depends on the family’s complexity, which means how large the family is. How many generations were you working with? What does ownership look like?

When we commonly ownership starts off with one person that gets passed to siblings, it’s generally equal. By the 3rd, 4th, 5th generations, rarely is it equal. Owners are different people who have different kids. Some people may have sold shares.

So part of the complexity is what does the ownership structure look like? What are the percentages and how is it held? And so any agreements, family council charter, other agreements need to match the complexity of the family for their current situation and sort of for the years ahead, knowing that future generations will build and manage things for their own complexity.

But in general, I see those charters really addressing things like how we make decisions together. How do we arrive at consensus, which is part of decision making?

And creating agreements around values and how people interact together. Sometimes that’s behavioural guidelines, it can be code of conduct, but a lot of times, it’s just what are our guiding principles?

How do we want to interact together so we can make sure that our relationships are strong to be able to achieve these goals? It can be too much for the family to put all of these agreements in place at one time.

Oftentimes, you just have to start with one. Let’s focus on one area and then we’ll build on that based on what’s already in place and what the family needs, what they see as their biggest priorities.

But I generally see that within a year to two years, families can build enough agreements to say “yes.”

That really helps us build more structure and organization, and it gives us guidelines about how we’re going to work together that they can they can move forward feeling secure in what they’ve created together.

Cory: Right. And Josh, I want to go back to your comment about culture and that interpersonal side of things.

Because as we’re talking here about the charter, and I love that you start with the values and code of conduct. How does this support the culture of the family?

Joshua: Well, I think that every family has a culture whether they’ve articulated it or not, and that the families where their cultural values are stated and agreed upon tend to have a a more ability to perpetuate that culture than the families who have not stated their values or they think they have, but they really haven’t.

Maybe they have agreement on it, but perhaps they don’t. It helps every again, it helps build alignment around what’s most important to people and create some cultural norms that are more articulated because what we’re talking about is people who are family members and business partners together.

It’s not that everybody’s growing up in the same household. Often, these families are more complex. People grow up in different households. They’re different ages, different values, different cultural, maybe different, living in different areas of the country.

They have different cultural norms, different ways of doing things, but they’re still business partners together because they’re owners of this enterprise. And so when when the values are articulated, it helps people understand how we do things around here.

When we create things like guiding principles or articulate communication norms, it helps existing people and the younger generation coming into the ownership group really understand.

This is how we do things as a group. And it’s not left to chance when somebody does something outside the norms for it to feel weird or don’t they understand this is what we do and this is who we are.

Well, no. Because it’s never been articulated. That when it’s written down and agreed upon, it’s that much easier for people to understand the culture and to operate within it.

I think some people say, well, are you creating family law? Well, no. A colleague said you can’t legislate your way to harmony, and that’s really true. What we’re aiming to do is create guidelines and agreements that are not too tight and not too restrictive, because that won’t work.

And they’re not too loose where anything goes because that doesn’t work either. We’re trying to find this middle ground of agreement so that people can communicate and interrelate in a way that’s really effective so they can reach their long-term goals, whatever those are.

Cory: I love that. And so let’s relate this back to the business for a second, because there’s something as you map it out here that creates that secret sauce where this is a family business, and it is something that creates that competitive advantage.

So, getting that family culture to ensure that it actually translates into the business, how can we effectively, do that?

Joshua: Well, again, this goes back to effective governance, and it starts with the family having those items articulated and clearly communicated to the business.

If you have family members working in the business, it’s that much easier, and they really keep an eye on the culture and understand these values. This is what’s most important to us, and they can guide that.

If you have a non-family executive team, you need to make sure that’s clearly communicated and that there’s governance oversight and accountability to ensure that the business is operating within those cultural values. That, too, boils down to relationships, trust, and communication.

And that’s an ongoing process. That’s something that is looked at all the time. I think that the families that I’ve seen really succeed in this realm; they share their values.

They speak them out loud at the beginning of meetings. They make sure that when we’re making large decisions in the business, out of the business, is this aligned with our values?

And it does that smell check. Is this aligned with our values? Does it fit? Does it feel good to us?

For some people, that might feel kind of soft, but I think when you dig into it, there’s a lot of power in making sure that decisions are aligned with values, and governance is often the vehicle to ensure that alignment.

Cory: I like that. As you said, it can feel soft. It might feel awkward in ways where people are establishing new normals. And, to say this is how we do it now I think sometimes can be one of those things where, yes, why are we doing this? And is this really going to work?

But I think, as you mentioned Josh, is taking it and making sure that alignment is there and if it feels right, great. If it needs to be adapted, then adapt it and move it, move forward with that.

Joshua: Yes. I think its values in action values on a piece of paper are nice, but they only matter insofar that they’re being put into action. And I think that’s really at the heart of the matter in many cases.

Cory: Right, Josh. As we near the end of our conversation, it’s crazy to think that we’re already nearing the end, but there are a few questions that I want to make sure that I ask you and that we ask each guest before we wrap up.

Are you ready for the tough ones?

Joshua: Sure. I like a tough question. 

Cory: Good. So my first one, what is one key strategy that you believe is most essential for building a successful family enterprise?

Joshua: We’ve touched on this, but it’s really making the proper investment of time and energy into creating agreements together because those agreements guide the entire enterprise.

Starting with, well, what do you want? What are your vision and goals? Where are you going? How are you going to get there?

Building a strategic plan of how to achieve those goals and how are we going to interact together.

That’s a lot of what we’ve talked about in terms of the values, agreements, and cultural pieces, and I think making that it’s a key strategy of investing the time and energy into making effective agreements together because that provides the structure to achieve goals.

Cory: Fantastic. And, I like that you commented earlier that it’s not just about creating so much legal framework that you can’t operate in it because I think that’s also a condition of making sure that it’s not too restrictive.

Joshua: Yes. I’m always working with families, and these agreements are the product of many different people’s perspectives.

We want to end up with something that is not too tight and not too loose. We’re really hitting this appropriate middle ground where there is room for some differences but also boundaries.

Cory: Beautiful. And what is the most common challenge that you see family enterprises encountering when it comes to wealth transition and generational continuity?

Joshua: There’s a lot of challenges. And in thinking about this, it’s like I don’t know if it’s the most common, but I think it’s one that’s over I think it’s very common, and it’s a little bit overlooked.

This challenge relates to complacency, which is letting other people do the work.

Sometimes, in families, it’s easy to let one person overachieve and do a lot of the work while the other people are along for the ride.

That can be effective in the short term, but it’s very ineffective in the long term. Part of that complacency is assuming that everything will continue to be just as it has been. And that really goes with, well, we’ve never needed a board in the past.

We’ve never needed a computer system in the past. Why would we need one in the future? This really goes under that maxim: What got you here may not get you there.

That can be hard for people who have really built a system and understand the way things have been for for years that you do have to have innovation.

So I think there will be a continuous spirit of renewal, of refreshing, of looking ahead and not assuming that what’s worked in the past will work in the future.

It might, but that requires some close examination. And so I think there’s a common underlying challenge of complacency that sometimes needs a nudge for people to really engage in refreshing and updating that goes across the board with a lot of different aspects.

Cory: That’s that’s great. And, yes, just thinking that one person can’t can’t continue to carry the group, that it might work temporarily, but it’s not sustainable is is great to

Joshua: Yes. I think they can be very motivational. They can provide leadership. I think they can really help get over some hurdles, but no one person can do it all themselves all the time.

Cory: Right. Yes. And in your experience, what are the top three key qualities that successful family enterprise leaders possess?

Joshua: Yes. I think the first is is a passion and a motivation.

This has to be, and I’m thinking of somebody working in the business when we talk about family enterprise leader. I also think of somebody who’s not working in the business but is more in a governance leadership position.

I think they there’s a degree of passion and motivation in either case that’s really important.

There’s an emotional connection to the success of the family, to the success of the enterprise, and people who really succeed really want to see the family thrive and to see the business thrive.

You can’t fake that for too long. It’s going to be something that’s really felt deep inside. Building on that, I think the second key quality is this servant leadership mindset, which states that leaders act on behalf of the whole.

They are servants to the larger ownership group. They’re not just out for their own self-interest or financial interest; they are really serving on behalf of the larger family. I’ve seen some family leaders say, “Hey, is this a real burden?”

What my granddad started as a small little company is now a multimillion or in some cases, $1,000,000,000 enterprise. That’s a lot of responsibility on me. Like, I don’t want to be the one that screws it up.

Cory: Right.

Joshua: And the servant leader really has everybody’s interest in mind, even in some cases, those people they may not resonate with it, they may not like, but who are owners.

And so I think that the the servant leader takes that seriously and also knows how to surround themselves with people so they’re not doing it alone.

Being an effective leader does not mean being the only person involved. It means building a team in these cases.

And then part of that team mindset, and this is the third one, is really listening to diverse perspectives and building consensus based on all of those perspectives.

Some people have said, “Well, it was really easy when we had a dictator, one person.”

Sometimes I’ve heard it, well, I’m a benevolent dictator. Okay. It’s a lot easier when it’s just one person deciding things.

That rarely works, as the family gets larger and more complex, and that part of being a successful leader is in listening to and appreciating all the diverse perspectives that are in place in the family and then bringing those together into consensus, into a path forward.

That’s not always easy. I’m not going to pretend that it is, but the the people that are really effective can do that because they can appreciate perspectives that are not their own.

Maybe they don’t agree with it, but they can respect where somebody else is coming from and then have the skills to draw those perspectives together into a path forward.

This is kind of like a muscle in families. The more they use it, the better they are at it, and the stronger they are at building consensus.

For families that have never been given that opportunity, it can be pretty difficult at first. But the families that work on it can really build this as a skill, and I think it’s essential for a for a successful long lasting family enterprise.

Cory: I love that comment just thinking of coming out of the shadow of that dictator that it does take a lot of muscle building, actually to get there.

Having that mindset does not necessarily mean everyone comes from a place where there was one person making the decision, but that those muscles do need to be exercised, and it does take that time, but it’s not just everyone who has that.

And whether you have it or not, I think that it is something that can be learned and developed as well.

Joshua: It is. And that can be a hard transition from a from a solo decision maker into a more group model, but it will have to happen sooner or later.

And so the families that work on it sooner tend to have an easier transition than when a single decision maker holds on too long to that position, and the family can never have the opportunity to to develop their own skills in that realm.

Cory: Absolutely. And before we conclude our discussion, I’d like to highlight where can our listeners engage in more of the conversations that you’re having, and also some of those conversations that, and maybe thought leaders that that you’re paying attention to as well.

Joshua: Yes. I mean, I’m a partner at the Family Business Consulting Group, and we try to do a lot of idea development and and thought sharing.

We write a lot of kind of short 2 to 3 page articles on all matters of family business topics. And this is something that we really invest in because there’s there are so many questions.

There’s so much complexity to family enterprise, matters that we’re constantly learning from our clients. I have learned more from my clients.

Well, maybe as much as from my clients as from my colleagues, and I think it’s really important to share that back.

We’re constantly trying to have output by sharing what we’ve learned and really helping other family enterprises learn from each other. That’s a primary way as a firm that we, are able to advance the thinking in the field.

Cory: I appreciate that, that there’s so much wisdom within these family businesses that you work with and to be able to take that learning and share that with the world is really a gift. 

Joshua: It’s one of our values at the Family Business Consulting Group, and we strive to uphold and perpetuate it.

Cory: That’s great. And Josh, I wanted to make sure that we covered everything today. Is there anything else that you’d like to share with our audience that we didn’t get a chance to touch on?

Joshua: I don’t think so. I mean, I think that we could go pretty deep into any one of these topics.

We didn’t touch as much on creating a family strategic plan, but that’s really the next step behind the vision and goals.

You have a vision; we’ve created a vision. You’ve created goals. How are you going to get there?

I think that the families that invest that time and energy into building a strategic plan, executing it, and updating it tend to succeed.

They take this as something that’s serious. It’s work, but they’re willing to invest the time and energy into it in order to reach those goals.

I think that’s just the the follow-up piece on that. That could be a whole podcast unto itself, but that’s that’s the thinking that I want to help share with people.

Cory: Fantastic. And I agree. I think that would be a a great episode and, I think in the future, something that I’m eager to to bring to our audience.

I want to thank you for your time, Josh. I know that, you’re a busy busy guy, Taking the time to share your, expertise and and experiences with us is a great, great gift.

Your insights have been incredibly valuable to myself, and I know that our listeners will be grateful for your contribution to our episode today.

Joshua: Well, thank you. I appreciate the opportunity, and then it’s been a great conversation.

I appreciate the questions. They’re interesting and thought-provoking, and I hope everybody listening finds them the same.

Cory: Awesome. Well, thank you.

As we wrap up this episode, we invite you to reflect on Joshua’s insights about family enterprise governance and the importance of aligning family values with business strategy.

Whether you are part of a family enterprise or provide consulting to them, Joshua’s experiences highlight the power of articulating shared goals, balancing tradition with innovation, and implementing effective governance structures.

Throughout our discussion, we delved into crucial aspects of family enterprise governance. We explored the importance of balancing family traditions with innovative thinking and how critical it is to develop effective governance structures that span both family and business spheres. We also examined the process of creating and updating family agreements and the role of the “family champion” in driving necessary changes. These insights offer a practical framework for families striving to build alignment, foster a strong shared vision, and successfully navigate the complex landscape of multigenerational family enterprises.

For those seeking expert guidance on navigating the complexities of family enterprise governance and intergenerational transitions, Joshua Nacht and the team at The Family Business Consulting Group are ready to assist. You may also be interested in his book, “Family Champions and Champion Families,” which explores the role of family leaders in fostering long-term business family success. We’ve included Joshua’s contact information along with additional resources in the show notes to support you on your journey. 

This program was prepared by Cory Gagnon who is a Senior Wealth Advisor with Beacon Family Office at Assante Financial Management Ltd. This not an official program how Assante Financial Management and the statements and opinions expressed during this podcast are not necessarily those how Assante Financial Management. This show is intended for general information only and may not apply to all listeners or investors; please obtain professional financial advice or contact us at [email protected] or visit BeaconFamilyOffice.com to discuss your particular circumstances before acting on the information presented.