Beyond the Gate: Aligning Enterprise Families Through Community, Change & Legacy

Cory: Welcome, and thank you for joining us for Beyond the Gate, Aligning Enterprising Families through Community, Change, and Legacy. My name is Corey Gagnon, and I am a senior wealth advisor with Beacon Family Office at Assante Financial Management Limited. I work alongside successful families as they navigate the complexities of wealth, business, and leadership transitions, helping them align vision, values, and legacy, with clarity and purpose. I’m excited to have you join us today for what will be another fantastic conversation.

Legacy Builders Live is produced by Beacon Family Office at Assante, where we help successful families design integrated strategies for their wealth, business, and legacy, through values-first planning and intentional stewardship. We support enterprising families in creating successful successors and securing multi generational peace of mind. This webcast extends that mission, bringing together forward-thinking leaders, proven frameworks to help families and their advisors lead with clarity, confidence, and purpose across generations.

If you have any questions during today’s session, please feel free to drop them in the Q&A box. If time permits, we’ll address a few questions live. And if not, we’ll be sure to follow-up with you afterwards.

Before we begin, a quick note. The content shared during this webcast is intended for informational and educational purposes and does not constitute professional advice of any kind. The views and opinions expressed by our panelists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the organizations that they’re affiliated with. We encourage viewers to consult qualified professionals regarding their own specific circumstances.

Now let me introduce today’s panelists. Trevor MacLean is a partner with M and P’s agricultural team in Lethbridge, where he spent more than two decades advising producers and family enterprises across Western Canada. His work is grounded in both financial strategy and a deep understanding of operational realities, helping business families manage risk, develop leadership, and sustain long term success. Trevor is very committed to this community. In fact, he’s joining us while he’s on his way to one of Alberta’s great farming families. Welcome, Trevor.

Trevor: Thank you very much, Cory. Pleasure to be here, and I look forward to the conversation with you and Shauna.

Cory: Thank you, Trevor. And Shauna Feath is the president and CEO of the Alberta Chamber of Commerce, with over a decade leading the Alberta Business Family Institute. She’s a trusted voice in family enterprise development. Shauna continues to champion collaborative growth in this wonderful province of Alberta, championing economic resilience across the province. So welcome, Shauna.

Shauna: Thank you for helping me, Cory.

Cory: During today’s webcast, our goal is to explore five key questions around clarity across generations, business priorities, and community networks.

Now let’s dive into our first question. What does alignment actually look like when family, business, and community values all intersect, and how do we know when we’re off track? Now from my perspective, alignment is not about everyone thinking the same way. It’s about having enough shared clarity that decisions can move forward without constant friction. In family enterprises, that clarity often includes more than just family values. It includes community culture that has shaped the family and the business over time.

Shauna, I’m going to start with you first. How have you seen community influence alignment in family businesses that you’ve worked to support?

Shauna: Thanks, Cory. And I think, first and foremost, sometimes within family enterprises, that alignment between the family values and the business values tends to need to have some work done in terms of being able to position in line what the family’s values are, and how that’s impacting the business operations. I think that’s a lot of the work that we do as advisers, to make sure that we can get everyone on the same page. And so when you can do that really well and have those values really influence the corporate culture of the organization itself, then that is really easy to translate into how does that interact or intersect them with community.

Community can be defined geographically, but it can also be defined by a group of individuals. So it doesn’t necessarily mean just our geographic community, but we could be part of other communities where we need to really take a look at how those values translate. And as to your point, Cory, they don’t necessarily need to be 100% aligned. There needs to be, though, some alignment with the values of the business and the family in terms of where and how these enterprising families engage with their communities, whatever that means.

Cory: Great. And Trevor, what are some of the signs you look for when family business or community values are no longer aligned in the strategy of the business?

Trevor: It’s a great question and a topic I think that’s at the heart of often where conflict starts to arise in families and how it shows up. And the first place I see it is misalignment in decision-making. So whether the decision-making is in the family, or whether the decision-making is in the business, or whether the decision-making is with regard to a community initiative.

Family starts to get misaligned on what are the family principles or the values as Shauna described. Are those things starting to get misaligned? inside the business, the misalignment around decisions about what we’re going to invest in, or when are we going to sell certain assets, those types of things. Who are we going to hire? When are we going to hire them? Those start to get misaligned fairly early, and you look for signs of that. And then in the community, when you’re talking about philanthropy or gifting and and giving, you will see it if there is a difference in the value shift there.

The second place you’ll see it is communication. Communication is one of those foundational aspects of business that has to be intact. So you’ll start to see, meetings will start to get canceled. You’ll start to see potential communication breakdowns between individuals, inside again, the family, the business, or the ownership team. Strategic initiatives will become misaligned, all these little cues really start to show up, and show where there’s cracks, unfortunately, when there is misalignment.

They’re just small indicative little cues that you have to pick up on as an adviser, but typically, that’s the three areas that you’ll see it first, or I typically see it first, communication, decision-making, and then any strategic, forward-thinking planning. That’s where you start to see it.

Cory: Shauna, do you have anything to add to to what Trevor said?

Shauna: Absolutely agree with what Trevor said, and I think too, the piece when those three things are starting to surface is the acceleration of conflict within the system. So that’s something to really pay attention to in terms of whether it’s with the family and the business, or whether it’s that translation to the work in the community, or the giving values. When those things aren’t aligned, then conflict obviously has to be mitigated. And then it just is not as elegant as we would like in terms of, as I said earlier, just if we can get family and business values aligned to a corporate culture that really is clear on their values as they intersect with community, that’s where we want to be. And so just really paying attention to some of those triggers that Trevor was talking about.

Trevor: If I can add one thing to what Shauna said, because she said it very well. But the other thing that when you start to see it, is you’ll start to see a trust erosion. Because that really is the fallout, and the supporting mechanism for transition or any sort of succession is trust. So when you start to lose alignment on communication, decision-making, anything around community philanthropy, underneath that is trust.

So I think I just wanted to add that, because it’s really critical that anybody that’s in a position of influence, advisory-wise, watch for that, because that’s where it’s going to show up. They may not say I don’t trust them, but essentially, that is with the underlying fundamental that comes out.

Cory: Right. And when we talk about influence, I want to bring it back. Shauna, you mentioned community is the group of people that we choose to surround ourselves with. And I think about where that community influence can be strong in a positive way, and where it can be strong in a negative way. And so we’ve talked about where some of that shows up, but any examples that both of you might have for where you’ve seen both positive and negative influences from a chosen community perspective?

Shauna: So obviously, that group of individuals, however we want to define community, often we’re part of it because our values align, because we see ourselves in that group, in that geographic community, whatever the case may be. So there’s so many ways to define it. But it’s really positive because a lot of times, if we can align values with the community that we’re a part of, then it makes it much easier for us as family enterprises to build a customer base, to build loyal followers, to be able to align our own activities in terms of giving back to those communities. And so when it works really well, that’s when you see great strides made in terms of investments into things like facilities for instance in small rural communities that are so critically important, or investments into social programs that are critically important to the development of a certain community where that be a geographic individual or demographic.

So when you say work really well, we’ve seen a lot of those examples in the province of Alberta with many prominent family businesses, and I’m not going to start naming them all. But there’s a lot of examples out there that all three of us could pinpoint many times over. When it doesn’t work, I think, is when we don’t identify the evolution of the values within the family and the business as new individuals come into the system. So as we’re bringing new individuals into the system, a lot of times they’ll come with a different set of values that may not be the same. That has been traditionally the values of the family and the business, and not traditionally see themselves aligned with that same community.

And so, what needs to happen at that point, and where those challenges can come into play, is that the the communication piece around the family enterprise system has to happen to be inclusive of all the participants, and need to really hear the voices around the table in terms of where that there’s a bit of a divergence, and how are we going to accommodate for those individuals coming in. I think that’s critically important, and that’s where things can go off track a little bit.

Trevor: I couldn’t agree more. The two points I took out from that is that community can be anything that we define it as. Community could be a peer group. Community could be a tribe of people around you. Community could be, again, your church. How we define that, and how we participate, is going to be very individualized. The second thing I took away is the adaptability of a family to recognize that it’s not all your business, and your family isn’t always going to represent what it was thirty years ago, or fifty years ago.

There’s this thing that’s coming into society more and more, that’s influencing transition, is the in-law factor. And how are families adapting to somebody that was not part of the family underneath the same roof, under the same rituals, the practices, the beliefs, and how do you integrate that person and that person’s values into what is now a family. How’s your business and family going to adapt with somebody new, especially with the interracial marriages that are happening so frequently around us? It’s about adaptability and acceptance from people, and it’s just a mindset shift in my opinion that people just have to get over. And, again, the root of it is communication.

Cory: Fantastic. Moving us along. When our industry or community is shifting, how do we evolve the business without losing who we are or what makes us strong? And families who navigate change well are the ones who recognize what is non-negotiable, and what is ready to evolve. I think of many families that I’ve worked with, that often this means holding tight to values while letting go of some of those legacy systems that just no longer serve the mission.

Trevor, how do you help clients adapt to market or community changes without abandoning what has worked for generations?

Trevor: Great question. I’m very fortunate to be able to sit at  farm tables in this country from coast to coast. So I typically bring families back to those value based principles. Once again, really have families identify what are those non-negotiables. It’s the trust, the integrity, the hard work, the faith.

So there’s value system cards that you can get and walk people through and say, okay, of all of these values out there, what are the ones that are, again, non-negotiables, no matter who it is? So you have to walk families through and then say, okay, which one of these things are flexible inside your business, and what does it look like? So they have to start identifying, what does integrity look like? What does respect and honor and trust mean? What are all these values that we throw out so potentially nonchalantly, what do they truly mean, and which ones are the family willing to move off of as the family adapts and grows, going forward?

The other one is, is there a symbol or something of significance the family carries or has in their family system, an heirloom that represents the family? So again, farm families, there often is that one thing. Grandpa’s tractor that he bought in 1950 that sits at the laneway, is that part of our legacy? What does it all mean?

And the other part, I guess, is you really have to, Shauna spoke to it before, is engaging multigenerations in the discussion of what values are. Because they’re going to evolve. So making sure that you’re creating this atmosphere of the forum for your generations to all get together and discuss what are these non-negotiables that we can all agree on, and which ones are we willing to say, this has to be an individual, potential value that we’re willing to kind of allow people to have flexibility within the system. Because the system can’t be so rigid that you’re going to distract people, or take people out of the system.

Cory: Great. I love the plug for the values cards. I have a stack here, and I actually interviewed Dennis Jaffe who created the cards. He and I chatted last month, and are coming out with a new book here, this fall, on values specifically. But what I really appreciated there, Trevor, is it’s about what those values are in action. It’s taking that and saying, what does it mean to live by this, as well as that symbol. Families used to have, and and some still do, a coat of arms, and so much symbolism there. And I love that grandpa’s tractor can be as powerful, if not more, to that discussion.

Shauna, what role can networks and alliances play in helping families embrace change without losing their core identity?

Shauna: Can I just back up though and just build a little bit on something Trevor said here? So I absolutely agree 100% with the other thing Trevor said. The one thing I would say is that right now, it’s unprecedented times in terms of how businesses and communities are shifting, and how we’re doing business, and how we’re reacting to the challenges of whatever it may be, tariffs, supply chains, you name it. We are just in unprecedented times. And especially, Trevor, you know, in the ag industry, there’s some really heavy pressures on certain producer groups. And I think when we get that type of pressure on the business, sometimes that can really erode that identification of the values. And sometimes we make decisions in moments where we don’t take a step back. And I think that’s something that as advisors, we can really help our family enterprises work on, is when you get to that point, it’s more important that you’re meeting now than ever, and that you’re getting together and having those conversations, because it is really easy to to shift off center and make decisions in the moment, because it’s so critical, or it’s having such an impact to the bottom line of the business.

So I just wanted to add that 100%, Trevor, that I think now more than ever because of the times that we’re in and the pressures that we’re seeing these enterprises under, we need to be communicating more, not less. So I just wanted to add that.

And so in terms of affiliations, networks, how do families stay supported? I mean, within our industry, obviously, there’s several organizations that support family enterprises and advisers who are working with them, like Family Enterprise Canada. There’s several organizations in the US. There’s lots of consultants, and, of course, incredible advisers like the one on this call that are supporting families. What I would say to them is just make sure that as you’re engaging, you do it in a really thoughtful way in terms of if it’s an adviser you’re looking for that can guide you through. Make sure that they have a designation that is going to make them not just a transactional adviser, but really understand the transformational side of family enterprises, and how the human aspect of this whole process needs to be taken into account even more so than the transactional business side of just transferring or estate planning. So that’s what I would say.

And there are a lot of, again, organizations like Family Enterprise Canada. There’s the Alberta Business Family Institute in Alberta, the one that I ran for fifteen years. We have several located at universities across the country. And I would just say reach out and connect, because they have a lot of resources, and they have a lot of education.

And I think that’s another key piece here too, is how do we educate ourselves on what’s coming in our industries? How do we educate ourselves on how best to work with the system within our family business? There’s lots of places to go for those types of resources, and there’s lots of those types of networks. We’re really fortunate in Alberta that this has been, ABFI has been around for well over twenty years. So it was the forethought of really prominent family enterprises that saw the need, way back in the day. And so now those resources are readily available to our family enterprises in the province.

Trevor: I just want to echo, I know Shauna when she added to what I said in it, the reason those of us that do this work talk about values so much, and what Shauna said is so accurate, is that your values come into play when your system is challenged. I just think for your listeners, your viewers, is understand why we talk about values, because the values are always or should be those things that you naturally retreat to when your system is being challenged. And what Shauna said is absolutely accurate in that our system, our business system has never been more challenged from so many super environmental factors. Geopolitics right now has never been greater. Shifting in agriculture, which again is the space that I predominantly play in, we’re seeing geopolitical fallout happen in food supply. We’re having it in specific commodities like canola with China. So when you’re pressured, you want to take a different course of action. And sometimes those actions or those decisions are in the heat of the moment that you’re trying to survive. That’s where the values come out. Those values, again, should be attached to your longer term strategy and culture of who you are as a business and a family. That’s why we talk about values, I think.

Cory: I appreciate that because there’s so much when challenge is knocking on the door. And in that egg space, there are a lot of external factors that the farming community understands how to manage risk better than most. But we’re seeing so many other industries being challenged. And, Shauna, what you mentioned, I think it’s very important, the ethics behind the advisors, but also it’s really important to know that there’s probably somebody else experiencing this as well. And so finding those people who you can lean on to say, this is what I’m challenged with. And they can come back and say, actually, we’re in the same boat, or we’ve been there before too, and be able to lean on those people around us.

Trevor: I think what we’re trying to say to families is part of your values and everything that goes into your, you got to understand where your guardrails are. And that’s what values do, is they create some guardrails for everybody in your system to operate. So look at it that way. If you’re looking for an analogy, they’re your guardrails. Don’t move outside them.

Shauna: And maybe could I just add, I just want to pull a thread because something you said is critically important. Again, I talked about the organizations that are serving the family enterprise community in Canada. And one of the things that Family Enterprise Canada does is they have peer groups. And so to your point, Cory, about having somebody that walks the same walk, and and has the same talk, and is facing the same challenges in a group, where it’s completely anonymized, and you can chat them house rules, talk about anything that you need to talk about, and get the feedback and support that you need. I think that’s critically important, because what happens in family enterprises is we tend to isolate.

So we tend to say, you know, I’m the only one in the world going through this, and it’s my responsibility to figure out how to navigate that. And you don’t have to do that alone. There are organizations out there that are providing those opportunities. And if it’s not a peer group, like I said, any of those education opportunities where you can just get in a room and learn with your own family and with other families, those are invaluable in terms of providing support and a little bit more of that network. So I just wanted to add on that too as well.

Cory: That’s great. It’s lonely at the top, and those peer groups are a well-kept secret. It’s one of the best secrets that we need to to beat that drum, because I know there’s not enough of them for as many people in the community that could benefit.

So let’s move on to our next question which will continue these conversations. How can we bring generations together around the future of the business when they’ve grown up in such different times? And every generation brings a different lens. We’ve seen this. And in our society, we’ve labeled different generations. And each of those generations have seen challenges. And the challenge is not to choose one over the other, but learn how to weave those altogether. And I see families making progress when they can treat that legacy of evolution as something that they do, rather than being fixed.

Shauna, what structures or habits have you seen that help multiple generations stay engaged and collaborative?

Shauna: So this goes back to the communication piece. So when and how are you engaging the next generation is the biggest question. When do you do that effectively? How young or how early do you do that? The younger generation have very different views, obviously, than if it’s a four generation family and grandma and grandpa in the room or whatever the case may be. It’s very different in terms of their lived experiences. So I find storytelling is so critically important in these situations in terms of the younger generation wanting to hear about their history, and they want to take pride in their history.

And so for the older generation to really articulate that in a way that really resonates with them, and instills that sense of pride, and underlines the values of the family themselves, I think that’s what’s most effective, and that can be done in so many ways. I’ve seen everything from beautiful movies put together about histories, to the younger generation of artists putting together a song that they co created to highlight the beauty of their family and what they see as the values and and the legacy.

And then there’s always that piece of, as family members, how do we come into that system and think about it with the right lens? So not with entitlement, but with a sense of stewardship for the fact that our values, that this is going to continue for generations. So it’s not actually yours. You’re a steward of it in your time, and you want to leave it better than you found it. And I think that’s all through communication and storytelling, and ensuring that we’re providing the proper format for that to take place within the family.

Cory: I appreciate that connecting the older generations and the younger generations, because it isn’t a one way street of communication. There’s so much that we can learn from history, and there’s so much we can learn from the young creativity in our families. So that’s absolutely great, Shauna.

And, Trevor, to you, what does it look like day to day in the businesses that you support, especially when the next generation wants to take things in a new direction?

Trevor: Well, as Shauna said, it comes back to communication, first and foremost. And this whole topic is really one of the most powerful yet delicate areas of family business advising that we do, because it is trying to respect the old while adapting. That word we’ve used several times already today is being adaptable. But it’s not just about business strategy here. And I think this is where families get stuck as they think it’s we got to focus on the business and the strategy of it. I invite clients to look at identity, look at belonging, and look at trust. Kind of really core pillars on a stool that you’re looking at.

So it’s about creating intentional conversation and the environment for conversations that go beyond operational. They go beyond just the normal day-to-day business, and focus on the why of the business. Why did grandma and grandpa get started doing this? What were those key moments? You know, Shauna talked about storytelling, couldn’t agree more. Create a family book, even if that family book is a collage of pictures, that really reminisces about the changes and the adaptation that your prior generations went through. Allow that new generation or younger generation, again, you spoke about it, Cory, they have so much creativity, and innovation and technology is so much more a part of our business and our lives today than it ever has been.

So, again, how are you bringing that into the conversation of family and the business? Don’t make it about the business all the time. You’ve got to step back and understand the “why” for everybody.

Cory: I really like the three legs there, Trevor. Really thinking about that identity is so key, that all these systems are made up of individuals. And what are we doing to make sure that we have that belonging. It’s so key.

Trevor: It’s honoring. It’s just respecting and honoring. And it can be so difficult in today’s world because, again, there’s so much coming at us, and the change is so constant that sometimes it’s hard to pause and reflect. But sometimes that’s the best thing you can do, that old saying is sometimes you get to slow down to speed up. Having that older generation, again, just stop talking about the business. Just identify with the why and who we are. It’s really important.

Cory: On to our next question, is it possible to grow and professionalize without leaving the people or the place behind? And I find that growth that ignores people or place often creates fragmentation. Leaning on our discussion and our previous question, when families align that strategy with the capacity and the culture of the people, that growth is sustainable. And I’ve seen many enterprises thrive when it integrates professional systems in that way that reflects the values, going back to making those decisions based on the values and not replacing those.

Now, Trevor, how do you guide clients through that tension when they’re making the decision to scale up their operations?

Trevor: I’m going to bring my perspective into this, and my lane. And again, I’m going to reiterate for the listeners that my lane is agriculture and agribusiness. So first, I ask clients, I don’t use the word professionalize. I’ve swapped that out with formalize, because often, again, in agriculture communities, when you’re dealing with agricultural producers, it’s like I don’t want suits, and I don’t want things so rigid, and that’s the connotation, if you will, that professionalization brings. So the family’s got to define what does formalize mean to us. Don’t get spooked off by creating structure, governance, and some formality around communication, around meetings, around HR, around family business agreements. Don’t shy away from those topics, because they are really meant to support your brand, support your identity as a family, but they’re also meant to protect all three systems as well.

And I think that’s what I tell families, is they often don’t like it. They just don’t like the professionalization that sometimes advisors speak about, but it’s also so necessary to walk them through. Let’s define formalization for you. Let’s define it. This is what it looks like. And we don’t have to make everything so rigid that it’s a policy. Sometimes it’s a guideline. They do the same thing. They create guardrails. They go direction for the expectation of how people are supposed to act and decisions made, who needs to be brought into what certain decision-making, how is the communication going to be done, all of those things.

The other one I’ll suggest is please cocreate or collaborate as much as possible. That’s really where I think harmony starts to get built into, and the best practice starts to get really solidified in systems, is that when you start cocreating and collaborating on more versus less. I’ll leave it at that.

Cory: I like that. Not all formalization needs to create bureaucracy, and I think that’s important, as well as those guardrails, that good strategy in this case can also mean that it’s protecting our backside, which is a very important part as well.

Trevor: You’re absolutely right. And I just want to add that this younger generation, and forgive me because I can’t follow what letter we’re on now, gen zed or whatever it is, but more times than not, I can offer to you that that generation is looking for more structure, not less. Why? Because they want clarity and they want security. So if they’re getting into a family business, what is my role going to be? What can I expect for remuneration? They want to see that, not less of it. They don’t like to deal with, call it chaos, from having no structure. So I’ll just offer that. The younger generation is looking for more formalization, not less.

Shauna: And maybe if I could just build on that a little bit, Trevor, because I absolutely agree 100%. The thing we also have to be thinking about is the integration of that next generation, because the way we’ve done it in the past is not necessarily gonna work today. How many times do we start a story with, I grew up on the shop floor sweeping the floors, collecting garbage, whatever. Those jobs are not going to be there for this generation going forward. We’re going to have robots, in our advanced manufacturing or whatever industry you’re in, we already have AI and we already have adaptations where some of those entry level jobs that used to be there for us to have them, some of those entry level jobs that used to be there for us to, have them as a playground for our next generation to just get a feel and a sense for the business. Those aren’t going to be there anymore.

So we really need to be thinking about, as family enterprises, how and where we integrate them in meaningful ways so that they can still get that, I kind of call it that test space, where they can grow, make mistakes, learn about the business without having too much impact on the actual operations themselves. Those were really easy to give them in the past. And especially when you talk about agriculture, it’s “go out and do your chores.” Even that is all changing today in terms of how animals are being fed and etcetera, but all of the industries are changing. And as found enterprises, we’re going to need to adapt to how we meaningfully engage that next generation, and and how we do that in a way that is going to be integrating the technology into into that, because they’re all about the technology, and they’re going to they’re going to help you in ways you can’t even imagine as they elevate into their positions in this next generation, because they get the technology. And we all know that’s taking over every industry. It’s going to have impact in every industry, in every corner of our family enterprise system.

So I just wanted to add that because we we need to be paying attention to that too. We need to be not just thinking about what does it look like today, but we need to be really thoughtful about how we’re gonna do that going forward.

Trevor: And that’s the co piece that I talk about. The co-creation. Collaboration. You’re absolutely right, because those jobs are going away. These autonomous feeders and dairy operations now, robot milkers, you could just go on and on about how technology is replacing those jobs that we used to do on the farm. Bucket feeding the calves, to sweeping the floors, like you said, is so valuable because it exposes you to the environment, the culture, the language, all those nuances that really become your narrative as a business, as a family enterprise. That’s what’s being lost.

Cory: So much we could talk about there. I was holding myself back from the rabbit hole, so we’ll keep going. Our next question, how do we build long term resilience when we are already stretched, and the future feels more uncertain than ever? And I find that the most resilient families that I work with do not wait for a crisis. They build rhythm into their planning and have regular reflection through conversations, have honest reviews of what’s working, what’s not, and they look to manage the threats that exist. I think that that’s what creates readiness and allows those families to be strong in the position, and what you spoke of, Shauna, of all those threats that we’re under. And, Trevor, you mentioned as well.

So, Shawna, what practices or support structures help families stay future-focused, when their time and energy are so tight with all of these pressures that are on us?

Shauna: Well, I think I’m going to sound like a broken record, but we’ve we’ve talked about this actually. The families that I’ve seen that are multiple generations, there’s examples in Europe where we’re getting to 20 generations, the reason they have been resilient is because they’ve been adaptable. And the reason that they have been able to be adaptable is because they have the systems in place to support them to do that. So the decisions around the systems in place that support communication, collaborative decision-making, governance, structures, policies, all of those things that guide how they manage and become resilient when they are going through hard times.

Some of those European companies, I think they’ve been through wars. They’ve been through natural disasters. They’ve been through everything that you could think that’s been thrown at them. And because as a family, they have agreed to a certain set of well, we’ll go back to the values. The values are going to guide everything, but the values also help them to implement the governance structures, the policies, the systems, the collaboration and communication systems that are going to support them when they need to be resilient.

I’ll never forget one family I worked with. It was years ago, but the matriarch, because they were in a crisis situation, and we were talking about how they were navigating it. And they had all of these things in place. But the one thing she did say to the whole family in a meeting was that we’re not going to waste this crisis. So what did we learn from this one in particular that we don’t have in place yet? And so I think that constant evolution as well in terms of identifying what you have in place, really evaluating how decisions are being made when challenges come up, and how do we create new systems when we find that we’re lacking.

Cory: I love that. We’re not going to waste this crisis. That’s such a good line, Shauna. Trevor, what mindset shifts do you encourage when clients feel that they’re being reactive, but they want to get to be more strategic?

Trevor: Well, it comes back to part of what Shauna has said, and it’s really focusing on stop moving from reactionary to intentionality. And that means that you have to have a plan. You have to understand what your value systems are, and you have to understand what is that long-term objective or goal for the family and for the business. So really shifting again, every decision that you make is an opportunity to reinforce the “why.” And that’s a mindset shift. It’s not chasing a market. We’re not chasing a commodity market. We’re not chasing the next headline or tweet or anything.  It’s staying focused on your business, what you set out to do and accomplish as a team. So being very intentional about all of that.

How everybody shows up every day, I think, is really critical for families, because it does come back to communication. And it comes back to values. So how are you showing up every day? Are you showing up that you’re just there collecting a paycheck? Are you being intentional about all of your activities? Because at the end of the day, I keep it pretty simple. And that is, no matter what business you’re in, companies compete on three levels and three levels only. The first is on processes. How do they put things together? The second is on, values. And the final one is on resources.

So how a company takes those three systems or three things and puts them together, that’s where companies differentiate themselves. The rest is how do we show up, and is everybody showing up aligned towards that same intentional long-term goal that we’ve all agreed on or collaborated on, hopefully, co-created what your vision or strategy is for your business. Shauna talked about it. It’s adaptability. You don’t have to control everything, but you’ve got to be adaptable as a team. So how are you building in adaptability or adaptiveness into your culture? In today’s world, it’s got to be one of those core fabrics that you’re weaving in as you’ve got to have adaptability. And through adaptability, you become resilient.

So I think that’s how I advise clients, again, focus on the long-term. Often in agriculture, again, there’s my reference. It’s about the legacy. What is your legacy and what does that mean? Don’t focus on the short-term. The short-term wins, yes, we need them to celebrate and to make everybody feel good, but your mindset should be always around the long-term. So what is your legacy? What is it that you want to be remembered for and known for?

Shauna: That’s great, Trevor. And maybe I just want to pull a thread, because I think this is really important, how you show up every day. And that resiliency and adaptability are directly related to how are we supporting not only our family within the business, but also our employees. And it’s never been more important than today. We’re seeing just unprecedented amounts of mental health issues, anxiety, stress levels, all of those things. And so we also need to be thinking and really strategizing around how are we supporting, and how are we creating, if we need to, accommodations or accessibility for these employees to work through what those look like, and especially when those employees are your family, because they need to be supported if they’re dealing with any of those types of things. And that’s recurring more and more in the family enterprise system today than than we’ve ever seen, at least in my experience in the past fifteen years.

Trevor: People forget often, for the listeners, that yes, it is an honor to carry a legacy, but let’s not forget about the burden that it potentially also creates. And that burden is it’s more of that mental capacity piece, you have this now, but now it’s upon you. Sometimes it is that blessing and that curse to carry a legacy. So, again, just making sure that the readiness, the preparedness of all of the actors that are in that, call it family business ecosystem, is prepared, and that means potentially looking at resilience mapping, short-term, medium-term, long-term. What does that look like? Creating potentially as you build out your business plan, your long-term strategy, what is your scenario planning as part of it. It’s that contingency piece. They sound like buzzwords, but they’re intentional. It’s intentional why we talk about these things as advisers to help guide families.

Shauna: And maybe can I just add to that too, Trevor? It’s about creating those scenarios too.

So one of the exercises that I used to do with the families is just say, look around the room, look at all the individuals in the room. And now, what would happen within this ecosystem if someone won the lottery and exited the system? You used to be like, what if somebody got hit by a bus? We’ve heard that a lot. I hate that. Let’s just pretend they won $100,000,000 and are just out and are going to go sit on their own tropical island for the rest of their lives. What does that do to the ecosystem, and how are we backfilling that to make sure that we have a plan in place if that happens?

Because in so many cases, and and we’ve all seen it, something will happen and there’ll be a critical individual within that system taken out for whatever reason. And it starts to crumble like all of the great systems and processes that that family had been working towards and working within fall apart because a key individual within that system has been lost. And especially when that is tied to grief, if there’s a loss within the family, when it’s tied to grief, that creates even a harder situation to get back on to into a resilient place if they have not been actually having these frank conversations and thinking about this and this kind of stuff.

Let me tell you the hardest stuff for families to talk about. They do not want to talk about what ifs and anything happening to anyone within their families. But to be resilient, you need to be having that conversation, and you need to know what is going to happen if that happened. One of the saddest stories, and I’m going on too long about this, but it’s a critically important piece, is brought into a family where the father had passed away. The mother didn’t even know who their accountant was. She had been kept so arm’s length from the business, the kids had not been a part of the business. It was such a mess because there had been literally no communication. And, of course, they have hundreds of employees, and these employees are, how do we support them as a family? So for me, those conversations are critically important. They’re difficult and they’re hard, but they have to happen because you can’t create that resilience if you don’t have a backup plan.

Trevor: Don’t walk away from those hard soft topics and the conversations that ensue.

Shauna: Absolutely.

Cory: Yes. And before we wrap up, I’d like to just give both of you the chance to share one final thought, key takeaway, piece of advice, reminder. I think there’s been so many great nuggets. Trevor, I’ll I’ll start with you.

Trevor: Wow. I think, the biggest thing that I think we’ve talked about here is, well, I guess, a couple things. First off is the foundation of values and what they play for for values, I mean, for families, as they think about transition. Just everybody spend half an hour, an hour talking or thinking to themselves about what are those values, and which ones are unpliable, and which ones are pliable, and defining what that means. And after that, it centers around communication and how communication is so important for so many things that come through, and that you’re going to encounter through transition. Collaboration, cooperation, all of these things happen because of communication. And when there isn’t communication, the other avenues like planning and adaptability, they fall apart. Some of what advisors speak about is business, but where it’s coming from a place of sound advice and experience as to why we lean into the things that we do, like values and communication.

Cory: Great. Shauna, over to you.

Shauna: So foundational values and communication, and then what I would just say, every family is different and unique. And all of this planning needs to be done with the family members and their unique needs in mind. So it’s not cookie cutter. We have a saying, if you’ve worked with one family, you’ve worked with one family because no two are the same. And that navigation has to be very structured and made to really fit the mold of the family itself, and go back to those values and communication pieces.

And then I would also just reinforce that it’s about planning. It’s about governance, but it’s also about the process of getting there. So it’s not like we’re going to get into a room as a family, and all of a sudden, strike an employment policy, and everybody’s going to be happy with that. The important part of actually doing this work and working together with the family and the business and ownership units is the process of developing, because all of the individuals in that process will support that development. And if they support that development and are bought in, then it’s so much easier to have it actually apply in operational use. So those are a couple of the other ones. Succession planning is not an end game. It’s a journey, and it never ends. And it’s constantly evolving, and you just need to know that.

Cory: Fantastic. Well, thank you both. Today’s conversation highlighted how leadership and family enterprises is a culture. It’s a culture that’s built over time. And, Shauna, you just said it so beautifully there. And it’s around that intentional development, making sure that we have structures that are inclusive, that aren’t too rigid as Trevor mentioned, and that we have the shared purpose that we can build around. For me, this topic that we explored is really looking at the new seasons. We’ve just celebrated Thanksgiving, and it is the change of the season. But I think that there’s so much that’s gone on over the last couple years, that we really have signaled that it is a new season. And there’s so much change, so much opportunity. And if we align ourselves appropriately, build that adaptability, the legacy can continue, and we can be prepared to allow that next generation to lead with the clarity that they need.

So if today’s insight sparked ideas, raised questions, for your family or or clients, I invite you to stay connected through the Legacy Builders newsletter, our Legacy Builders podcast, and tune in next month for our webcast. And thank you both for the time that you spent with us today to share the stories and expertise.

Trevor: Thanks, Cory. Thank you, Shauna.

Shauna: Thanks, Cory. Thanks, Trevor.