At lunch today, Karen, a Business Relationship Manager for a large bank described a situation with a client – a family business started and run by the father.

Visiting the business, my friend saw a woman working at a table in the corner.  The father proudly announced that it was his daughter, a college graduate.  He added that she would be taking over the business.  She was learning the operations of the business by direct delegation from her father.

From what lunch partner observed, she questioned, in her own mind, “would the employees ever follow the daughter,” or whether the daughter was being trained to lead or merely run the business. She questioned even whether the daughter wanted to be in the business.

I felt the yellow flags being raised, as well as recognized the need – for a successful ending to this story – for a number of critical conversations with all parties about individual future desires and goals. A parallel planning of the family and business is needed by all family enterprise to succeed past the proverbial 3-generation life cycle.

The single perspective of the head of a family business – if the desire of a family business legacy exists – must be to have the next generation succeed.