Storytelling is basic to human society. Around the globe and throughout history storytelling has been used to communicate traditions, beliefs and values. Stories help to strengthen the form and order of the cultures and societies to which they belong. According to Judith Kolva Ph.D., professional personal historian and CEO of Legacies in Ink:”Our stories are the heartbeat of the human experience. They teach us who we were, who we are, and who we can be.”¹

In her article: Story Power: Families’ hidden asset, posted on November 30th in The Practitioner, the online publication of The Family Firm Institute, Dr. Kolva cites sources that extend the importance of storytelling to longevity in family businesses. Her sources speak of the telling and retelling of a family’s most important stories as best-practices for successfully preserving wealth.

Despite the critical importance of making time at family gatherings to share their unique history, it seems few families do. They fail to understand that family stories are important assets; legacies that can help make them less vulnerable to the all-too-common ‘rags-to-riches-to-rags’ scenario within three generations. Or, they just cannot see how to get started.

Dr. Kolva describes the difficulties involved in initiating and continuing the storytelling process as “Someday List Syndrome.”² In her article she offers many suggestions and strategies for overcoming these difficulties.

Why not visit the article page and pick some of these suggestions to try within your own family, https://ffipractitioner.org/2016/11/30/story-power-families-hidden-asset/.

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^1.Judith Kolva. “Story Power: Families’ hidden asset, ”The Practitioner, November 30, 2016. https://ffipractitioner.org/2016/11/30/story-power-families-hidden-asset/

2. Kolva.