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Continuing our curated editions this year, we have asked FFI GEN faculty members to choose their favorite articles or podcasts for our “Articles and Podcasts We Love” series. We’re starting with GEN 102 faculty member Helena von der Esch. With a background in management science and experience in publishing, she has some interesting choices. If you have not participated in the FFI Certificate Program, these issues might inspire you to enroll soon!
Exiting the Family Business Is as Tricky as Leaving Your Lover
By Patricia Annino
I love the Paul Simon song “Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover,” so what’s not to love about this article about the similarity to fifty ways of leaving your family business? In my work I challenge families to identify the most accurate and sustainable owners of the future. Sometimes they are not in the family, and sometimes they are. When it’s time to leave and find the next owner, the current owners have a huge responsibility to find the best successor. Leaving in a good way is as important as staying in the best way possible. While sometimes there is only one clear reason to leave, there sometimes are fifty or more. Regardless of the number of reasons the client is looking for, Patricia Annino has created a great list to consider for that conversation. Don’t forget to listen to the song while reading!
Time, History, and Family Enterprise
By Barnet Schecter
All over the world, people have their own relationship with New York City as a place they love to visit or dream about visiting. The city itself has a dynamic history to tell, and this historical article describes how families created what we call “the city that never sleeps.” I tell my clients to go back and learn about the history of their families to be able to relate to the present and form the future. In this article, the historian Barnet Schecter links the past and future of NYC in a fascinating way, with the perspective of the development of manufacturing, hospitality, and news media. As he cleverly points out, awareness of history is an inspiration and a guide to succession planning both in terms of values and place in the world.
Running Against Time: An Interview with Henry Krasnow, Carlo Salvato, and Allison Krasnow
This podcast was an interesting surprise—not all running against time is in regard to life, age, or generations. This is the real deal of running marathons. A father following his daughter into the world of marathon running and an ultra-marathon running professor—these three are the perfect team to link how running relates to leadership and family. The many inspirational references to family businesses and entrepreneurship can be brought in to any work with family businesses, but this podcast is a must for those who are athletes or runners. Keep running!
A Conversation on Mental Health and Addiction with Gary Mendell and Dr. Paul Hokemeyer
This conversation shares the tragedy of seeing a son struggle and lose the battle to addiction. The tragedy of addiction occurs in a context, and only when that context is identified can there be a foundation to work from. The perceived stigma and shame that can accompany addiction often prompt wealthy families to avoid addressing the problems. Therefore, this is a topic all advisors can come upon, struggle with, and need to look out for. We need to develop better skills to do our part in navigating clients. This podcast is a straight-to-the point clinical and social conversation between Dr. Paul Hokemeyer and Gary Mendell. One of many takeaways was how important it is to remember that the most expensive clinic or program is not necessarily the best.
What to Do When a Client Inherits Artwork
By Matthew Erskine
The great wealth transfer has a little sister in the great art transfer through the many art collections inherited in our time by younger generations of collecting parents and grandparents. And the clients do not always inherit the art or collection of their dreams. Having an advisor who knows which experts to bring in to the advising team really helps these clients. Here, Mathew Erskine shares a practical list of how to work around inventory, aggregation, and collection management, and how it’s all equally important.
About the Contributor
Helena von der Esch, FFI GEN faculty member and FFI Fellow, is a senior family advisor at the Nordic independent financial life management firm Formue. As advisor to UHNW and HNW Nordic families, she creates safe spaces for succession planning, implements governance structures, focuses on harmony and trust in family and business, and prepares future owners and leaders through education and coaching. Helena has marketing and branding experience in the publishing industry and is a columnist for the Scandinavian CEO Magazine. She is currently the secretary of the FFI board of directors and can be reached at helena.vdesch@formue.se.
View this edition in our enhanced digital edition format with supporting visual insight and information.
