Often talked about in the same breath as succession, engaging with the next generation and bringing them on board the family business for some can be tricky. When should they join? What roles should they do? Should they start at the bottom and work their way up?
The questions are endless but one thing that is clear is the need to a plan to allow the next generation to fulfil their true potential in the family firm and if that means working elsewhere first, so be it. And it might be that they don't come back as they have found their destiny and are following their dreams.
A good article and insight into some ways to engage with the next generation of the family firm.
RichVintage/Getty Images “Go find your passion,’’ Henry directed his children when they reached their late teens and early twenties. “Find your interests outside our family business and pursue them.’’ As inspiring as those words may have been, Henry, the patriarch of a successful automotive parts business, wasn’t simply freeing his children to follow their dreams. He was requiring it. Having watched too many other family businesses bring kids into the company early on and “damage’’ them, in his words, Henry was afraid of doing the same thing with his children, somehow coddling them or making life too easy. He was a big believer that the best development possible is “getting your butt kicked” as you learned the ropes outside your family business. So he watched with pride as each of his children found their own career path.
https://hbr.org/2018/07/how-family-business-owners-should-bring-the-next-generation-into-the-company
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