Next Generation Success

Preparing the next generation to inherit the family enterprise is the single most important determinant of a successful generational handoff. It depends significantly on both the senior generation and junior generation taking active roles in the preparation process. Specifically, what can each generation do to help develop the next generation? What does each generation want from the other throughout this journey? These and related questions have been discussed by families from around the world every year since 1997 at the Families in Business program at Harvard Business School. Next Generation Success offers a convenient summary of these rich conversations between senior and junior generation members regarding what each generation can do to help the next generation develop as effective managers, owners and family members. The perspectives of both generations are compared over a 10 year period.

Preparing the next generation to inherit the family enterprise is the single most important determinant of a successful generational handoff. It depends significantly on both the senior generation and junior generation taking active roles in the preparation process. Specifically, what can each generation do to help develop the next generation? What does each generation want from the other throughout this journey? These and related questions have been discussed by families from around the world every year since 1997 at the Families in Business program at Harvard Business School. Next Generation Success offers a convenient summary of these rich conversations between senior and junior generation members regarding what each generation can do to help the next generation develop as effective managers, owners and family members. The perspectives of both generations are compared over a 10 year period.

For over thirty years, John A. Davis has served as an academic, advisor, writer and speaker in the family enterprise field. He is considered a leading authority on family enterprise, family wealth, leadership and succession. Trained in business management, psychology, and economics, Professor Davis works globally on topics such as dynastic success, corporate and family governance, working with relatives, succession planning, developing the next generation, shareholder relationships, strategic and leadership development, and professionalizing the family business. Professor Davis is the Founder and Chairman of two leading, international organizations that support enterprising families: The Cambridge Institute for Family Enterprise, a research and education institute, and Cambridge Advisors to Family Enterprise, an advisory firm. He has also been recognized as one of America's leading wealth advisors. A faculty member at Harvard Business School (HBS) since 1996, Professor Davis teaches the MBA course Management of the Family Business and is co-founder and faculty chair of the executive education program Families in Business: From Generation to Generation, which addresses pivotal issues facing family businesses. He is also faculty chair of the executive program, Crossroads: Discovering the Path Ahead, about life planning for executives, and teaches in the Owner/President Management, Key Executives, Launching New Ventures, and other executive programs at HBS. He has served on the faculty of the Graduate School of Business at the University of Southern California and has lectured on family business management at Stanford University, IMD (Switzerland), INCAE (Costa Rica), Universidad Adolfo Ibanez (Chile), and Universidad de los Andes (Chile). Professor Davis is co-creator of the Three-Circle Model, with Professor Renato Tagiuri, which is the fundamental paradigm in the family business field, and co-author of Generation to Generation: Life Cycles of the Family Business, a preeminent work in the field, published by Harvard Business School Press. He has authored journal articles and HBS cases, readings, and multimedia tools on a wide range of topics pertinent to family enterprises. He is completing a book on the practices of successful family business dynasties and another on the governance of family companies. His theories and observations have been cited by the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Financial Times, Economist, Fortune, Business Week, Exame (Brazil), Family Business magazine, and several other publications. Professor Davis is a fellow of the Family Firm Institute and board member of the Business Families Foundation. He serves on the editorial board of the Family Business Review, the leading journal in the field, and the Journal of Family Business Strategy. He is a member of the Academy of Management, the Family Business Network, and the International Family Enterprise Research Academy. @ProfJohnDavis www.johndavis.com