IT runs in the family

Blood might be thicker than water, but it doesn’t keep a legacy afloat.

Let me be morbid for a second.  Imagine that you worked the last 20 years to achieve your dream: You have built up a million dollar company from the ground, changed the face of your local community, and made a difference in 1000s of people’s lives through the jobs you provide and the services and products you offer.  The same day you realize the vastness of all you achieved, you die.

Everything that you worked so hard for is now in someone else’s hands. The result of your sweaty brow could have the longevity of many lifetimes or be destroyed in only a fraction of the time it took you to build.  Would you avoid such a wager if you could?

What if I told you that the person who took over your business was not only skilled and passionate, but also educated and disciplined about stewardship.  Compared to the alternative, you probably love the idea of someone “qualified” taking over, instead of just any old “Joe” off the street. You have good reason to feel this way.  Studies have shown that the most important value in the success of family businesses from generation to generation is stewardship.

These family stewards see their role in long term goals instead of short lived visions.  They are motivated by a desire to build on the foundation that they received in effort to pass on more abundance than the prior generation.  They see their wealth and value beyond their own pocketbooks, and see themselves as the director of every resource.

Rather than simply working monotonously laying bricks, they see a wall coming together and can imagine the grandeur of the building that is underway.

Stewardship is the make or break of a lasting legacy – whether it is family or not.

IT matters.