Wealth Plans Checklist Series: Leadership Development Plan

Purpose

Google the word leadership and all kinds of definitions come up from fields of sociology, psychology, business, philosophy, etc.  The idea of a leader is mostly identified to be within a hierarchal organization such as in business, politics, government, and the military.  However, good leadership skills is not about the setting in which it might be applied nor is it about having financial success or recognition as the face of a family name or family business.  Quite frankly you can have both and be a terrible leader, it’s not mutually exclusive.  A leader embodies the characteristics and ability to socially influence and enlist other individuals in a positive and sustaining way to work together towards achieving a common goal for a group purpose.

For families with generational wealth, every family member has an opportunity to be a leader when it’s intimately linked to a passion and purpose specific to him or her.  There can be leaders in the family business, in family philanthropy, and even within the family unit as the one who commits to doing the work needed to maintain strong family connections among separate branches and generations so that shared family wealth becomes more sustainable as the number of family members grow.