Family Business & the Next Generation
Some of what a family business needs cannot be learned inside it
Working for somebody else first is one of the most commonly suggested routes into a family business, and one of the most commonly resisted. Parents worry the child will not return; children worry about delay and about being treated as an outsider on return. This session sets out what outside experience actually offers, what it costs, and how families have agreed it, using the experience of people who did it and people who did not.
Explore this page6 sections
Staying outside for a while can be a gift or an evasion. It helps to know which.
A person who joins at twenty-two has one employer, one way of doing things and one set of people who have known them all their life. A person who has worked for a few years elsewhere has seen other methods, made mistakes where the cost was smaller, and been judged on their own work rather than their surname.
That is the argument for. The argument against is real too: the business may need help now, a parent may be ageing, years pass, the other job becomes comfortable, and the return gets harder to make. Families that have done this well tend to have agreed the terms rather than hoped for the best.
This session sets out both sides evenly. It does not recommend working elsewhere to everyone, it takes no side between parents and children, and it is not family counselling or legal advice.
What to work out
35 topics across 7 areas. Seven parts of the question, from why to how to come back.
What Outside Experience Can GiveThe reasons people usually offer.6
None of these is guaranteed. A job where you only follow instructions teaches less than one where you are given responsibility, and a few years does not make anyone an expert. The aim is to choose the job with these in mind.
- Seeing how larger or differently run organisations work
- Learning a function the family business is weak in
- Being judged on merit, with a boss who is not a relative
- Making mistakes at someone else's expense, within limits
- Building a network outside the family's own circle
- Knowing, afterwards, that coming back was a choice
What It CostsSaid plainly, because it is real.6
- Years in which the business is without you
- A parent's worry that you will not come back
- The pull of a comfortable salary and a career of your own
- Re-entry at an age when others have moved ahead
- Missing the learning that comes from being there
- A business that may be harder to hand over later
Choosing Where, and What RoleExperience that serves the business, not just the CV.5
- What the family business needs that you could learn elsewhere
- Large company, small company, or a different kind of business
- A role with real responsibility over a famous name
- Sales, operations, finance or people: which gap is largest
- The same industry, a neighbouring one, or a different one
How LongA number that both sides have heard.4
- A fixed period, such as a few years, rather than 'for now'
- What would shorten it: a parent's health, a business crisis
- What would extend it, and who decides
- A review point when everyone says how it is going
An undefined stay is the one most likely to feel like a betrayal later, on either side.
Raising It at HomePresenting it as a plan, not an escape.5
- Explaining what you want to bring back, not only what you want to leave
- Asking what worries your parents most, and answering that
- Keeping in touch with the business while you are away
- Offering something concrete: a visit, a review, a project
- Hearing out the case against, without treating it as pressure
While You Are AwayStaying connected without half-living in both places.4
- Knowing the main numbers and decisions of the business
- Being available to a parent without being on call at all hours
- Not making promises about the return you cannot keep
- Learning from where you are, rather than only waiting to go home
Coming BackReturning as a colleague, not a visitor.5
How you return matters as much as what you bring. The people who held the business together while you were away have a claim on your respect.
- A role and a reporting line agreed before you return
- Pay that reflects the work, not the relationship
- Not announcing that you now know better
- Using what you saw selectively, and learning what is already working
- Giving staff time to see you as somebody who is serious
Questions the session works through
- Is there a business reason or only a personal one?
- Should I go if the business needs help now?
- What if my parents say I am abandoning them?
- What if I enjoy the other job and want to stay?
- How do I come back without it seeming like a rescue?
What participants leave with
- A list of what they hope to learn elsewhere
- A draft of how to put the idea to their parents
- A proposed length of stay and a review date
- A list of what to agree before returning
- A view of the risks they are accepting
How the session runs
Two or three people from family businesses, some who worked elsewhere first and some who did not, describe what it gave them and cost them. A short exercise helps each participant work out what they might want to learn and how to put it to their family, followed by open questions. Participants share only what they choose to share. Evenings or weekends, in person or online.
What your students leave with
- A clear sense of what outside experience can and cannot give you
- A way to choose an employer and a role that builds what the business lacks
- A way to raise the idea with parents without it sounding like a refusal
- A shared view of how long, and what would end the stay early
- A plan for the return that does not depend on goodwill alone
- Honest awareness of the costs, including delay and drift
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
Time away helps most when it has been agreed, not assumed.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.