"Navigating Legacy: Balancing Inheritance, Ambition, and Sustainable Growth in Family Businesses"
Transition and change are constants of life, they come in varying hues and impetus, and often shape new pathways to life’s journey. For leaders and legacy holders, transition capabilities are, more often than not, severely tested.
A legacy can be an asset or a burden, it is largely dependent on a person’s ability to navigate challenges that come with inheriting a business or a reputation. You will be constantly compared and held to standards and values that may not be yours.
In societies like ours, parents often pass the burden of their dreams and aspirations to their children. Often this well intended thought is projected as an opportunity for their children to do better, a gift of inheritance meant to give them a better start over many, many others, and while it may be received by many as an opportunity, for some it becomes the cause of conflict and contention. Not everyone likes to walk the path that has been set for them.
Many entrepreneurs identify themselves very strongly with their business. It is almost an extension of themselves. Their emotional connection to the business is so strong that they cannot imagine it running any other way than theirs. When such a business is passed down the generations, the weight of the responsibility can often create conflict with the person goals of the inheritor. Succession and wealth transfer then comes with emotional and logistical complexities that can hurt the business’s sustainability.
We have seen major business houses in the country navigate succession seamlessly, yet the recent and notable transition of the Padma Jyoti Group stands out as an example of how a structured approach can untangle often intricate and complex dynamics of legacy change setting the stage for sustainable business growth; one that safeguards the legacy, fosters relationships and ensures clarity and good governance. In this edition, Business 360 talks to Padma Jyoti on his thought processes behind executing this transition.
Peter Drucker wrote that "The controlling word in 'family-managed business' is not 'family’; it has to be 'business’." We also talk to young legacy business holders of some of the country’s most reputed business houses on how they are forging the path to business success merging their personal ambition and competency with the values of legacy preservation.
