Lauren Howard
Manager
Maria grew up in a household where daily dinner conversations eventually turned into discussions on the manufacturing business her grandfather had started in his garage 50 years ago. She spent her winter breaks stuffing envelopes in the corporate office and her summers interning elsewhere, exploring whether a marketing role at an exciting startup aligned more closely with her career goals, rather than joining the family business. When a role opened up on her family’s e-commerce team, she found herself torn: was this the moment to step in, or would joining now mean never knowing what she could have built on her own? Maria’s dilemma is one we hear constantly from NextGens weighing whether, when, and how to enter the family enterprise.
There are many points at which someone might consider entering their family enterprise: the summer before they start college; during their undergraduate or graduate education, as an intern or afterward; full-time; or following professional experience in another setting. Planning your first or next career move is challenging for most people, but especially so for NextGens, who must reconcile what is best for themselves, for their immediate and extended family, and for their family’s company, philanthropy, or other parts of their enterprise.
If you are a NextGen facing the next career step, here are five questions you might ask yourself:
Five questions NextGen’s should consider before entering the family business:
1. What are my goals, and how could they align with the activities of the enterprise?
It will be critical to be grounded in who you are as an individual, both professionally and personally. What are your wants, needs, interests, and goals? This level of self-awareness and introspection doesn’t happen overnight; it takes time. Try writing down your personal mission, vision, and values, and in particular, how they show up in your everyday life. How could a role in your family business help you act on what matters most to you? And remember that values can evolve, based on your life experiences.
When you are ready, spend some time exploring your specific professional goals. What areas (e.g., marketing, operations, eventual leadership) are you drawn to? What challenges do you get excited about addressing? This exploration can take a variety of forms throughout your career: an internship or “shadow” program within your family’s company, graduate school, coaching, informational interviews, travel, conference attendance, discussions with other NextGen peers, solo thinking time, behavioral assessments, etc. This work could help you realistically clarify your career aspirations and what it would take to achieve them, both within your family business and outside it.
Along with this self-exploration, consider how well you connect to the needs and strategic goals of your family’s enterprise. To build an understanding of the company’s aspirations, begin with a conversation with another family member or leader in the business, maybe someone who is a little ahead of you, and then consider reviewing company documents, such as strategic plans, annual reports, or previous board materials under the guidance of your family leader (who might also be your parent, so be clear about your exploration!) Speak to the leading generation to better understand their vision for the business’s future. With both parts in mind, you will have a clearer view of a contributing role you might play in the business.
2. How connected am I to the Family business?
Ongoing engagement fosters connection across generations within the family and strengthens the glue that precedes everything else. Without this connection, you may not have enough pull to join the business, or you may not be satisfied if you choose to. Consider:
- Do you feel a specific pull to the business? What is it about? Impact? Family legacy? Something else?
- If you do not feel connected to it, might it be a question of culture, the people, and the physical environment? What could you or others do to address gaps?
Engagement is a necessary, often determining factor in whether NextGen members enter the business or become effective stakeholders in some capacity.
Let’s go back to Maria for a moment, who chose to accept the e-commerce role in her family’s business. Despite working in the business during winter breaks and hearing dinner table conversations, Maria realized she had a lot to learn and still felt like an outsider. Family gatherings rarely touched on bigger-picture strategy, and the team she was joining was entirely new to her. Eager to absorb as much as she could, Maria asked her aunt (head of the HR department) if she could shadow a floor manager for a week. She also set up monthly lunches, first with her grandfather, then with other key staff members, to deepen her understanding of the company’s history, mission, and products. Maria wanted to be “all-in” on this new experience and feel the same pull that her aunt and other family members felt to the business and their family legacy. She didn’t decide overnight, but by deliberately creating small moments of exposure, Maria built the connection that she needed to succeed. Maria’s experience is a reminder that connection isn’t something you either have or don’t, but it’s something you can actively cultivate.
3. What are the avenues to participating in the family enterprise? (e.g., intern/observer, employee, advisor, philanthropic role, family council member, etc.)
It is important to consider all the options available to you and know that engagement in the enterprise looks different to different people. Being a full-time employee might be a perfect fit for you. Alternatively, if you want to maintain more flexibility and professional independence, you might explore what it takes to serve as an advisor to or member of the board, learning to steward ownership and family roles vis-à-vis the business, through the family council, or engaging in your community and making an impact through philanthropic activities. Understanding the various avenues of involvement and articulating what’s important to you is key.
4. Which valuable outside experiences or skills can I bring to the family business? What skills do I want/need to develop?
Consider completing an individual development plan or skills matrix to identify your unique capabilities and skills; you may also choose to outline your short-and long-term goals, including actionable tasks and activities to help you achieve them. Seek feedback from current professors, employers, or peers to build an understanding of where you excel and where you can improve. With that understanding, investigate how your skills might benefit the business and what you might need to learn more about to be successful.
For instance, if you are passionate about digital advertising and your family’s company has never tested it, you could be an incredible asset to the business. If your professional background is in chemistry and your family sells insurance, you might need to build a deeper understanding of insurance before taking up a role that feels meaningful. Be sure to consider skills and experiences that go beyond traditional business acumen, such as societal experience or familiarity with environmental, social, and governance (ESG). Possessing these skills is becoming increasingly important to a company’s performance and how it interacts with its employees, customers, suppliers, and its community.
5. Who are my peers in this process, and how can they help?
You don’t have to answer these questions alone, or only within your immediate family system. In fact, connecting to a broader network of NextGen family business members who can relate to (and normalize!) your situation is valuable. Whether through family business forums or just informal networks, NextGen peer groups offer spaces to share stories and frameworks and get advice from people who understand what it’s like to work in a family business, but who aren’t inside your family’s dynamics. Peer groups provide forums for not only accountability and personal development, but also for consultation on live business and family topics and challenges as well. Consider the skills matrix or shadowing program we mentioned above – a peer group is a low-pressure place to test some of this thinking before you bring it to your family.
And, if a formal peer group isn’t available to you, even a handful of informal relationships with other NextGens can serve the same purpose as you think about your role in the business or next career move.
As you continue to consider whether joining the family business is for you, these questions will help provide you with an idea of what makes sense for you. These are not easy questions to answer, but putting in the work to answer them will guide you, no matter what decisions you make.