Innovation & Growth
Reimagining entrepreneurial excellence to meet a changing world
The Challenge
We live in a period of unprecedented change. Entire industries are being reshaped by technology and public policy, while the evolution of sustainable business practices is forcing family enterprises to reimagine their fundamental purpose and operating models.
Adapting to these rapidly evolving opportunities and threats is a complex task. Strategic pivots and transformational change can lead to confusion and conflict within any organization, though this is particularly challenging for family enterprises with a long history of entrepreneurial success. Such change can highlight generational differences in values, strategic priorities, and risk, and these differences can lead to conflict and misalignment among leaders and owners, sending complicated signals throughout the enterprise.
The extent to which families hold fast to founding principles or consider new approaches will largely determine the character, trajectory, and evolution of the family enterprise. Consequently, any strategic review should be an ongoing process that acknowledges the particular culture of the family and its commitment both to legacy and change.
Families must also ensure that shifts in the world that will have a material impact on their enterprises are appropriately tracked from a risk-management perspective, and that strategy appropriately adjusts to these new and emerging challenges and opportunities, particularly as the pace of change is accelerating.
Our Solution
LGA’s Innovation and Growth services break down the complexity of your changing business environment so you can find a healthy balance between honoring your entrepreneurial legacy while positioning the enterprise for continued success and growth.
Our advisors work with your senior leadership team to review strategic plans, explore key short and longer-term disruptors to your family enterprise continuity, benchmark with other families who have embraced a tradition of change, and build alignment throughout the system around an exciting vision for the future.
How does it work?
We help your family leaders explore and answer the following key questions:
- On Risk: How does the family think the world will evolve? How will the resources it stewards be sustained and adapted to meet future challenges and opportunities? What are some blind spots that may emerge in the years ahead that could threaten the continuity of the enterprise?
- On Values: How will the family’s core beliefs about wealth, key stakeholders, and social responsibility more generally shape long-term strategy and resource allocation?
- On Leadership: What structures and processes can be put in place to ensure that the family enterprise can adapt to the inevitable change that lies ahead? Are we willing to launch innovation teams?
How does it benefit your family?
Armed with answers to these questions around risk, values and leadership, we work with your key leadership teams to ensure clarity and alignment throughout the system about the family’s strategic vision. We then help you define and deploy the structures, processes and leaders needed to execute on that vision so you can meet disruption and opportunity with confidence.
Case Study
Case Study: Sustaining Engagement in a Cousins Consortium
Three third-generation Family Directors of a large enterprising family were attending a global conference focused on innovation and growth. Their 90-year old family had deep pride and gratitude for the success and leadership of previous generations. However, there were no family members currently working actively in the business, and the family’s only connection to their vast operations — which spanned eight industries and three continents — was limited to these three members of the Board.
Related Insights
Stewarding businesses into institutions
In light of the many crises that haunt the daily news cycle, there is one segment of the corporate landscape that seems to be weathering the storm better than most: family businesses.
Reality Bites: How can simulations support family business continuity?
Chris Robichaud and Devin DeCiantis talk about how simulations can support continuity.
What world leaders can learn from family business leaders
Pundits in Washington should be careful not to paint the entire world of family enterprise with the same orange brush.
Resilience in Family Enterprises
Studying the response of family enterprise systems to chronic market dysfunction and elevated risk can provide useful insights into organizational resilience.
The “Forgotten” Generation of Family Businesses
What have we learned about efficient (and less anxiety-raising) ways to apply the family’s human capital over time?
The dreams that drive business success
Leadership is about aligning people’s aspirations. It’s a vital task for successors who lack a controlling share.
Featured advisors
Katherine Grady
Katherine has advised families for over 25 years, focusing on continuity planning, governance design, leadership development, executive coaching, and team building.
Jeff Melanson
Jeff is a seasoned consultant known for his inventive approach to meeting business challenges and opportunities with a bold strategy.
Matt Allen
Matt’s expertise is in the area of family learning, family entrepreneurship and the development of the next generation
Mika Mazor
Mika advises family businesses on intergenerational transfer, strategy formulation, corporate governance, human capital development, and navigating complex changes
