Owner Development
Develop yourself, your organization, and your family
The Challenge
Engaged ownership and effective leadership rarely exist in a vacuum — they require a lifetime of learning and development. Not only do young owners need to build a general awareness of their family enterprise and the challenges of continuity, but leaders of all ages need to invest in expanding their knowledge base to keep pace with a rapidly changing environment. When families get this right, their owners and leaders can create significant long-term value for all of their stakeholders.
Our Solution
Wherever you are in your learning journey, LGA offers a range of workshops, seminars, and experiential opportunities — from one-off sessions to comprehensive multi-year owner development programs. Each offering is tailored to the unique developmental needs of the family, its owners, and its leadership teams.
Our focus is on building the key competencies necessary to sustain the success of your family enterprise across generations, with unique programming for each of the four types of owners:
Engaged Owners – Stewarding the Family Enterprise:
Owners who are neither in governance or management roles but care about the family business (e.g., participate, prepare, stay informed)
Governing Owners – Representing the Owners:
Owners who serve exclusively in governance roles (e.g., boards, councils, committees above CEO or in family governance)
Leading Owners – Leading the Enterprise:
Leaders of the governance structures (boards, councils, committees, etc.) ensuring they function properly
Operating Owners – Running the Business:
Owners who serve in management roles and are deeply connected to the enterprise (e.g. including CEO or below)
How does it work?
Within each of these ownership groups, your LGA advisor can help you design a strategic curriculum to develop five core competencies:
- Contextual Intelligence: Knowing and understanding the past, present, and future plans for the family and the business
- Business Acumen: Ability to understand and interact with business data and situations effectively
- Practicing Governance: Understanding and navigating the roles, processes, and rules for decision-making throughout the enterprise
- Interpersonal Skills: Communicating, collaborating, and managing conflict effectively
- Values & Ethics: Aligning personal actions with shared norms of appropriate behavior
How does your family benefit?
Our experience as educators has taught us that family members each have unique learning profiles and preferences. Consequently, our owner development programs draw on a variety of conventional and experiential formats, including keynote presentations, curated site visits, fireside chats with enterprise leaders, peer sessions with other leading families, and hands-on simulations and exercises facilitated by LGA advisors.
We work with family leaders to assess your family’s readiness for educational programming, key topics of interest, preferred formats of learning, and the ideal frequency and location of these activities. This data will help us ensure the greatest participation and impact of these investments in your family’s human capital. Once built, these programs are often institutionalized in the form of a Family Academy, which is available on an ongoing basis and serves as the first point of exposure for young family members to the family enterprise.
For those families who aren’t yet ready to build and deploy a multi-year program, we also offer a variety of stand-alone programs.
Leveraging decades of experience both on-campus and working closely with families like yours, LGA can help you build your own development program that will lay the foundations for sustaining success across generations.
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
Is It Time to Rethink How Boards Make Decisions with Ground-Up Governance?
In this episode of the LGA Lighthouse Podcast, host Tim Yeung chats with Matt Fullbrook, a corporate governance advisor and creator of Ground-up Governance. Matt challenges traditional thinking on governance, offering a fresh perspective on how organizations, especially family enterprises, can make better, more intentional decisions.
LGA Insights – October 2025
These last few months have been filled with activity, as we’ve expanded our global footprint through the addition of new team members, and increased our presence in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Later this summer, we will begin publishing episodes for the second season of our LGA Lighthouse Podcast, and will continue sharing fresh insights through a variety of articles, interviews, and other thoughtful content generated by our global advisory team.
Within that context, we’re thrilled to share with you the latest reflections from our Partner, Fernanda Jaramillo. In this edition of LGA Insights, Fernanda describes the importance for enterprising families of establishing and maintaining a shared vision to ensure continuity and legacy—particularly in moments of generational transition.
The Enduring Enterprise: Thriving in a Turbulent World
In this episode of the LGA Lighthouse podcast, host Tim Young sits down with LGA’s Founding Partner Ivan Lansberg and Managing Partner Devin DeCiantis to discuss their book, The Enduring Enterprise: How Family Businesses Thrive in Turbulent Conditions. They explore how family businesses can navigate the increasing turbulence and uncertainty in today’s world
A Family Foundation Won’t Fix What Isn’t Working
Before establishing a family foundation for the purpose of collective giving, it is imperative that families consider their ability to find common purpose and work together productively. A collective approach to giving should build on a foundation of social capital, rather than be a driving tool to create it.
Beyond the Boardroom: A 360 View of the Board Chair in a Family Enterprise
In most businesses, the Board Chair’s role is seen as relatively straightforward: to ensure the Board and its governance committees function properly. However, in family enterprises, this role is far more complex, with responsibilities that go significantly beyond these traditional expectations.
Happy New Year 2025!
As LGA embarks on another year, we’re thrilled to continue working closely with the world’s leading family enterprises and our valued global partners.
This year promises to be particularly exciting at LGA. We will continue to expand our services to families worldwide, launch the second season of our LGA Lighthouse Podcast, and share our latest research and insights through articles, interviews, and books by our global advisory team.
Featured advisors
Bob Kohli
Bob has decades of experience as a global advisor, predominantly in the Middle East and South Asia, with a focus on strategic planning and governance.
Bobby Ning
With 25 years of experience, Bobby empowers wealth inheritors within enterprising families, equipping them with the essential mindset, practical tools, and crucial communication skills to become responsible owners and stewards of their wealth. He specializes in owner education development and financial literacy, delivering comprehensive wealth, tax, and estate management education tailored specifically for family enterprise and business leaders.
Alphil Guilaran
With 25 years of experience, Alphil empowers wealth inheritors to become responsible owners and stewards of their family’s legacy. He’s passionate about fostering financially literate generations, helping families bridge communication gaps to preserve their values and vision.
Ernie Patterson
Ernie is focused on designing, implementing, and supporting governance systems and educational programs within complex multi-generational family enterprises.
Thomas Ang
Thomas is a Partner with LGA, where he leads the firm’s Global Practice for Family Offices and is the lead advisor for Asia.
Helena Schmidt
Helena specializes in leadership development, executive and team coaching, and organizational learning.