What leaders are saying about 35 Questions
When Sabine and Peter approached me about this book, the timing couldn’t be better. FBN was going to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its Next Gen community. Yet, this is much more than a book. It is a useful and practical guide, asking relevant questions and providing concrete tips on how to tackle difficult issues that Next Gens face daily.
—Alexis du Roy de Blicquy
CEO, Family Business Network (FBN) (Switzerland) 
As CEO of a 1,200-member twelfth-generation family business, all my decisions are taken with a long-term perspective in mind. Whatever role the Wendel Next Gens choose, I want them to be well informed, active and responsible shareholders. In their book, Peter and Sabine bring together an impressive number of witnesses and experts. I very much look forward to sharing the questions and answers, advice, opinions, and ideas with the Wendel Next Gens.
—Priscilla de Moustier
CEO of Wendel-Participations, Member, Supervisory Board, Wendel (France)
The clear division between family, ownership, business, and wealth helps structuring the often complex and intransparent character of family enterprises. The highly relevant questions asked by Next Gen family members from around the world and the corresponding answers by reputable family business scientists make not only Next Gens but also the older generation in charge reflect on the future success factors of their enterprises.
—Dr. Alfred Oetker
Vice Chairman, Advisory Board Dr. August Oetker KG (Germany)
Peter Jaskiewicz and Sabine Rau have compiled a brilliant collection of essays from practitioners and family members on topics that will be of value to enterprising families around the world—all from the perspective of the rising generation! It is a must-read for all families of wealth and their advisors.
—Tom McCullough
Chairman and CEO, Northwood Family Office
Adjunct Professor, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
Co-author, Wealth of Wisdom: The Top 50 Questions Wealthy Families Ask (Canada)
Enabling Next Generation Legacies is an outstanding offering to the growing appetite for knowledge on how to sustain thriving family enterprises. This concise volume bridges the gap between scholarly expertise and practical wisdom on ensuring family business success and longevity. Peter Jaskiewicz and Sabine Rau have deployed an engaging narrative style that breaks the complexity of family enterprise success into its core constituent elements and presents a wealth of information organized around thirty-five fundamental questions. The book is a timely and wonderfully accessible resource for academics, professionals, and managers seeking a comprehensive guide to family enterprises.
—Roy Suddaby
Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship, Peter B. Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria (Canada)
Carson College of Business, Washington State University (United States)
Business families and their advisors often speak about preparing next generation family members for ownership and operating leadership. But what are next gens thinking? Peter Jaskiewicz and Sabine Rau demonstrate the skill of active listening. These future leaders have a lot to say and much to ask!
—Bill Sheffield
Member of Family Enterprise Advisory Board
Member of Corporate Boards (Canada)
Profound leadership requires the fearless pursuit of uncomfortable conversations. Without a path, map, or guide, the family context makes such discussions incendiary. Jaskiewicz and Rau have elegantly crafted a much-needed game plan for conversations between generations and self-reflection. This volume should be read by business owners who will benefit from gaining perspective, next generation leaders who need some insight into the problems and challenges they may face, and scholars looking to have closer connections with business-owning families.
—Joe Astrachan
Director of nine corporate boards in the U.S. and Europe
Emeritus Professor, Management Kennesaw State University (United States)
Insightful. Pragmatic. Whether your family business is decades or centuries old, or local, national, or global, these are the questions that family members in a family business ought to wrestle with in order to maintain the legacy and vibrancy of the business for years to come. It can be hard work, but the outcome is worth it.
—Gerald Pulvermacher, Ph.D., C.Psych.
Business Psychologist, Pulvermacher & Associates (Canada and United States)
This book offers an all-encompassing yet easy access for Next Gens to understand the complexity of family business.
—Bernhard Simon
Chairman of the Supervisory Board, DACHSER Group SE & Co. KG (Germany)
Focusing on the next generation, this publication takes on an urgent, fresh perspective that often gets neglected. It presents a comprehensive how-to guide for the Next Gen to evaluate their approach of integration into the family business. For a future-oriented family business, this is an essential angle to highlight. I hope the decision strategies outlined will practically impact businesses, as much as they will create food for thought for the current and the Next Gen; both can benefit greatly from the insights given here.
—Albert Behler
Chairman, CEO, and President, Paramount Group, Inc. (United States)
Jaskiewicz and Rau focus on an emergent and fascinating body of research. They succeed in harnessing it into pearls of evidence-based wisdom and advice for next generation members striving to succeed within and beyond their family enterprise.
—Stéphane Brutus
Dean, Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa (Canada)
As a next generation family member with more than twenty-four years of experience in family business, I have had to learn a number of critical lessons—some easier than others. Success for both myself, my family, and our business often sat in the balance of us learning and finding the best way forward. This book offers a valuable framework, insights, and resources to develop healthy approaches to navigating the realities of family business.
—Dean Koeller
CEO, Calvert Home Mortgage, Calgary, Alberta (Canada)
Thirty-five questions to help next generation members navigate the restless waters of family enterprises. A necessary reading, also, for other “crew members” of this journey—family businesses founders, shareholders, professional executives, and advisors.
—Luiz Alexandre Garcia
Chairman, Algar, S.A. (Brazil)
Enabling Next Generation Legacies is a family business must-read that we have all been waiting for. Tackling topics ranging from family, to ownership, business, and wealth, the book provides both academic and real-life approaches to the most pressing questions faced by NxGs in enterprising families.
—Valentine Barbier-Mueller
Board Member, SPG-Rytz; Board Member, Family Business Network (FBN)
Vice President, FBN’s NxG leadership program (Switzerland)
From the various families that I’ve been fortunate to interact with, I’ve generally seen that responsible family businesses also have responsible next generations. They strive to make decisions that are based on deep thinking and take decisions that are impactful for communities, industries, and the environment. More than anything, this is the result of asking meaningful questions. Sabine and Peter’s book looks into one of the most crucial aspects of how family businesses are nurtured over generations.
—Arjun Chogule
Fourth-Generation Member, Executive Director, Chowgule & Company
Board Member, Family Business Network
President, FBN NxG Leadership Team (India)
This book provides the answers to so many questions that are being asked by next generation members in enterprising families. It provides these answers with a very easy-to-read writing style and uses a very helpful framework to organize all of the insights provided by the many contributors. This will be an invaluable reference for the next generation and a practical tool for practitioners and academics who seek to provide guidance, advice, and educational programming that is grounded in the real-world questions that this generation is asking.
—Glen Orsak
Director, Executive Programs, Telfer Centre for Executive Leadership (Canada)
This book nails it down: It sheds light on the interconnected interests of family, business, ownership, and wealth in family enterprises and provides valuable firsthand insights. It will help NextGen leaders to ask the right questions, to spot the challenges, and to find the right solutions to navigating these unique dynamics.
—Markus S. Seiz
Director, Best Managed Companies Program Leader, Deloitte Private (Germany)
Covering the most central topics for the success of next generation members in enterprising families, this book is a MUST-read! It beautifully bridges the worlds of research and practice and offers game-changing guidance and immensely valuable food for thought.
—Hanoof Abokhodair
Senior Adviser, National Center for Family Businesses (Saudi Arabia)
The authors—distinguished scholars with a profound understanding of family business practice—discuss thirty-five often-asked-yet-rarely-answered questions of business families worldwide. Their constructive discussions with other leading scholars, practitioners, and family owners offer wise and timely advice that will be of vast help to generations of business families from the West and East, including China.
—Chen Ling
Professor, Family Business and Business History, School of Management, Zhejiang University
Director, Institute for Entrepreneurs, SOM-ZJU
Director, Institute of Family Business, ZJU (China)
Business founders all over the world strive for business success. The business often becomes their life, while their family comes second. However, a family business is a multigenerational endeavor that has to put its members first. Peter Jaskiewicz and Sabine Rau highlight the values, mindsets, and skills needed to prepare the next generation members in working together so they can become effective leaders, wealth inheritors, and legacy builders.
—Steve Gordon
Executive Chairman, The Regional Group of Companies
President and CEO, Cliffbrake Corporation (Canada)
This book helps those for whom the family business is a blessing to better understand how to keep their cohesion, values, and dynastic intention. And it is a must-read for those Next Gens and “Now Gens” who are confronted with disputes as it has many life examples from both those family firms that are a blessing and those which are a curse.
—Astrid Hamker
Shareholder, Piepenbrock GmbH&CoKG
Chair of Economic Council, CDU (Germany)
Full of keen insights from leading family enterprise scholars. Enabling next generation legacies is a valuable addition to any family business educator’s bookshelf.
—Michael Carney
Professor, Strategy and Entrepreneurship, Concordia University, Montréal, Québec (Canada)
This comprehensive summary of most important questions will support the next as well as current generation of family business leaders to redefine their legacy, manage generational transition, and foster intergenerational collaboration. Congratulations to Sabine, Peter, and all contributors!
—Peter English
Partner, Global Family Business and Europe, Middle East and Africa Entrepreneurial and Private Business Leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers (Germany)
I am glad future next generations won’t have to do it all by themselves. This book has many insights and helpful information together with real NxG [Next Gen] experiences.
—Alessandra Nishimura
Third-Generation Board Member, Jacto Group, Co-founder, Arvore da Cidadania
Board Member, Instituto de Desenvolvimento Familiar, Family Business Network (Brazil)
For a family member to become a professional owner takes continuous learning. It starts with the parental education and continues with professional learnings.
—Franz Haniel
Chairman, Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH (Germany)
This book sheds light on the challenges surrounding successful business succession in all its facets. My recommendation: It should be at hand in every family business. Very worth reading!
—Reinhold von Eben-Worlée
CEO, Worlée; President, Die Familienunternehmer [The Family Business Owners] (Germany)
Readable. Insightful. Global. Relevant and very relatable. Jaskiewicz and Rau’s Enabling Next Generation Legacies brings us a collection of thirty-five questions that Next Generation members of enterprising families ask. Each question is answered with deliberation, depth, and very naturally. Each answer is accompanied by thoughtful commentary. Not just for next generation leaders, Enabling Next Generation Legacies is a critical read for all members of enterprising families. And their advisors. Future focused, Jaskiewicz and Rau pose great questions and gathered great, provocative answers.
—Jeff Noble
CMC, FEA Director, Business and Wealth Transition, Private Client Services BDO Canada LLP (Canada)
Next Gens are often trapped between their parents’ expectations and their own aspirations. Significant family wealth adds extra pressures, raising the stakes considerably. This book is a valuable resource for families to manage such pressures and move forward. It will give members comfort in knowing that their hurdles are universal, trigger important conversations on how to address them, and map out the possible paths ahead of them.
—Geoff Saab
Vice President and Portfolio Manager, Doherty & Associates (Canada)
Over the past decades, the academic literature on family firms has burgeoned, but that is less true of work offering practical advice to those owning and operating these firms. This book is a welcome addition in addressing that critical need.
—Danny Miller
Researcher in Strategy, HEC Montreal (Canada)
Coming from collectivist or individualistic societies, we constantly struggle to keep our families together. This book is a must-read. Real-life experiences, researchers’ analysis, and questions to help you preserve and grow your family firms and wealth for generations to come. I recommend it to all family members, whatever their role.
—Lama AlSulaiman
Board member of Rolaco Holdings
Shareholder of the AAS Group (Saudi Arabia)
Solving a problem often starts by asking the right question. This book is a great source of inspiration and a true repository of knowledge providing international perspectives—not only for Next Gens but for everyone engaged in a family business.
—Markus Langes-Swarovski
President of the Board of Directors and Member of the Advisory Board, Swarovski (Austria)
This very helpful book is a gift to next generation members of enterprising families. Each chapter is a gem and collectively, it is a must-read.
—John Davis
Faculty Head, Family Enterprise Programs, MIT Sloan School of Management (United States)
The older one gets the more one realises that family is everything. The same applies to family businesses, where real focus is required to manage the transition to NxG. This book can only help bring clarity to this challenge.
—Andrew Wates
OBE, Ex-Chairman, Wates Group (United Kingdom)