There Are Successors, but the Direction of the Company’s Growth Remains Unclear
Two partners founded a company with the hope that the business would be carried on by the next generation. Each has a child whom they hope will be part of the company’s future.
However, one of the children decided to resign after six years working in finance. He felt there was a lack of clarity regarding his career progression and his role within the company.
Six years is certainly not a short time. During that period, he had been an integral part of the company’s operations, yet he had not seen where his career path was headed. Will they continue to perform the same duties, take on greater responsibilities, or one day assume a leadership role in the company?
On the other hand, the family hopes they will carry on the business their parents built. That hope seems so clear to the founding generation, but it may not be felt in the same way by the child.
The issue becomes even more complicated because he is the only child of one of the partners. If he were to actually leave the company, how would his family’s involvement in the jointly built business continue? Would the child of the other partner become the sole successor actively running the company?
This situation isn’t simply about a child who wants to step down. There’s a disconnect between what the family expects and what the child has experienced while working there. He’s been with the company for years, but he still doesn’t have a clear picture of his place in the business’s future.
For the parents, their child’s future may already be mapped out within the company. However, for the child, that future is not yet clear.
The Next Generation and Their Commitment to Carrying On the Business
The desire to leave the company presents the child with a complex choice.
On one hand, he has aspirations regarding his own career development and future. On the other hand, the company where he works is not merely a place to gain professional experience, but a business that his parents have built together with business partners over the years.
His decision, therefore, affects more than just himself. Both families hope that the next generation can carry on the business together, just as their parents have maintained their partnership.
Amid this situation, a more fundamental question arises: all this time, has the child seen themselves merely as someone who works at the company, or also as part of the family that will one day take over ownership?
This distinction is important because working in a family business does not always mean that someone has found a reason to stay. This is especially true when the expectation of becoming a successor is not accompanied by a clear vision of the future and the responsibilities that will follow.
What Can We Learn?
For parents, having a child who has joined the company may feel like enough to be confident that the family business has a successor. However, for the child, being in the company does not necessarily mean they have found their future.
Does the child truly see their future in the family business, or have they simply been trying to meet their parents’ expectations all this time?