The Future of Family Offices: Why Multidisciplinary Teams Are Essential
The goal of every family office is the same- to serve the financial and capital needs of current and future generations. However, the process is changing.
We will always require attorneys and wealth advisors to “stay in their swim lanes” and practice compliance. That will never change. Those silos are necessary, but NOT sufficient. Today, cross functional teams of interdisciplinary advisors are collaborating and providing external expertise.
Recently I was asked to create video recordings for a multi-family office (MFO) with over $1B in assets under management. They wanted me to share succession planning advice with their 80+ clients. Last week I talked with my new friend, Charmaine Tang, CEO of Orca Americas, about the need for people and technology to model innovation for family offices. Also last week I invited Brannon Fisher, a MFO partner, to share advice with our Next Gen Peer Group leaders when we met in Denver. Minutes ago I spoke with Bradley Franc, CEO of Succession Strategies, who said, “We don’t do what you do. We should partner.”
Notice the pattern?
We all have such meetings, because we all serve the current and future needs of our clients.
I can only imagine that such collaboration will accelerate. There is a growing trend toward building multidisciplinary teams within large family offices. Those internal teams may include specialists from various fields together to collaborate and provide comprehensive advice. Naturally, each advisor brings unique legal, financial, or relational expertise. Every smaller Family Office needs to do the same. They need to develop external teams of expert advisors. The power of multidisciplinary collaboration lies in our ability to address the full complexity of family dynamics and wealth management.
Wealth advisors, thankfully, are focused on maximizing assets for long-term gain. Attorneys and insurance advisors focus on protecting assets and minimizing risk, thankfully! Both roles are critical and are NOT sufficient for Next Gen leaders who expect more transparency, digital access, and opportunities to learn.
Family Offices, like any social organization, need to evolve. Every aspect of the family’s wealth or legacy deserves expert advice.
Navigating Intergenerational Conversations
Consider a typical family office meeting: the Elder Generation is planning for retirement and succession, while the Next Generation is learning about investments and long-term financial planning. In the middle, a team of advisors—legal, economic, and often behavioral psychologists (like me) —helps facilitate the conversation.
These discussions may be delicate. The Elder Generation needs to learn to bite their tongues. They need to encourage the Next Generation to ask questions about access to funds, investment strategies, and their personal goals.
For younger family members, these meetings present an opportunity to learn about critical topics like compounding interest, wealth distribution, and long-term planning. I’ve been facilitating a series of family meetings with three Elders, five Next Gens, and three wealth advisors from Northern Trust. By the end of the last session, the Elders were beaming with satisfaction. A multidisciplinary team ensures that these meetings are not just about financial details but about fostering open, constructive dialogue across generations. Advisors from different fields can help ensure that the right questions are being asked and that all voices are heard.
The Expanding Role of the Family Office
Family offices have historically focused on wealth management—handling investment portfolios, estate planning, and tax strategies. But the role of the family office is evolving faster than ever. Many family offices are expanding toward a more comprehensive model that addresses both financial and Family Capital.
The Family Capital Model includes five key areas:
Health and well-being
Family governance and decision-making
Succession planning and education for the next generation
Family dynamics and interpersonal relationships
Risk management, both financial and relational
This expansion reflects a broader understanding that to preserve a family’s legacy, the focus must be on the whole family, not just its financial assets. How do Family Office leaders support that broad need? With timing and expertise.
The Importance of Multidisciplinary Collaboration
Timing matters. Bringing in the right expertise at the right time is critical for any family office. A well-rounded team of advisors can ensure that a family’s needs—whether related to wealth, legal matters, or family dynamics—are met efficiently and effectively. When a Family Office relies solely on financial experts, it risks overlooking other vital family legacy elements. A multidisciplinary team mitigates this risk by ensuring that all aspects of the family’s life and legacy are considered in decision-making processes. Quarterly meetings work well. An annual cadence of ownership meetings is a minimal requirement.
Expertise matters. Advisors from different disciplines often approach problems from unique perspectives. After years of formal schooling, credentialing, and serving similar clients, those perspectives are reinforced and they bias every advisor. Thankfully! Think of any trigger event, like the sale of an asset or death of an Elder. Financial advisors are adept at identifying the right moments—like liquidity or birthdays or significant life milestones—to reassess strategies. Legal and insurance advisors ensure that these strategies are sound from an asset protection or risk management perspective. Family psychologists or governance consultants may facilitate conversations around succession planning, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making structures. Nothing is more crucial.
Today, more than ever, families face complex challenges beyond financial management. We all require a team that can holistically serve our needs for expertise in health, wealth, and relationships.
Embracing the Complexity
Let’s assume that Family Offices will play an increasingly important role in managing wealth and the complex needs of families. The sheer scale of assets expected to be transferred between generations in the next decade—estimated to be over $80 trillion USD – makes succession planning and Next Generation leadership development essential priorities for Family Offices. That’s why our team partners with Family Offices. People need our 360 assessment process to confirm who has leadership capacity and what behaviors to develop. People need our Peer Groups to improve communication, reduce conflict, and reduce anxiety about succession.
Let’s also assume that technology will also play a more significant role. Advanced tools, from AI-driven assessments to virtual platforms for family collaboration, are already being used to enhance family governance and communication. Can you imagine a hologram with your 100-year old Elder or Founder in a discussion? Can you imagine 5 generations of family in a meeting, rather than 2-3 generations, as a result of enhanced lifespans? Those technologies will never replace the need for human expertise. Curiosity and humility can never be replaced by AI, and those are two competencies worth developing in most family systems.
Preparing for the Future
To navigate this evolving landscape, Family Office leaders must ensure that their teams can handle both financial and family capital needs. Multidisciplinary teams are not just a trend—they are becoming necessary for Family Offices looking to sustain their success across generations. External advisors provide scaled solutions and reduce costs.
For advisors who serve Family Offices, now is the time to evaluate whether your advisory team is comprehensive enough to address the full range of family needs. Are you prepared to guide your clients through complex psychological and social transitions?
If not, consider expanding your advisory network to include experts who can help you address the evolving challenges facing family offices today. We can help.
Market Analysis for Small Family- Owned Businesses in the US
Yesterday a client said, “We’re too small. We can’t afford consulting. We make less than $1M in annual revenue. We build decks and patios. This business pays the bills. I guess it’s my retirement plan…”
Sound familiar?
Yikes. It sounds short-sighted and dangerous to me!
People provide solutions… and customers buy solutions. That’s the bottom line.
This business leader does not ONLY build decks and patios… Not really. That would be short-sighted. He creates “outdoor living experiences for loved ones.” Something remarkable.
How much would you invest in a backyard party for your child’s birthday? Or your family reunion? Or your weekend football game party? Or that special bottle of wine or bourbon?
If you invested $30,000 into an outdoor living redesign, wouldn’t you expect decades of priceless experiences with your loved ones? That solution is priceless.
Case Study: Joe, Part 1
A second business leader said, “I don’t think I have anything valuable, so when I retire, I’ll just let it shut down.”
I asked, “What’s your annual revenue and earnings?”
He said, “Our revenue is about $1m/ year and I make about $250,000 year. Everything else goes back into capital expenses and employee compensation. We’ve had a good life. I’ve raised my family.”
I asked, “What if you assumed 4x earnings, and someone offered you $1,000,000 to buy your business next week? Would you retire?”
FACT: Most business leaders don’t know their value and succession options.
Market Analysis Figure 1:
Check out these details… do they look familiar to you?
In every corner of the world, in every business sector, small businesses define the success of every economy. They are the social fabric of communities. They define success. They create over 65% of jobs and GDP in the US, and a higher percentage in Asia.
Most of the time, business leaders quietly pass on their business to family members or capable leaders. Sometimes there is conflict because of bad communication. Those succession planning discussions require expert advising from consultants.
“Do-It-Yourself” consulting or “Consulting From a Book” always leads to failure. Don’t waste your time or money.
I hire experts to build outdoor living experiences. Or to do any plumbing, electrical, legal, and financial work. Don’t you hire similar experts?
Market Analysis Figure 2:
How much would you expect to invest in a consulting solution?
There’s no need for confusion about pricing. That approach only leads to distrust.
• Consulting Needs are problems that require external solutions, such as conflict resolution, strategic planning, or leadership coaching.
• Consulting Fee Range (Phase 1: Initial Discovery/Assessment) includes the initial consulting phase, such as discovery, assessments, and strategic recommendations.
• Consulting Fee Range (Phase 2+: Annual Consulting Phases) covers ongoing consulting needs in subsequent phases, including implementation of solutions, leadership coaching, and strategic execution over a year or more.
Case Study: Joe, Part 2
Let’s return to the first example of the business leader named Joe, who doesn’t know the actual value of his business. Joe has three options:
1. No investment in consulting. When Joe retires the business dies.
2. Small investment in consulting, $15,000- 40,000 over 12 months. When Joe retires the succession plan may enable the business to continue.
3. Larger investment in consulting, $75,000 – 200,000 over 5 years. When Joe retires the succession plan may provide over $1,000,000 in real value to the owners or their benefactors. The community retains jobs. The business legacy may continue for generations.
Sound familiar?
The solution for most family-owned business leaders is NOT venture capital or private equity investors. They will extract value and disappear within 3-5 years. That would be short-sighted and dangerous.
The solution is to invest in consulting solutions, such as “family capital for loved ones.”
Succession Advisory Teams
The only way to win a football game is expertise on the offensive team, the defensive team, and the special teams. Each team measures success differently to “put points on the board” or “hold them to three downs” or “run it back.”
In the same way, a Succession Advisory Team brings multi-disciplinary experts together to achieve a win.
Lawyers provide risk mitigation and contractual agreements. Accountants provide business valuation and options. Wealth advisors provide investment options. Business psychologists (like me) facilitate the process.
How d you accelerate change in the Thanksgiving season, this season of family gatherings?
I’m often surprised at what business psychologists know that family leaders could benefit from knowing and practicing… here’s my favorite example.
As we approach the season of family gatherings, you may want to share this post with your loved ones!
All family leaders struggle with organizational change. How could our relationships be anything else? Families are complex. Family enterprises are infinitely complex. No one likes to be told to change. We all want to accelerate change, but many people don’t know how to do so.
We all bring our biases and adopt heuristics to reduce that complexity. Attorneys say, “We mitigate risk.” Wealth advisors say, “We leverage capital assets.” Next Gens say, “We want to innovate.”
This post answers that ancient question, “How can family leaders accelerate change?
Answer: Practice PsyCap
Deliberate practice leads to change, for any athlete or business leader. What would happen if we practiced a more pervasive and universal view of capital?
We all use heuristics (patterns for what works) to reinforce the structures that reflect our worldview or experience. One common example is the multidisciplinary views of capital, that includes financial, social, human, family, legacy, and intellectual views of capital.
As Fred Luthans states, “PsyCap has and continues to take off across the world … I have over 166,000 citations of my research which has been awarded in the top 1% of all researchers in all fields in the world and ranks #1 in organizational behavior textbooks. In other words, I am very happy with how PsyCap is going, especially in the global economy.” (direct communication 9.5.24)
The HERO model is more than a convenient acronym. The HERO-within model is a critical approach that leaders can apply at multiple levels- individual, team/ family, and organizational/ societal. I’ve practiced the HERO model with countless clients for decades. You can also do so.
Leaders, by definition, influence the behavior of followers toward a better future. They practice public optimism.
Practitioners, by definition, practice new behaviors and share them widely. My opinion is that practitioners have a fiduciary responsibility to practice both new ideas (innovation) and celebrate strengths (stability) every day.
The purpose of this article is to introduce the HERO model, like a new vocabulary term, and examples that can be applied by family leaders, and advisors in any discipline.
I invite you to assess how you can apply these practical examples with yourself, your family, and with the clients you serve.
Imagine that you are building a house with a garden that you hope will support generations of loved ones. Hope is defined as “the will and the way” to build a better future (Lopez, S.J. (2013) Making Hope Happen; Create the Future You Want for Yourself and Others. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster). Every founder believes “I can build this product or service.” Their hopes are often defined in founder’s history books or videos, vision statements, the stories told and re-told at gatherings.
Efficacy is the capacity to build that new house, to get the job done. We all use blueprints such as values statements, family constitutions, charters, phased strategic plans for new projects.
Resilience is our capacity to respond to adversity by returning to the same or a better level. Examples include our responses to global disease, market adversity, or loss of our loved ones.
Optimism is our choice to believe in a positive outcome, such as well-being for our children and grandchildren. All four of these competencies can be measured, taught in under 90 minutes, and developed over time. The PsyCap impact is more significant when all four competencies are measured (a second-order effect) than when only one or three competencies are measured. (Luthans, F., Youssef—Morgan, C.M. & Avolio, B.J. (2007). Psychological Capital: Developing the Human Competitive Edge. Oxford, England; Oxford University Press)
OK, so what?
The HERO Model applied at the Team/ Family level
Teams are defined as groups with a shared purpose, such as a family, board, executive leadership team or family council. Work teams often include more non-family than family leaders. PsyCap can be developed for any team!
Here are some good, better and best practices.
1. Define your family. Discuss it, write it and review it regularly. Your definition of family may be based on blood, shared beliefs, culture, religious norms, generations, or restricted to specific assets, like who can use the beach house. Then use the HERO vocabulary in your personal meetings and vacations and investments. Next Gen leaders may have a different expectation for “family” because societies always evolve.
2. Regular Meetings. Effective meetings have a cadence, and structure, designed to accelerate engagement. For many years I’ve used a “HERO Update” as a check-in or “Getting On Board” (GOB) activity. It’s on the agenda and I open the family meeting by asking, “Who has an example of someone else being a HERO?” When we recognize the desired behaviors of others, and lift those examples, we get applause or celebration. The result sets the tone for public validation, which is the most significant motivator for desired behaviors. Great meetings require that we focus on the successes of others. Family leaders need to manage that process.
3. Schedule The Talks. Elders sometimes avoid conflict because they don’t know how to talk with their loved ones about asset transfer or legacy. Communication skills can be developed, in small groups and in families. One reason for practitioners to team with other advisors with different skills (legal, wealth, behavioral psychology, etc.) is to manage the process and accelerate those talks. (Cite https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0894486514538652 )
4. Share Legacy Conversations with your heirs or Elders about your values, mission statement, hopes or fears. Notice HOW they say whatever they say. Add to your legacy conversations any attitudes or behaviors you want developed. Remove from your legacy conversations any attitudes or behaviors you want eliminated. Take good notes, use a spreadsheet, record them on Zoom, and share your observations with others. Family gatherings during this holiday season is a perfect time for 1:1 walks. From Ghandi to Jesus to your grandfather, leaders have led change by walking and talking- called “twalking” and taught at Stanford’s Business school. Try it.
5. Love Letters. Write a private love letter to each of your heirs and elders. Use the HERO vocabulary to structure each letter. Share them annually at Christmas, Thanksgiving, anniversaries or birthdays. Yes, I’ve done this activity for decades and it leads to tears and statements like, “This is my favorite Christmas tradition.”
6. Celebrate PsyCap in others. The biggest motivator of human achievement is public recognition (not cash). We can measure the use of the words “hope, efficacy, resiliency and optimism” in AI meeting summaries, investor reports, and any meeting. Then we can create a trend report or PsyCap Index, just like an Edelman Trust Index or Human Capital Index (see the impact of ISO 30414). All Family Business leaders use these words. Few leaders measure their impact.
7. Practice New Rituals. Every religion, school and family has rituals to reinforce shared beliefs. When we practice prayers, mindfulness, gratitude and the HERO model, then we are more likely to experience those outcomes. One of my clients has a 6’ statue of The Bear, representing their founder. Each time he walks through the lobby he states “Hello Bear” out loud. They share successes in a newsletter called “Bear Tips.” What new rituals do you need to adopt or nurture?
Conclusion
Like every family leader, I’m regularly reminded of how little I know. Our children remind me! I ask for advice, and read, and on good days I listen well. Then I try something new. The PsyCap term may be new to some readers. However, the words “hope, efficacy, resilience and optimism” are ancient and familiar.
If we embrace the HERO model for our loved ones and our clients, then we are practicing ancient wisdom, in a new way. (cite Gray, D.W. (2018). Positive Psychology Coaching Protocols: Creating Competitive Advantage for Leader Development. Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest).
My experience is that Psychological Capital describes changes for family leaders, and family-centric values over a longer term than any other measure of capital. Please contact me if you share that bias or want to continue this conversation.
Author bio:
Doug Gray, PhD, is the CEO of Action Learning Associates www.Action-Learning.com and a champion for Family Business leaders. His most recent book is The Success Playbook for Next Gen Family Business Leaders (2024). His projects include www.AssessNextGen.com and www.Family-WealthNetwork.com
List the top 5 people who are most important in my life today.
Instructions:
For each statement below, imagine how those who know you well would score you. Use a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high). After scoring yourself, add comments for additional insights or actions to improve.
Hope: “I have the “will and the way” to achieve my goals. Score: ____
Efficacy: “I feel confident in my ability to take on challenges and achieve desired outcomes.” Score: ____ Comments: ________________________________________________________
Resilience: “I can bounce back from setbacks and adapt to changes.” Score: ____ Comments: ________________________________________________________
Optimism: “I focus on the positive aspects of situations and believe in the best possible outcomes.” Score: ____ Comments: ________________________________________________________
Humility: “I value the contributions of others and admit my mistakes.”
Curiosity: “I actively seek new knowledge, ask questions, and explore diverse perspectives.” Score: ____ Comments: ________________________________________________________
Collaboration: “I work effectively with others, fostering trust, and contributing to collective goals.” Score: ____ Comments: ________________________________________________________
Accountability: “I take responsibility for my actions and follow through on commitments.” Score: ____ Comments: ________________________________________________________
Empathy: “I show understanding and compassion toward others’ experiences and emotions.” Score: ____ Comments: ________________________________________________________
Vision: “I communicate a clear and compelling vision that inspires others to act.” Score: ____ Comments: ________________________________________________________
Reflection Questions:
What do these scores and comments suggest about your current leadership strengths?
Which area(s) do you most want to improve over the next year?
How can you leverage your relationships with the five most important people in your life to support your personal and professional growth?
12 months from now, what are 1-2 important aspects of your life that you would regret losing? (These are the 1-2 aspects to focus on ahead).
Naturally, this self-assessment can be repeated at any time to track your growth and identify areas for continued development.
If you have advice on how to improve this self assessment, please comment or reply directly.
Seven steps to build leadership skills in family businesses.
All family business leaders struggle to balance tradition and innovation. That tension is vital, because it forces leaders to ask questions like, “What is our core business?,” “How can we adapt or innovate?” and “Who will lead the next phase of our enterprise?”
One reason regular family meetings are beneficial is so that owners and family members can discuss those key questions. Whether leaders gather around dinner tables or digital tables, we need to ask these questions repeatedly. We often need expert consultants to facilitate those discussions, reinforce guidelines and provide definitions.
Innovation can be defined simply as “new ideas applied.”
We innovate all the time, when we read articles or discuss strategies. We process new information and decide in a millisecond whether that idea is a risk worth taking or avoiding. But “next-level” is a vague term used by marketers and loosely applied to organizational leadership. So, let’s make this discussion meaningful for leaders who need to sustain the legacy and innovate for the future.
This article provides seven examples and steps to build leadership skills in family businesses. These examples combine practical wisdom with insights from organizational psychology and leadership research.
The Imperative for Innovative Leadership
The economic stakes are familiar to readers. As the backbone of global economies, family enterprises contribute over 70% of global GDP and employment (Family Firm Institute, 2018). The largest transfer of wealth in history — estimated at $74 trillion — is underway, with much of it rooted in family-owned businesses. This transfer, like any, leads to questions about leadership succession.
Innovation is no longer optional. The rise of digital technologies has disrupted traditional business models across every industry, from retail to agriculture.
The rate of disruption is slower today than it will ever be, and exponential technologies are driving countless innovations.
Consider these seven examples and steps.
1. Practice a Growth Mindset
Learning agility can be measured and developed. Thankfully, there are several competencies that are uniquely human and will never be replaced by AI! My research includes the competencies of curiosity (which is the currency of learning), humility and collaboration. Research on growth mindsets repeatedly confirms that individuals and teams who believe skill and ability can be developed through deliberate effort are more likely to achieve success. This mindset is critical for NextGen leaders who are tasked with balancing tradition and innovation.
Example: One of my clients is a G3 manufacturing firm facing declining sales due to automation. The incoming leader, after attending an executive leadership program and conducting local research at similar factories, introduced a robotics division, designed to streamline production and create new revenue streams. That decision required the courage to invest in uncharted territory and a belief in personal and organizational growth.
Action Steps:
Foster a culture of continuous learning through mentorship programs, peer groups, conference sharing and leadership development workshops.
Implement performance feedback systems to encourage reflection and learning from both successes and failures.
2. Develop Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence (EI), as defined by psychologist Daniel Goleman, includes self-awareness, empathy and social skills. Empathy is the most essential competency for managing relationships and fostering collaboration.
Example: One of my clients is a G2 financial services firm with a 30% annual growth rate. Two potential CEOs regularly disagreed with one another and had verbal arguments in the break room daily. After conducting 360 assessments on each leader, they understood what to start doing, stop doing and continue doing. They each learned how to manage their emotions, communicate better and reduce conflict. Then, we defined their succession steps.
Action Steps:
Conduct EI assessments, such as the EQ-i 2.0 or 360 assessments, for potential leaders.
Create or invest in peer group forums where family members can practice conflict resolution and improve interpersonal skills.
3. Balance Tradition with Innovation
Family business leaders tend to drive more innovation than leaders at publicly traded companies because they honor the past while embracing the future. “Both/And” thinking — the concept that multiple things can be true at the same time — is now taught in most MBA programs. Researchers repeatedly describe the importance of developing a shared vision that aligns multiple generational perspectives to reduce complexity. What will happen, as human lifespans grow, when we have five generations of family leaders in future meetings, instead of two or three generations?
Example: One of my clients is a G3 lighting company. They wanted to develop more integrated e-commerce strategies while maintaining their unique artisanal approach. The NextGen leader wanted to own this new technology process. She partnered with tech experts to launch a virtual showroom, which blended the brand’s heritage with cutting-edge technology. The result was a 40% increase in sales within the first year.
Action Steps:
Use an external facilitator to create a shared written document that captures the business’s core history, vision, mission, values and future goals.
Form design teams that are cross-generational or composed entirely of NextGens and/or include members of each family branch, to co-design annual innovation initiatives.
4. Build Psychological Capital (PsyCap)
The four positive psychological capacities — hope, resilience, optimism and self-efficacy — collectively known as Psychological Capital (PsyCap), have been repeatedly shown to enhance leadership performance. PsyCap can be measured and developed. As Fred Luthans, a management professor specializing in organizational behavior, told me, “PsyCap has and continues to take off across the world … I have over 166,000 citations of my research which has been awarded in the top 1% of all researchers in all fields in the world and ranks #1 in organizational behavior textbooks. In other words, I am very happy with how PsyCap is going, especially in the global economy.” I predict that PsyCap training and metrics will drive most succession initiatives in the next decade.
Example: During the COVID-19 pandemic, a food processing family business leveraged PsyCap to pivot quickly. By focusing on optimism and resilience, the leadership team restructured operations, launched direct-to-consumer products and maintained workforce morale. All metrics are up. In our annual trainings, their PsyCap scores reflect their focus on innovation over a three-year period.
Action Steps:
Assess PsyCap for individuals and teams annually. Include PsyCap measures in performance feedback discussions for every manager and direct report.
Provide educational sessions and resilience training workshops.
5. Mentorship and Coaching
Mentorship and coaching have always been instrumental in leadership development. Research has highlighted that structured coaching interventions improve goal attainment, leadership confidence and performance outcomes. Family businesses should leverage both internal mentorship and external coaching expertise.
Example: In a multi-generational family office, the retiring CEO mentored his granddaughter as his desired successor. She also worked with an external executive coach to refine her strategic thinking and decision-making skills. That dual approach is likely to increase the probability of a successful succession.
Action Steps:
Develop simple mentorship programs that invite NextGen leaders to solicit expertise from more experienced family members, owners, key vendors and board members.
Invest in external coaches for unbiased, professional leadership development.
6. Encourage Thought Diversity
Many family business leaders are insular, and insularity kills innovation. Toxic phrases like “We’ve tried that before” need to be banned from family business leaders. Toxic behaviors, like gossip and triangulation, need to be banned. When we solicit diversity through regional initiatives, impact investments, cross-industry experiences, think tank collaborations, affiliation groups and external advisory boards, leaders can accelerate innovation.
Example: A G4 farming operation joined a regional advisory board that included different local farmers, industry experts, academics and some politicians. That initiative led to the adoption of precision farming techniques, reducing costs by 25% and improving yield quality. My client developed a “Farm Operations Playbook” to share and review those techniques every season.
Action Steps:
Invite different types of people to join focus groups or select discussions.
Encourage NextGen leaders to express their thoughts and feelings on important topics.
7. Use Data-Driven Decision Making
All business leaders use metrics to make decisions, but NextGen leaders are not always included in those discussions. Any spreadsheet can be inserted into Chat GPT (or any generative AI platform) with prompts like, “What are the key measures that need to be considered for our business?” Those results can then be shared with a different AI platform, like Perplexity or Claude, with the prompt, “What other measures need to be considered for our business?” Consultants have used these technique for years, and NextGen leaders can use AI to assess data sets immediately. Consider the data analytics tools you might need to assess customer behavior, market trends, and your operational efficiencies.
Example: A G3 retail chain implemented advanced customer analytics to personalize marketing campaigns. This shift increased customer retention by 30%, demonstrating the power of data-driven strategies.
Action Steps:
Train leaders in data literacy and analytics tools, including edX and Power BI
Celebrate data-driven decision-making frameworks into all levels of daily operations
Conclusion: Next Steps
When I close coaching or educational sessions, I typically ask, “What are you taking away from this conversation that you will do next?” I encourage readers to take notes. Pick one to two of these examples or steps. Share this article. Practice innovation. The bottom line is that leaders practice leadership, just as attorneys practice law and physicians practice medicine.
Please contact me if you want to continue this conversation.
Lately I’ve been studying the design of psychological thrillers to determine what I like and don’t like. And what I might adopt or discard in my writing.
After identifying best sellers with over 5 million copies sold, from contemporary male authors, I settled on Alex Michaelides, who recently rocked the literary world with The Silent Patient and The Maidens.
Sadly, those titles were not in the local library, so I settled for The Fury. I’ve bought several other titles since reading this book.
If a thriller is designed to seduce us with suspense, misdirection, and character depth, then The Fury offers two out of three. Character depth is missing.
This isn’t a summertime beach read. It’s a constructed play. A stage set. And in many ways, I think that’s his point.
Narrative Design: When the Story Knows It’s a Story and thinks It’s Really Clever.
We’re introduced to an unreliable narrator who doesn’t just bend the truth, he crafts a performance. Like a playwright. Michaelides leans into the “meta” style: breaking the fourth wall, teasing what he’ll reveal later, and toying with our trust like an illusionist. It’s part Alfred Hitchcock, part Greek tragedy, part Netflix writer’s room. Totally unfamiliar to me… which made me feel ignorant at times.
For readers who enjoy that layered, self-referential tone, it may be a thrilling design. For those who want to read a clean narration, you may feel disappointed.
I suppose that all art deserves meta-new-radical styes… To test the norms. Call me ignorant.
Characters: Lots of Surface, Not Much Substance
Michaelides writes about beautiful, broken people in exotic places. The celebrity actress. Beloved by all. Then murdered. And this locked room setting- a private Greek island- creates an intense cinematic atmosphere. Surrounded by the endless winds, like the ancient Greek Furies, who reflect their fears and tensions. The characters? They’re glamorous, enigmatic, and often underwritten. Archetypes more than complex characters with emotional depth. As if they are wearing those large masks from Greek tragedies.
The central narrator offers clever insights, but rarely emotional vulnerability. And that’s the gap. We’re watching from the VIP balcony in the Greek theater. Outdoors. But never allowed backstage or inside their hearts.
Style: Controlled, like a noisy wind whipping around an ancient Greek column.
The Fury moves slowly, like a carefully blocked play. That pacing is deliberate. The reveals are timed. Slowly. The tension is intellectual more than visceral. Some of the twists work, others feel dropped in as if from a screenwriting workshop. Maybe that’s part of the meta-design.
It’s an emotionally distant style. Perhaps reflecting the celebrity movie star who is admired more than deeply loved.
What Works for me:
Narrative voice that dares me/ you to keep up with clever reversals
Elegant structure with Acts that create a theatrical sensibility
Strong control over tone and pacing and setting
Evokes the classic designs from Agatha Christie or Alfred Hitchcock
What Doesn’t work for me:
Emotional detachment from the central players
Plot twists that feel too engineered, or too late (Maybe I’m getting too critical in my old age)
Meta narration design led to frustrations and made me set the book aside (Probably because I don’t understand the fourth wall direct appeals to readers.)
Character development that rarely gets beneath the masks worn on the island
Some Final Thoughts
I closed The Fury feeling impressed but not moved. I wanted to be greatly moved. Perhaps I should have read his other titles first…
The Fury is a clever novel about storytelling. But that cleverness left me wanting.
Read it if you want a stylish mental puzzle.
Have you read it? Did the narrator charm you or push you away?
Drop a comment- I’d love to know what you think of thrillers that know they’re thrillers.
Recent Comments