New Zealanders watched the series Succession and often dismissed it as not reality.
Let's unpack that thought:
New Zealand, as a younger nation, is in many ways on the brink of dealing with and comprehending what significant and generational wealth looks like. With due credit to our indigenous people, who have understood this for a long time, many families have successfully built businesses that are now of substantial worth, as we are arguably on the brink of a great wealth transition.
Largely, these are first and second generations who have strived and struggled most of their life to build what we now see. Their children have watched: Some have moved away, others have felt the responsibility to perpetuate & honour the hard work that their parents have done.
Along comes some opportunity or some life situation that says "time to live in a more relaxed way", "We want to have more time on our hands, we want to relax and enjoy the fruits of our labour, play with our grandkids…. How can we do this?
Alternatives that tend to emerge are:
We're here to tell you other really good options that will enable the company to continue the family legacy and provide a cash basis that can then facilitate the following generations to go forward, leverage from this and, over time, extend the family enterprises.
As the story goes, the first generation makes the money, the second generation grows the money, but the third generation loses the money. There is an excellent reason for this, and it can be summarised as hard times making tough people, easy times making soft people, and soft people making tough times.
The privilege of choice that comes with a level of wealth must be understood. With its recognition comes the understanding that the training children need differs from the parents'. The situation is different and the circumstances are different. The builders of the wealth struggled, built grit, resilience, and determination, and knew the value of every dollar. When the following generations are lovingly provided for, a great many of these core skills can go unlearnt or underdeveloped.
An imperative aspect of maintaining what's been created to date is that subsequent generations are all creating a level of contribution, earning or working in some way. We all recognise that we work the hardest when we are doing something we genuinely believe in and are passionate about. The businesses that were the dreams of their founders are not necessarily the dreams of the following generations.
Capturing all these aspects is at the heart of Kimpton Co., which focuses on three main pillars.