What families pass on, beyond money with Damon Kitney

I imagine if you're going through big generations of, uh, you know, stories and storytelling, you get some good life lessons that you can steal from other families.

Have you, have you, uh, found anything that's profound in this experience or-

Mm

... a lesson that should be sort of shared with the broader world?

I guess there's lots of different lessons.

Um, from a personal experience, um, it's funny, I did a family a few years ago, um, who are huge into meditation and, yeah.

And it's funny, I- they sort of got, got me into, uh, the meditation practice a bit and, um, yeah, started doing s- some of it myself because I was like...

Uh, and it actually was, was great, so, you know, I wouldn't have even thought about doing it if I hadn't have been through that experience with them.

Um, so yeah, sometimes it can sort of impact your own life.

But I think lessons, I mean, the most common thing that I find, um, is a very common trait of the most successful families, that, um, A, are able to succeed in business, but B, are able to pass on wealth and most importantly, empower the next generations, is humility.

Really?

And a lot of people don't associate that with wealth.

Mm.

Um, but I find the families that do it well, um, are not the ones that are the grandstanders or, um, out there in the headlines.

Um, they're the ones that are quietly, you know, doing this behind the scenes, or their brand is very public, but their profile is very, very low, or they sit behind other people that are in the public eye.

And it's the same with delegation and empowerment of the next generation.

Newspapers are littered with stories through the courts of where you have, you know, patriarchs and matriarchs where they say, "It's my way or the highway." Uh, they don't accept the, the views or, um, or, uh, attitudes of the next generation.

Um, and they take that, sadly, to their grave.

And I, I have seen some families that are amazing in the way that they empower the next generation, um, where they're willing to be open about what they can't do well, and they're all- a- and they're, then they empower the next generation to, to fill in those gaps where they, where they don't have those skills.

Not that they don't have disputes or brawls occasionally-

Yeah

...

but they're, um, very willing to, um, you know, give the reins across to, to that next generation, whether it's children or grandchildren or whatever.

Um, and it's not an easy thing to do, not an easy thing to do.

Why is that difficult?