Transformative family leadership for a sustainable economy

Family businesses and private investment play a significant and growing role in the global economy. Across continents, new and established impact-focused families have shaped and benefited from an era of rapid innovation and progress in which millions of people have been lifted out of poverty and quality of life has improved for many.

Too often, however, global growth has come at a spiralling cost to communities, nature and climate, stoking drivers of division and conflict. Unsustainable practices trigger converging risks for people and planet. They generate tensions within families and within the communities and societies they are a part of, undermining opportunities for long-term value creation and balanced ways of living and working.

CISL aims to equip families to define their purpose and make a difference, focusing on their unique context and potential to drive change across generations. It positions the private wealth ecosystem within the broader economic and development context, drawing on expert perspectives in The University of Cambridge and CISL’s deep experience in leadership development, sustainable finance and business transformation. 

The case for change

Wealth and business owning families face unique responsibilities and pressures. Externally, they must navigate converging risks, system shocks and economic transformations to create and protect value over the long term in ways that are consistent with their purpose and values. Families face increasing scrutiny in relation to growing inequality, demands for more equitable and inclusive models of wealth creation, and ownership of carbon-intensive assets and enterprises. Collectively, these pressures will require a fundamental rethink of the nature of value, how value is created, and for whom.

Internally, many families also need to find ways to engage with the voices, values and priorities of new generations. Family wealth can be destructive or open pathways for collective impact and fulfilment. Understanding personal horizons and balancing the different perspectives of wealth creators and wealth inheritors and finding routes to ‘regenerative’ leadership that embraces the strengths and ambitions of different generations is fundamental to ensure that families and their capital (human, social and financial) evolve and flourish for long term success and impact.

"The more progressive families are consciously investing in themselves – building their capacity to lead change, but also learning how to unlearn, how to let go of their prevailing worldview or legacy behaviours, accepting the need sometimes to challenge the status quo, and taking stock of their values, their purpose and the contribution that they make to society through a fresh look at the notion of stewardship.”

Dame Polly Courtice DBE, LVO, Emeritus Director and Senior Ambassador, CISL

Watch CISL Founder and former Director, Dame Polly Courtice, at the Family Business Conference in February 2021.

The opportunity to lead from the front

Families often have the longest planning cycle in the economy. They have the ability and incentive to plan for operating contexts in and beyond 2050 and to prepare emerging generations to lead the family into the future. Compared to other economic actors, families’ routes to influence have unique potential because they can integrate:

• Entrepreneurship and enterprise leadership. Many families have built businesses or have significant interests in major enterprises. This puts many at the forefront of industrial and technological transformations, leading the transition of commercial strategies and business models and innovating for new, commercially viable solutions to society’s most pressing challenges.
• Asset management. Families can deploy their capital in purpose-driven ways that drive transformation for sustainable economies and societies and incentivise long term value creation.
• Philanthropy, social investment and lifestyles. Families can make bold moves that accelerate awareness and action on societies’ most pressing needs. The way that purpose-driven families choose to live, and the values and priorities they display, have a profound impact in shaping social and cultural aspirations in their home countries and internationally.

Programme Goals and Design

The programme has a dual focus on external and internal leadership to optimise learning and practical impact. It aims to help families explore and define their purpose and to use this to drive sustainable transformation in the ways in which wealth and value are created, managed and deployed. Key benefits include:

1. The opportunity to learn from peers, leading academics and international experts sharing evidence-based future-focused insights into the most relevant trends and challenges for families at global or regional level.
2. Structured one-to-one support throughout the programme to help participants explore purpose specific to their context and develop transformative, commercially relevant strategies and tools that reflect family values and the needs and aspirations of their communities.
3. Faculty facilitated opportunities to learn and co-create with peers, sharing existing solutions and working together to create new solutions.
4. A safe space to hear radical voices and debate challenging and sensitive issues, such as the future of wealth in a context of growing inequality and new paradigms of power.
5. Opportunities to explore and develop major long-term partnerships to drive impact on shared priorities, from education, health and migration to environmental regeneration.
6. Membership of a trusted, international peer community for long-term support, dialogue and sharing of experience.

The programme will complement existing family focused networks, initiatives and programmes through its holistic collaborative approach to the future of wealth and business owning families and their impact on society.

"Family and business continuity is an inadequate goal for an ambitious wealth and business owning family. Families can enjoy the possibility of more than just continuity – families can regenerate and benefit from igniting new generations of family stewards and entrepreneurs to not only steward and continue, but to build and contribute.”

Philip Marcovici, Founding Advisor to the Multi-Generational Leadership Programme

Who should attend?

Our ambition is to engage the most impact-focused families internationally to build a leading forum for change which benefits from wide diversity of perspective and experience.

The programme is designed for family members who are responsible for shaping family purpose, values and priorities, for driving value creation or for stewarding assets. Participants may come from different generations, from family elders to those currently leading decision-making or next generation members preparing for a future leadership role. The programme is open to individual family members and to small groups of representatives from the same family (e.g. spanning different generations or responsibilities). The key criteria for participation are focused on the potential of those attending to contribute – to the programme and to our world.

In addition, all participants must:

• Hold an undergraduate degree (or equivalent)
• Be proficient in English
• Be available to complete all key dimensions of the programme and contribute to peer-to-peer sessions.

The programme is not designed for multi-family offices, advisors or bankers (CISL is exploring complementary learning and networking opportunities for influential stakeholders from the wider private wealth ecosystem).

However, there will be a very limited number of single-family office representatives who hold senior roles with the families they serve and can accompany family members on the Multi-Generational Leadership journey. While not all sessions will be open to non-family participants (to ensure fully open dialogue), these representatives will benefit hugely from attendance and be able to help their respective families engage with this programme over the longer term, especially where families have different members participating from year to year.

Timeline and format

A one-week residential programme in Cambridge, UK combining network meetings, thematic workshops, family case studies, expert advice from sector leaders, guided one-to-one consultations, and networking gala dinners. Delegates will receive lifelong membership to CISL’s global community of leaders, changemakers and experts in sustainable development.

An online orientation welcome meeting will be held prior to the start of the programme, along with a post programme peer to peer network online event.

DATES: The programme will take place from Sunday 10 November (afternoon registration) until Friday 15 November lunchtime.

Accommodation:  Accommodation costs are not included in the programme fee, however bedrooms will be reserved on a provisional basis at the venue, for delegates to book on a first come-first served basis.

All meals and refreshments will be provided throughout the Programme.

“Families must in parallel address internal issues which can become greater derailers than the challenges of the external environment. Families must ensure that they themselves are sustainable. Family continuity can be undermined without adequate preparation for succession.” 

Iraj Ispahani, Founding Advisor to the Multi-Generational Leadership Programme

Outcomes and Impact

Participants will engage in a structured blend of learning formats tailored to the specific context and needs of families, to:

• Share / broaden awareness of common challenges and differences in lived experience
• Deepen understanding of key social, environmental and economic indicators, including climate change, population growth and social cohesion
• Improve systems thinking, identifying how key indicators such as food, energy and water interconnect and the enablers of systemic transformations, including private institutions, regulators and the finance sector
• Explore key changes in the global economy, including shifts in the economic paradigm and the relationship between ‘value’ and ‘values’
• Evaluate the implications of these changes on business and asset value and family values
• Explore the purpose and dynamics of families, looking beyond financial stewardship to consider values, governance (including owner succession) and regenerative leadership approaches that can hold families together to drive change
• Assess the role and opportunities for family wealth and family businesses as the 21st century progresses
• Identify effective ways to lead and use agency in the new context and to enhance personal capabilities for this purpose
• Build insight into changing stakeholder expectations and how to build effective stakeholder relationships
• Build insight into strategic responses and commercially viable solutions to the leadership of enterprises and the stewardship of assets
• Build strong international peer networks to provide a long-term forum for shared learning and collaboration.

Advisory Group

This programme is informed and supported by an International Advisory Group. These individuals will draw on their wealth of experience to inform the programme design and contribute to the programme. 

Who delivers the programme?

For over 30 years, CISL has worked at the heart of The University of Cambridge to deliver leadership and education programmes for some of the most influential individuals and organisations worldwide. We combine academic excellence, industry expertise and influential thinking to ensure the content is suitable, diverse and stretches thinking, shapes behaviours and informs practice.

This programme will be delivered by CISL’s international network of Senior Associates, Fellows and guest contributors with additional insights from University thought leaders and members of the Advisory Group.

"There is so much families can learn from each other and so much more wealth and business owning families can contribute to dialogue on all aspects of sustainability. CISL provides an academic voice and a safe environment to explore topics critical to families and to their communities and world. Our work on exploring how a circular economy mindset can impact governance and decision-making is exciting and is helping families to navigate an increasingly troubled world where risks to wealth and business owners abound.”

Philip Marcovici, Founding Advisor to the Multi-Generational Leadership Programme

Applications

All nominations are subject to a robust vetting procedure to ensure delegates meet the criteria and that the cohort is a suitably diverse group.

Please note, travel and accommodation costs are not covered by the participation fee.

Apply here.

To learn more, please contact multi-generational.leadership@cisl.cam.ac.uk.