And yet… the fourth generation can’t agree on what to do with it.
Here’s a masterclass in how NOT to run a family business:
🔴 Step 1: Build something legendary (great job, Estée)
🔴 Step 2: Hand it to your kids (fine, still okay)
🔴 Step 3: Hand it to THEIR kids (getting spicy)
🔴 Step 4: Watch the fourth generation argue about it while competitors eat your lunch
The Lauders aren’t alone. Gucci imploded in the 80s when third-gen family members turned “luxury fashion house” into “luxury soap opera.” Cartier lost the whole thing. CARTIER.
The brutal truth about family businesses nobody posts on LinkedIn:
→ Founding generation builds with hunger.
→ Second generation protects with pride.
→ Third generation inherits with entitlement.
→ Fourth generation fights with lawyers.
It’s not a bug. It’s the oldest feature in capitalism.
The fix isn’t complicated — it’s just incredibly uncomfortable:
1. Separate ownership from management. Your last name ≠ a leadership qualification.
2. Install governance BEFORE you need it. A family constitution written during a crisis is a hostage negotiation, not a strategy.
3. Pick a lane. “We want to honor Grandma’s vision AND disrupt the market AND maximize dividends” is not a strategy. It’s a therapy session.
This is exactly why I do what I do.
I’m Jocelyn Greenky, and I embed directly with family businesses — at your home, your vacation property, wherever your family actually gathers — to have the conversations that boardroom walls never allow. Succession. Governance. The stuff that lives in the hallways and never makes it to the agenda.
Families who do this work don’t just leave with a plan. They leave with each other.
The Lauders still have time. Does your family?
If the succession conversation keeps getting postponed, let’s talk: siderroad.com/family-business-in-residence
