The Three-Circle Model

When the wealth creator in a family dies, the family loses more than a parent. It loses the person who held the decisions, the relationships and often the unspoken rules together. I recently worked with a family at exactly this point, and put together a three-circle model guide to help the rising generation learn to decide together for the first time.

Most families reach a moment like this. Sometimes it follows a death. Just as often it's a wealth creator stepping back, a sale, or the next generation taking a seat at the table. What was once held by one person now has to be shared, often by a different generation.

The guide uses the Three-Circle Model, developed at Harvard Business School by Renato Tagiuri and John Davis, to show why relatives can look at the same decision and see very different things. An owner who works in the family business or office, a sibling who doesn't, and a spouse who is neither will each weigh it differently, and each can be right.

It also includes nine questions to work through, alone first and then together as a family. For advisers, it's a quick way to see where a client sits within their family system, and who else needs to be in the room.

It's useful for any family setting up or evolving its governance. You can download it HERE.