Abstract
Most emerging adults have one foot inside their nuclear family and one outside, with family dynamics and relationships—and even brain development—changing fast. It’s a time of self-discovery, where futures will be imagined and careers launched. Ownership development can be an important part of this growth, but older family members must consider challenges younger adults face with having so many choices and potentially being over-immersed in digital pursuits. Development goals for emerging adults include promotion of learning and individuation; awareness of the tradeoffs enterprise members make among the individual (“I”), family (“we”), and enterprise (“it”); and more advanced understanding of ownership and business. Promising ownership-development activities in this stage can be: encouragement of independence (through living on one’s own and travel); knowledge-building through family enterprise-education opportunities, peer groups, and industry associations; participation in family governance; work opportunities within or outside the family business; and others. Influencers of development include parents and extended family members, non-family executives, and outside advisors and community members. From the start, it’s important to balance respect for who the emerging adult is with any desire to have them participate in the enterprise, without forcing choices on them. Typical pitfalls in this stage include overdoing development—too many activities and expectations—and stimulating excessive competition between family members of this age.
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Notes
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For a contemporary take on parents and emerging adults, see Arnett. J. J., & Fishel, E. (2014). Getting to 30: A parent’s guide to the 20-something years (Reprint ed.). Workman Publishing Company.
- 2.
Much of our thinking around developmental stages is shaped by the work of Erik Erikson, specifically his framework of age-related identity conflicts. Young adults tend to be dealing with two specific conflicts: identity vs. role confusion, and intimacy vs. isolation. Both are reflected heavily in the differentiation process, as young adults in family enterprise deal with anxiety about who they are and how they fit into different social systems including the family, enterprise, and others. See Erikson, E. H. (1993). Childhood and Society (Reissue ed.). W. W. Norton.
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For a deeper explanation about mentorship and the difference with other important guiding roles, see Hughes, J. E., Jr. (2010). Family wealth: Kee** it in the family (Vol. 34). Wiley.
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Suggested Additional Readings
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Sage-Hayward, W., Marchisio, G., Dartt, B. (2022). Family Enterprise Participation Without Expectation: Emerging Adults (Ages 18 to 28). In: Own It!. A Family Business Publication. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20419-8_4
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