A family compass workshop agenda for billionaire families
Built on Chapter 5 of The Single Family Office by Richard C. Wilson. Full chapter text: FamilyOffices.com.
Bring the decisions to the workshop before bringing the wording. A billionaire family can spend a weekend polishing a mission statement and leave without agreeing how its money should support the people who depend on it. The agenda needs to produce choices the office can use.
Chapter 5 calls for a family compass built around mission, values, and practical policies. I would start the workshop with the questions that are already causing uncertainty. That gives the discussion a job beyond finding language everyone will sign.
Prepare a factual starting point
Before the meeting, ask each participating adult what they want the shared capital to accomplish and what they fear losing. Invite private responses so people can raise a difficult subject without performing in front of the group.
Have the office prepare a short ownership and service summary. Identify existing obligations and decisions that cannot be changed by a family agreement alone. Keep detailed personal records out of a general meeting packet unless access is appropriate.
Choose who will facilitate and who will record decisions. A family member may be effective in either role, but a disputed issue may benefit from a neutral facilitator with a defined scope.
Open with the use of the money
Begin with what the family expects from its wealth. Discuss support for family members, the role of the operating business, and charitable commitments. Ask where these priorities compete for cash or attention.
Do not start by asking everyone to select attractive words from a list. Responsibility means different things to different relatives. Ask what conduct the word would require when a real request comes before the office.
In an investor talk, I tell people to go to meetings with agendas. Give this meeting the same discipline. List the decisions being requested and the information needed for each. If a subject is for discussion only, say so before participants assume their attendance will be counted as approval.
Work through an actual unresolved choice
Use a decision the family is authorized to discuss. It could concern a shared service or the proposed use of a discretionary pool. Keep the relevant facts available and identify any legal questions that need a separate answer.
Let each participant explain their reasoning before asking for agreement. Record where the group agrees, where it differs, and what information is missing. Do not turn a lack of objection into a permanent commitment.
A facilitator should keep a private concern from being exposed unnecessarily. The group can agree on a general rule without making a person's medical or financial circumstances the centerpiece of the meeting.
Connect principles to office instructions
For each agreed value, write one behavior the office should follow. If the family values independence, specify how support requests are considered. If privacy is a priority, identify the people allowed to share family information with outside parties.
List the policies needed to carry out those choices. Some will belong in governance documents, some in the investment mandate, and others in service procedures. Assign someone to coordinate the professional work required.
The compass does not create powers that the family does not have. Record recommendations that require trustee, board, or legal action as recommendations until those steps are completed.
Close with ownership of the next steps
Read the decisions back in ordinary language. Give participants a chance to correct the record. Identify which questions remain open and who will gather the missing information.
Set the next discussion around those unfinished decisions. Circulate a short record with access appropriate to the content. Family members should know what they agreed to and which documents will change as a result.
Use the wealth story to start the discussion
In a recorded explanation of our family-values tool, I ask people to describe how they created their wealth and what businesses they built. The tool proposes possible values from that account, and the person corrects them before discussing them with a spouse or family. That correction step is part of what I actually teach. A workshop can use the same sequence without requiring any particular software. Bring the wealth story into the room, identify the behavior it describes, and let other family members challenge the wording. A proposed value needs the family's agreement before it becomes an instruction for the office.
What to take from this
- Gather concerns privately before the workshop.
- Use real choices to test proposed values.
- Separate family agreement from legal implementation.
- Assign the follow-through before everyone leaves.
At the next meeting, begin by checking whether the office used the agreed principle. A workshop produces value when it changes how a request or decision is handled.
This page is general information, not legal advice. Family governance documents and dispute processes should be reviewed by a qualified attorney.
Questions and answers
Who should attend? Include the people affected by the family decisions under discussion, with access and legal roles made clear in advance.
Should the workshop settle every disagreement? No. Record unresolved issues and assign the facts or professional advice needed before another decision.
What should leave the room? A clear decision record, a short list of open issues, and named responsibility for the required policy work.