I have seen it happen over and over again. As family businesses approach a generational transition conflict can very easily arise. The source of this conflict is normally the different ideas and views between the older generation and the younger generation – with the usual clash of tradition versus innovation OR continuity versus change. On one hand the older generation would really want to perpetuate the values and life lessons that helped them succeed in the family business, in the hope that their children will do the same. Younger generations, however, often find that the reality around them is pushing them to adapt these values as the family business needs to achieve different goals. Failure to reconcile the above outlined conflicting views, can spell ruin for a family business or the waste of a financial legacy. To avoid this, family businesses need to think differently about their legacy. A legacy can be an enabler, but make it too rigid and it becomes an inhibitor. Let me try to explain in more detail.

Conventional wisdom holds that family heritage, like wealth and reputation, “belongs” to the older generation. In this view, succeeding generations are merely stewards or caretakers. They are given an inheritance or entrusted with the family business — and then charged with not blowing it away or screwing it up. Framed this way, a legacy can feel more like a burden than a gift. Of course, it’s not as simple as that. Research suggests that younger generations do value their family heritage. However, younger generations also want something more that just the legacy of their family business. They want a sense of purpose, a collective identity for the family, the seeds of new entrepreneurial projects and the permission to go their own way.

Many times, I see older family business owners, in theirs 70s or beyond, who identify so closely with the family business, that they actually obstruct family businesses from evolving or becoming more professional. In some instances they would be, for example, so eager to protect the family’s reputation that they would resist getting outside help or improving governance.

So the million dollar question is this: How can the next generation build on their family business legacy while having leeway to build their new way forward? Here are some pointers :

• Link the family business story to the new way forward: Some next-generation leaders hesitate to embark on risky new ventures outside the traditional scope of the family business. Locating examples in the family business story where new ventures where embarked upon with success can legitimise the new way forward.

• Persuade others on the need to have the family business forge an identity beyond the founder or founders. It’s easy to revere the family’s wealth creator. But even the founders where human. Presenting them as demi-gods will likely do more harm than good. By seeing the founder or founders in human terms allows the family’s younger generation to move beyond hero worship to forging their own identities, just like the founders did. This would enable the younger generations to make them responsible owners of the family business and the wealth they inherited.

• Sort past wrongs to forge a new way forward. I would say that all family businesses have some skeletons in the cupboard. Wrongdoings that they have long concealed or downplayed. The willingness to confront these darker chapters, can be a powerful motivation to then do things differently going forward.

• Leverage the family story as a source of competitive advantage. For some family businesses, building new ventures or new ways of doing things, can be done as a means of preserving their existence and hence their legacy. Moreover, using their family story and legacy can be a competitive advantage when venturing into new business areas, as their brand and what it represents could be a good springboard for new business ventures to start off on a better footing.

A Family business legacy is an opportunity for open dialogue. When family businesses think of legacy in these terms, they empower younger generations to harness that story to their own purposes, drawing strength from their elders. Legacy, in short, stops being a burden but a blessing — one that can help family businesses sustain wealth and purpose long into the future.