Movies for The Next Generation of Business Owners

Mar 16, 2015 | 0 comments

Check out today’s guest post on the blog for the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys. It’s titled “Encouraging Succession Planning with Movies.” My article focuses on films to facilitate family conversations about how to plan for passing along a family business to the next generation.

This Is Where I Leave You posterThe films include:

The 2014 movie, This Is Where I Leave You, with a scene that shows adult siblings arguing over the joint ownership and management of the family’s sporting goods store. This one scene very vividly illustrates the need for a family business to map out next steps for succession, especially with more than one child inheriting a share of the enterprise.

The Six Wives of Henry Lefay shows why it’s important to update estate and business plans regularly. The deceased Henry has an ex-wife as his business partner and the current wife claims she now owns Henry’s half of the business. How does this work in real life?

The HBO TV series Six Feet Under has a stellar example of sibling rivalries within an inherited family business – a funeral home. Plus, a large corporation, Kroehner Service International, is pressuring the family to sell or be put out of business. How can succession planning deal with these issues?

The 1948 classic Western Red River offers a memorable story about clashing generational management styles. By watching John Wayne and Montgomery Clift duke it out, families might be able to have more reasoned conversations about their own business management styles.

Read the full article here.

Gail Rubin, CT, The Doyenne of Death®, brings a light touch to serious subjects as a speaker who uses humor and funny films to attract people to discuss mortality, end-of-life, estate and funeral planning issues. She is Certified in Thanatology: Death, Dying and Bereavement, a Certified Funeral Celebrant, author of the award-winning book and host of the TV and radio shows A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die.

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