1. Ian A Marsh familydr JP Morgan Cazenove, London February 1 2008
Cazenove Capital Trustee Conference Avoiding Jarndyce … … managing family conflict
Ian A Marsh
familydr
JP Morgan Cazenove, London
February

2. Cazenove Capital Trustee Conference February 1 2008
The challenge
2 out of 5 marriages end in divorce
1 in 4 families fall out over a will
42% of siblings never talk again
20% never talk to their mother again
11% make a will to stop inheritance
Less than 24% of family businesses make it to the second generation and less than 10% to the third
Cazenove Capital Trustee Conference February

3. Cazenove Capital Trustee Conference February 1 2008
The downside risk
For the family
Loss of family and fortune
For the trustee
Loss of clients and opportunity
Reputational risk
For the professional
Loss of clients
Cazenove Capital Trustee Conference February

4. Cazenove Capital Trustee Conference February 1 2008
Sources of tension
Marriage breakdown
Generation gap
Digital divide
Sibling rivalry
First family v second family
Family v professional management
The vision thing
Cazenove Capital Trustee Conference February

5. Cazenove Capital Trustee Conference February 1 2008
Causes of conflict
“Most disputes arise from miscommunication, unmet expectation, disappointment and frustration”
Carroll and Mackie, The Art of Business Diplomacy
Perception is all
F includes response of last resort to coercive power
Cazenove Capital Trustee Conference February

6. Obstacles to communication
Ready, willing …
… and able?
Listening and hearing
Seeing, hearing and moving
People, problem and process
Gender, religion and culture
Strong emotion
Loss of trust
Cazenove Capital Trustee Conference February

7. Cazenove Capital Trustee Conference February 1 2008
Triggers
Any material change, but particularly
Death
Divorce
Managerial succession
Proposed sale of the family business
Restructurings and reorganisations
Cazenove Capital Trustee Conference February

8. What can the family do? Communicate, communicate, communicate
Cazenove Capital Trustee Conference February

9. What can the professionals do?
Model good behaviour
Encourage engagement and dialogue
Encourage venting
BUT empathise, don’t sympathise
Discourage entrenchment
Discourage demonisation
Encourage early neutral intervention
Cazenove Capital Trustee Conference February

10. Cazenove Capital Trustee Conference February 1 2008
Mediation Magic
A trained, trusted, neutral
lets people speak the unspeakable
ends the dialogue of the deaf
speaks truth to power
to achieve open and honest dialogue
Cazenove Capital Trustee Conference February

11. “Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of creative alternatives to conflict – alternatives to passive or aggressive responses, alternatives to violence”
Dorothy Thompson

12. Dialogue is more than a series of monologues