What the Wealthy Really Think About

“Build it. Grow it. Blow it.”

That’s how I’ve heard more than one Wall St dealmaker describe the nature of familial wealth as I was coming up.

The entrepreneur visionary first-generation sees an unmet need. They address it beautifully and are rewarded with a successful enterprise as a result.

The second-generation takes that energy and grows it. They add scale, increase complexity and usually benefit from several tailwinds across the capital and operating structures.

If you are lucky they are the “I can do better than Dad!” type — that’s when you see the introduction of new strategy, updated tactics, enhanced logistics and more. Perhaps it goes so far as to buy your family business another generation or two.

The final-generation can be difficult to watch.

They are very far from the hunger that incited the launch, or growth, of the business. Typically the company is near (if not outright) all-time headcount, the greatest level of complication, the most mature competition all fueled by the s…