Skip to main content
wealth strategy

The following is an excerpt from On the Shoulders of Atlas: A Story about Transitioning a Family-Owned Business.

It tells the story of Victor Banks, entrepreneur, founder and owner of Atlas Plastics, his wife Anne, and his children Anthony, Rose, Caitlin, and Robert. Mr. Banks put in 80-hour weeks and slowly built his company from a small family business into a global powerhouse with sales of more than $200 million. Three of the children work in the business, one doesn't. All are wondering what their father plans to do next. Will he keep the business and grow it? Will he sell it? Livelihoods and careers depend on his decision. But Mr. Banks can't see a clear way forward.

Mr. Banks may be fictional but the issues are commonplace, and the expert advice in the book can be applied to any company. This is the first of three parts that will run today, tomorrow and Wednesday. It's part of Chapter 7 by Linda Betts, president of Heritage Wealth Strategy Group Inc.







The first time I heard of Victor Banks was one uncharacteristically mild February day as I was walking to my office after a meeting nearby. The day had been beautiful, but then a surprise rain shower arrived. I ran for cover, and, of course, my cell phone rang just then. It went to voice mail before I could answer.

The message was from Ron Prehogan. Ron had called me because the family itself seemed directionless amid the massive changes taking place within the family company. Ron had been urging Victor to see how I might help, but Victor kept saying, 'I'm trying to sell a business. I don't need any touchy-feely family therapy stuff.' But Victor did an about-face and wanted me to talk with him and his wife.

Ron filled me in on what he'd learned about the family, and we met with Victor and Anne not too long after I received that message. It was immediately clear that Ron had guessed correctly when he said Anne's influence had probably convinced Victor to hold the meeting.

The first thing Victor said was, "I want to be frank. As I see it, I've got a major company here. I built it, and my main concern recently has been what to do with it. I don't really see why it matters what other people think. In fact, I bet that if you got my family in a room together, you'd get six different ideas of the best way to go. We got a taste of that at the cottage - I assume Ron told you all about that?"

As I nodded, Anne interjected immediately.

"My main concern is our family. In a way, this is no different from how it's always been, is it? You were always involved in the business, and you didn't seem to understand how that affected our family life while the kids were growing up. Now you don't see how your disentanglement from the business may affect our family's future."

"Anne, my family is one thing, and the business is another. End of story."









I had to come in at this point. "Victor, let's look at what's happened. Ron and Ken helped you figure out your business issues and structure, and helped you decide what to do with your business. Steve and Pearl have been working to come up with the optimal structure for your transaction. Tony has identified potential buyers and investors, and you're pretty close to making a decision. As I understand it, you hope your grandson will run the company one day, which remains one main reason for the direction of your decision. So what will it be worth if your family implodes in the meantime-if, in fact, there isn't a solid commitment from your children and they decide they don't want any part of the plan?"

That must have got Victor to see the very real connection between his business and his family, because suddenly the conversation's tone changed.

"Tell us how you operate."

I started with the result my process is designed to achieve. "My concern when I work with a business family is to preserve and nurture all family assets. Ron may have told you that I used to practise law. I'm not a practising lawyer now, but I use my legal experience in a consulting role as a family wealth strategist to help families address their wealth in its broadest sense."

This piqued his interest.

"You call it your business, Victor, and you have every right to. But my guess is that your children call it the family business. If you're like most successful business families, your business defines your family in profound ways: It provides their livelihood, it provides a sense of personal identity, and it provides a sense of common identity. Sure, the business is your largest financial asset, but other assets are just as important in the context of the family.

"Think about an entrepreneurial enterprise like Atlas. It's been successful because it's always been inspired and led by your vision, and it's always been run to that vision. The same is true of the most successful, biggest public companies in the world: They're successful because they're working to a vision.

"The same business principles that apply to the business world apply to families as far as their operation and success are concerned. A family needs to develop and work to a strategic plan. It should understand and apply all of its capital, not just one aspect of it, to a vision that everybody understands. I help business families define that vision, create their strategic plan, and ensure that the business asset promotes what's important to the family."

"You know, we've always been comfortable," Victor said. "We've provided a good life for our children. But we've never had this kind of money before. It may sound funny, but we're concerned that the enormous value they'll receive from the trust in six years might not be that great for the kids. We're afraid this sudden wealth could disrupt their families if they don't deal with it responsibly."

This was a good sign because it meant they were genuinely concerned about their family's well-being. It also meant they were at least beginning to grapple with estate planning issues. The conversation was wide-ranging and gave me valuable initial insights into Victor and Anne, how they saw their family, and what was important to them. They asked many questions of me as well, about how I came to be doing this kind of work, what my process involved, what my fee was, and what success I had in helping families get on track and stay there.









I started to explain my process, and when I paused for a moment, Victor said, "That sounds pretty straightforward. A family meeting to let everyone know what we're doing in the context of our overall wealth and why we're doing it - that makes sense. Individual meetings to get everyone's honest thoughts and feelings. Drafting a report on what you've discovered and giving everyone a chance to vet their own sections-that sounds fair. Then a collective report and a family meeting to discuss it. Is that it?"

"Well, I'd say that covers the background work. The report leads us to your family's strategic plan in connection with your overall wealth. From that, we figure out next steps, including wills, possible new trust arrangements, shareholders' agreements - every appropriate tool at our disposal to ensure the family stays in alignment, both now and as things pass on to the next generation."

They both liked the thought of focusing their family in a more deliberate way and thought my approach made sense. Victor even said that maybe he'd been a bit hasty when he'd called this "family therapy."

As the meeting ended, Victor and Anne said they wanted to set a date for the first family meeting on these issues. Then they asked about Michael, and I suggested we should keep these meetings to direct family at first - recognizing, of course, that the private discussions the children would have with their spouses would inevitably influence their contributions to the process.

I also pointed out that it would have been better to have a strategic plan in place before the reorganization process had begun. That way, decisions could have been taken with a clear focus on a predetermined outcome, and everyone's good ideas could have been addressed. There were many unanswered questions about how the Banks family would navigate the near future, let alone become the business dynasty Victor envisioned.

Special to the Globe and Mail

Excerpt from On The Shoulders of Atlas reprinted by permission. Copyright 2010 Susan Latremoille & Peter Creaghan with Frank Archibald, Linda Betts, Arnie Cader, Sheila Crummey, Tony Ianni, Steve Landau, Ron Prehogan, and Pearl Schusheim .

Interact with The Globe