7 Learnings from the Family Business Network 2025 Global Summit
In an increasingly polarized world, the ability to build bridges between competing truths that matter but pull in different directions is becoming essential. Tradition vs. innovation. Belonging vs. independence. Efficiency vs. empathy. At Crysalia, we see the ability to manage paradoxes as an increasingly critical leadership skill.
The Family Business Network (FBN) Global Summit, held this year in Miami, offered a powerful opportunity for shared learning around this reality. Its theme, A Foot in Both Worlds, echoed what we observe daily in our work with corporate leaders and multigenerational families: those who learn to balance competing truths—without collapsing into one or the other—build organizations capable of enduring uncertainty, transition, and growth.
These insights speak directly to multigenerational enterprising family members, and corporate leaders seeking to build organizations defined by continuity, purpose, and adaptability. What enables families to thrive across generations offers equally valuable guidance to any leader navigating tension, change, and long-term success.
1. Embrace paradoxes — don’t try to solve them
Paradoxes aren't problems to solve—they're tensions to skillfully manage. They represent opposing forces that coexist, and choosing one over the other diminishes both.
Summit speakers emphasized the importance of holding two realities without breaking. Successful leaders resist the urge to pick sides, oversimplify or resolve tensions prematurely. As one Summit speaker noted, "Faster is not better. If we are too quick to reach a conclusion, it is usually not the best outcome."
Leaders who thrive navigate the grey instead of retreating to black-and-white thinking. It requires becoming comfortable with discomfort, recognizing that growth often happens in the space between competing truths. Ask yourself: What do we gain by honoring both sides? Where does the real tension lie? How do both truths inform a wiser path forward?
2. Change, rooted in the past, is the only constant
Change isn't a betrayal of the past, it's how legacy remains alive. The tension lies in honoring what came before while adapting to what's ahead. Those who thrive across life cycles distinguish between their received and chosen legacy, working intentionally with both.
One leader inherited major responsibilities at age 21 following an unexpected loss. To move forward, she embraced that "a beginning starts with an end. We inherit what is, but we shape what becomes." This reflects a practice we reinforce with our clients: continuity requires deliberate reinvention, not preservation alone, as change doesn’t erase the past—it extends it.
Normalizing change requires conditions that help people adapt:
- clarity about what enables thriving,
- the right expertise at the right time, and
- structures flexible enough to evolve with people.
Execution matters as much as intent—particularly as digital transformation, sustainability demands, and generational shifts accelerate the pace of change.
3. Individual Fulfillment Drives Collective Growth
When individuals thrive, the collective benefits. People must find themselves to fully contribute to something larger.
Many families require members to work externally for five years and complete personality profile before joining the business. It isn't about creating barriers—it's about ensuring people discover their own motivations, expertise, and voice before stepping into family or organizational roles.
Creating structures that honor both individual aspirations and collective priorities might include:
- regular conversations about personal goals,
- clear pathways for contribution, and
- permission to pivot when initial paths aren’t working.
When individuals understand what truly matters to them, alignment with collective purpose becomes authentic rather than forced.
4. Invest in learning to navigate disagreements constructively
Successful leaders invest in their most precious assets: their people. One family described creating a dedicated relationship-building function in their family office to support coaching through tensions, and ensuring all voices are heard. It wasn't about preventing conflict but building the capability to navigate it well.
Developing the ability to balance divergence and convergence, surface and depth, and safety and courage prepares people for better decision-making. Training, facilitation, and safe spaces build these skills over time.
This addresses a fundamental paradox we observe in our work: people need psychological safety to engage authentically, yet that same safety must enable, not replace, courageous conversations. The goal isn't comfort; it's constructive discomfort that moves organizations forward.
5. Talk About Failures as Much as Successes
Success stories inspire, but openly discussing setbacks teaches. Combining both enables a culture of genuine learning.
A leader who built three successive billion-dollar companies candidly described missing payroll, extended absences from his family, and the weight of potential failure. Yet, he saw them as essential teachers, as: "you can't be afraid of failure. Turn it around and see what you learned."
The struggle and success paradox reminds us that discomfort often fuels growth, while the tension between perfection and imperfection shows that pursuing flawlessness can hinder progress.
At Crysalia, we see that talking about what doesn't work strengthens psychological safety and flexibility, particularly for rising generations. When "failure" becomes a valuable source of information, and success a journey rather than a destination, people become more ready to experiment, ask for help, and ultimately succeed.
6. Alignment Happens During the Process, Not Just in the Documents
Whether crafting a family constitution, strategic plan or shareholder agreement, their real value lies in the dialogue that produces them. One family took years crafting their constitution, deliberately involving every generation and branch. Two decades later, after many reviews, it remains largely intact—not because they anticipated every scenario, but because the inclusive process created genuine commitment.
We regularly see that moving slowly together helps everyone advance toward shared ownership. In the end, a written document is often less valuable without a psychological contract created through meaningful dialogue. Over time, the investment in process will pay dividends in execution.
7. Good Governance Makes the Irrational Rational
Governance becomes essential as groups grow larger and more complex. Defining how information flows, how decisions are made, and how communication happens creates clarity, particularly in delicate dynamics.
Strong governance balances competing demands: rigor and adaptability, structure and authenticity, rationality and relationality. A large family shared how they formalized decision-making protocols while simultaneously creating a dedicated role for relationship-building coaching. Their dual approach acknowledges a belief we share at Crysalia: governance structures alone cannot manage human complexity.
Building effective governance takes patience, identifying true priorities, not merely ticking boxes, and creating systems that bring clarity to complexity.
Looking forward
The families and leaders who create meaningful impact don't avoid discomfort, they become comfortable within it. They recognize that the space between competing truths is where relationships deepen, and real growth takes root.
Whether stewarding a multigenerational enterprise or leading a complex organization, the ability to embrace paradoxes, invest in people, and navigate discomfort define resilience. These principles extend across cultures, and sectors, even though their application should be as unique as the people applying them.
The wisdom shared at FBN reminds us that meaningful learning happens through engagement, creating spaces where diverse perspectives challenge assumptions and shared reflection deepens our understanding.
These learnings were compiled with insights and shared reflections of the Crysalia team and clients who attended the FBN 2025 Global Summit. We are grateful for their thoughtful contributions. Quoted statements are freely translated.
What paradoxes are you navigating? We'd welcome the conversation. Connect with our team to explore how these principles might apply to your context.