中国家族财富永续之道 -- Communication, Succession, and Communities in Continuing Your Family Business

昨晚我和源坤控股的董事长李智一起吃了晚餐。他的家族是拥有房地产开发、建筑、投资和各种其他服务的优秀企业之一。他们正试图为中国取得了一定程度的成功和财富的新企业主建立一个多家族财富管理办公室。

I had dinner last night with Lorin Li, the President of Ground Fountain Holdings. His family is one of several that owns this excellent business which combines real-estate development, construction, investments, and various other services. And they are starting to build a multi-family office wealth-management service for new business owners in China who have achieved a certain level of success and wealth.

我很荣幸能见到李智先生。他邀请我这周末在青岛举行的"2017年中国家族传承创新峰会"上发表主题演讲，因此，今天我将在这里谈谈我的演讲。

It is an honor to have met Lorin. He invited me give the keynote speak at his 2017 Chinese Family Inheritance Innovation Summit this weekend here in Qingdao, and thus I am here today about to give my speech.

Chaohui Steven Zhou, Pierre duPont, Lorin Li 周朝晖、皮埃尔.杜邦、李智

晚宴上，他问了很多非常重要的问题：一个成功的家族企业应当采取什么措施以确保他们的财富和成功可传递到下一代甚至其他人。这也是我几个小时的演讲主题。我想我应该在这里讨论一些我曾回答他的问题，因为它们和我在演讲中所说的有些不同。在我的在两个成功的家族(我母亲家族和我父亲家族以及他们各自创办和发展的事业)的成长过程中以及在我在中国和美国的许多富有的客户身上，我发现了一些特别值得借鉴的经验。

Over dinner he asked a variety of very important questions about the steps that a successful business-owning family might take to ensure that their wealth and their success continues into the next generation and beyond. This will also be the topic of my Keynote speech in a few hours, but I thought I should discuss here a few answers I gave him, since they are a little different than what I might say in the speech itself. There are specific learnings I have found in my years growing up in two successful families (my mother's family and my father's family and the business they each have started and grown) and across the many wealthy clients I have here in China and in the States.

首先，正如我对李智先生说的，沟通是至关重要的。家族沟通是最重要的，但你的业务内部和周围的交流也是如此。对你的配偶和你的孩子(以及你的大家庭中的其他人)和你的重要助手来说，了解什么使你成功和你如何取得成功是很重要的，并且更重要的是要了解如何继续保持这种成功。

First, as I said to Lorin, communication is essential. Family communication is most critical, but so too is communication within and around your business. It is important for your spouse and your children (and others in your extended family) AND your key lieutenants to understand what has made you successful and how you achieved that success and what is important to keep it going.

但请注意，财富永远不会持久。它将会持续两到三代，甚至可能在你的这一代就消失。因此，你需要让你的家族和你的顾问明智地对待你的财富(包括你的生意)，但你应该确保创造新财富的方法始终保持下去。这通常是你目前拥有的业务，财富可以通过此方式持续不断地产生，并且你通过这个平台可以为后代教育和后代在在遥远的未来创造你今天无法想象的可赚取更多财富的新业务。

But note that wealth never lasts. It will be gone in two to three, or maybe even one generation past you. Thus you need to have your wealth treated wisely (and that includes your business) by your family and your advisors, but you should ensure that the means of generating new wealth remains always. And this is most often the current business you have through that wealth can be generated on an ongoing basis, and through that there is a platform both for education of your descendants and also for your descendants to create new businesses you cannot imagine today -- businesses which may, at that distant future time, be the better way to make more wealth.

所以，这就是为什么你的家族要知道：当前的生意是如何成功的、你是如何做到的以及他们在你离开后会采取何种措施继续将该生意经营下去。不仅仅是知道你所做的和他们应该做的，而是要知道在将来可能会有所帮助的工具和各种途径和方法。他们需要对先前的成功和失败有明智和深刻的见解。他们不需要为未来制定精确的路线图，因为没有人能够预测未来。但他们确实需要能力去继续经营下去，并为将来可能发生的任何事情调整业务和财富。

So that's why it is important for your family to know how the business came to be successful today and how you made it so -- and what they might do to carry on the business after you are gone. Not merely exactly what you have done and what they should do, but the tools and the various paths and the approaches that may be helpful in the future. They need to be wise and insightful about prior successes and prior failures. They do not need a precise road map for the future, since no one can predict the future. But they do need to be able to carry on and adapt the business and the wealth for whatever may lie in the future.

我和李智先生详细探讨了：什么时候把孩子领进家族生意？什么时候让孩子了解你的生意和你是如何做生意的？实际上，我们谈到了：如何让孩子在没有强迫的情况下参与进来。

Lorin and I spoke at length about when to bring your children into the business, when to start their awareness of what you do and how you do it, and indeed we spoke of HOW to bring them in without forcing a child to do something he or she does not want to do.]

我在之前的文章中已经讨论过这个问题，包括"皮埃尔·杜邦的四个关于家族企业和谐传承的规则"。

I have discussed this in prior articles, including "Pierre's Four Rules for Harmonious Family-Business Succession."

简而言之，把你的孩子带进商业领域和场景不易过早或过晚。你必须做的是：让他们观察(而不是告诉他们)你的成功和失败、你经历的过程以及你如何与你的助理、你的商业团体和员工共事。因此，应该让他们去观察而不是直接告诉他们。这就是你要让他们通过观察间接地去学习而不是通过你所教的东西去学习。

In short, it's never too early nor never too late to bring your children into the picture and into the business. And you must do it by letting them watch (rather than telling them of) your successes and failures, the process you have been through, and how you work with your lieutenants and your business community and employees. Let then watch rather than show them. It's almost as if you want to have them see and learn directly rather than through what you teach.

正如我和李智先生一起吃晚饭的时候所补充的那样，确保他们在你所做的事情上看到你的快乐。你本身的舒适、自信和享受是帮助孩子学习的最好途径，这么做时不能强迫你的孩子。这种情况可能发生在最早期，也可能发生在你的孩子完全长大的时候(但我建议你早点开始，而不是晚些时候)。

And as I added during dinner with Lorin, make sure they see your happiness in doing what you do. Your own comfort and confidence and enjoyment, when projected without force upon your children, is the best way to help them learn. And this can happen from the earliest age or when your children are fully grown (but I advise starting earlier rather than later.)

我与李智先生探讨的另一个观点是：需要在您的商业生涯和个人生活中拥有多个群体活动。从组织的底层到顶端包括你的助理、同事和员工群体--你尊重他们每一个人,甚至是清洁工,尊重他们给你的生意和群体带来的一切，你的家人和其他人必须能看到(而不是被告知)。

Another insight I explored with Lorin was the need to have multiple communities active in your business life and in your personal life. The community of your lieutenants and associates and employees from the bottom to the top of your organization - you respect them each, even the floor-sweeper, for what he or she brings to the business and the community, and your family and others must see that (rather than being TOLD that.)

还包括其的群体:你的供应商和你的客户的群体。你的同伴，甚至你的竞争对手的群体。你所指导的其他群体。你的家庭和大家庭的群体。我在商业和生活中发现，拥有这样的群体对成功至关重要。

And there are other communities: the community of your suppliers and your clients. The community of your peers and even your competitors. The community of others you mentor. The community of your family and extended family. I have found in business and in life having such communities are essential to success.

李智先生和我还讨论了慈善事业以及他们如何帮助你创建你的群体和你的幸福感，但也包括他们如何为你的孩子和家庭提供对投资、商业和群体进行教育的机会；你的慈善工作能给你机会去指导你的孩子，给他们信心和智慧，帮助他们在他们的朋友、学校和早期的商业生涯中发展他们自己的群体。

Lorin and I also discussed charitable endeavors- and how they can help you build your community and your happiness, but also how they can provide opportunities to your children and family to be educated about investments and business and communities; how your charitable work can give you opportunities to mentor your children and to give them confidence and wisdom and help them to develop their own communities among their friends and school and in their early business careers.

尽管李智和斯蒂芬(源坤控股的财富管理公司的首席执行官)和我讨论了很多其他的话题，但现在还有一个值得讨论的话题:就是商业继承。

While there were many other topics Lorin and Stephen (the CEO of the Wealth Management business within Ground Fountain Holdings) and I discussed, there is one more that is worth a comment now: and that is business succession.

制定继任计划并不断地重新审视是任何企业的重要组成部分。哪怕最大和最小的CEO和企业领导者都应该制定计划去避免我们任何一个人都可能发生的不幸：出乎意料并艰难的去医院或者面临更糟的情况。

Having a succession plan in place and continually revisited is an important part of any business. The biggest and smallest CEOs and corporate leaders should have plans in place for what may, unfortunately, happen to any one of us: an unexpected and difficult visit to a hospital or worse.

由于您的业务可能是您最宝贵的资产（如果不是这样，继承计划的相同信息也适用于您的家族财富和家族办公室），您需要确保该资产将在没有您的情况下能够在短期甚至更长的时间存活。所以今天开始制定计划，以便在您缺席的情况下会产生有效的领导力。

Since your business is probably your most valuable asset (and if it is not, the same message of succession planning applies every bit as much to your family wealth and your family office) you want to make sure that the asset will survive without you for a short period or for a longer period. So beginning today to have the plans in place so that effective leadership will arise in your absence. 

让你的助手和你的家人明白，如果你突然无法继续工作他们应该做些什么。谁来做出决定?谁将在业务中继续担任何种职责?多名助手将如何合作，投票和对流程的控制将如何运行?这些事情应该是清楚的，并且应该经常通过模拟的场景来练习--也许是每年或者更频繁的练习。

Give clarity to your lieutenants and your family about what they should do if you are suddenly unavailable. Who will make decisions? Who will continue each function in the business? How will the multiple lieutenants work together and what voting and control structures will be operational? These things should be clear and they should be practiced through pretend scenarios on a regular basis - maybe annually or maybe more often.

这当然会引起你和你的家人如何来决定在你离开公司后由谁来接管的问题。而且，随着企业进入第二代或第三代，您的家庭将会成长起来，您的家庭将如何调和这些不可避免的压力：一些家庭成员将希望获得更多的利润分配，有些人希望保留资本以创造增长并在困难时期为企业提供资金。但是如何获得平衡？

This of course leads to how you and your family will decide who is to take over and after you depart the business. And how will your family reconcile the inevitable stresses that will grow upon your family as the business moves into its second generation or its third: some family members will want greater profit distributions and some will want to retain capital in the business to create growth and fund the business through hard times. But how will that balance be obtained?

许多紧张关系在10年或20年或更长的时间里可能是破坏家庭的源头。我曾在我的家族历史中看到过这一点（两个家族都是如此）而且私下里我在我的客户和媒体中也看到过这种引人注目的家族分裂的情况。相信我，你不希望你的家人在公共场合或私下里经历这种情况。所以现在就做好准备，把这些问题提出来，在你的家族和你的团体里讨论。你不会得出一个具体的答案，因为你无法预测未来会如何发展，但是通过今天谈论这些话题，你的家人将会有准备在这些情形发生时更好地应对这些问题。

Such is the source of many tensions that can destroy families in the 10 year or 20 year or more distant time frames. I have seen this in my historic families -- both of them -- and I have seen it in private among my clients and in public in the press in some high-profile family schisms. Trust me, you don't want your family to go through this in public or in private. So prepare for it now by bringing these issues to the surface and discussing them in your family and in your communities. You will not come to a specific answer, as you cannot predict how the future will evolve, but by talking today about these topics your family will be better prepared to handle the issues when they arise for real.

这将我带回到了本文开头的话题：沟通。今天就开始和你的家人、助理以及团队去沟通你的业务。

Which brings me back to my first topic at the start of this article: communication. Start communicating with your family today about your business, and with your lieutenants and with your communities. 

如今没有更好的办法为未来做准备了。

There is no better way today to prepare for the future.

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皮埃尔.杜邦

Pierre duPont

pdupont@hpmpartners.com

微信号：USA6178230539

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本文是皮埃尔.杜邦先生撰写的最新文章。杜邦先生愿意自由分享投资知识，传播投资智慧。

This article is the latest article written by Mr. duPont at HPM Partners, LLC. DuPont is willing to share investment knowledge freely and promote the investment wisdom.

声明：HPM Partners LLC(HPM)是美国证券交易委员会的注册投资顾问，在纽约、伊利诺斯州、俄亥俄州、密歇根州和加利福尼亚州都设有办事处。本评论仅限于HPM服务及其金融市场前景的一般性信息，这可能不适合所有人。本文包含的信息不应被视为个性化的投资建议。过去的表现并不能保证将来的结果。本文所表达的观点和意见不能保证实现。投资金融市场涉及风险，包括投资本金损失的风险;并可能不适用于所有人。所提供的信息如有更改，恕不另行通知，不应被视为邀约出售或请求购买任何证券的提议。所有信息具有可靠性，但不能给予保证。有关HPM注册状态的信息，请联系我们或参阅投资顾问公开披露网站（www.adviserinfo.sec.gov）。有关HPM的其他信息，包括费用和服务，请使用本文中的联系信息发送给我们的表格ADV第2A部分所述的披露声明。投资或汇款前请仔细阅读该声明。

Disclosures: HPM Partners LLC ("HPM") is an SEC registered investment adviser with offices in New York, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and California. This commentary is limited to general information about HPM's services and its financial market outlook, which may not be suitable for everyone. The information contained herein should not be construed as personalized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. There is no guarantee that the views and opinions expressed in this article will come to pass. Investing in the financial markets involves risk, including the risk of loss of the principal amount invested; and may not be appropriate for everyone. The information presented is subject to change without notice and should not be considered as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. All information is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed. For information pertaining to the registration status of HPM, please contact us or refer to the Investment Adviser Public Disclosure web site (www.adviserinfo.sec.gov). For additional information about HPM, including fees and services, send for our disclosure statement as set forth on Form ADV Part 2A using the contact information herein. Please read the disclosure statement carefully before you invest or send money.

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皮埃尔·杜邦

合伙人

Pierre duPont | Partner

HPM PARTNERS LLC

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