Mira leads the family council of a business that has carried her family’s name for 125 years. She grew up working alongside her cousins and still remembers the annual gatherings at her grandparents’ farmhouse. The next generation is scattered across the country, and only a handful of them attend the shareholders’ meeting. Only one, a cousin named David, has reached out to say he would like to learn about the company and serve on the board someday. But Mira has begun to wonder whether the rest of them care at all.
It’s common for family members who take on so much responsibility to share in Mira’s feelings. But there’s a difference between engagement and caring. And mistaking one for the other can cause palpable resentment that can become hard to undo.
Reading unfamiliarity as indifference is exactly how families like Mira’s end up misjudging their own next generation. This article challenges Mira’s conclusion by clarifying the important distinction between engagement and caring.
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