SYSTEMIC FORCES

Resilience and staying power. We are lifted up as well as humbled by forces that act upon us throughout our lifetimes. “Central forces” related to family history – the echoes of the past – include family loyalty and the real and perceived obligations we have to family. When you add operating businesses, foundations, trusts, and shared investment portfolios, the effects of these central forces are magnified. There are “individual forces”, as well. We seek our own identity, understanding the tension between trying to find ourselves amidst the influence of everything we come into contact with. There are “relational forces” – grandparents, parents, siblings, children, cousins, friends, business colleagues … even social media contacts. We interact and negotiate with these ever more diverse relationships daily. They can trigger defense mechanisms that bring out our most primitive instincts. And there are “external forces.” Nature is one of them, but economics, politics, technology, and globalization also influence everything around us. The ability to synthesize and organize around systemic dynamics supports resilience and staying power … in the pursuit of generational well-being.