Twenty One Clear December Newsletter
Charles Dickens, a road trip podcast, and one attention grabbing number
Ho Ho Ho and welcome to the December Newsletter. This month, I want to share three things with you:
A holiday themed excerpt from Chaos-Proofing a Family Business
Acquired: a road trip podcast that covers some family companies
One number that emphasizes the need for inner family business work
I hope you enjoy reading.
1 — A holiday themed excerpt from Chaos-Proofing a Family Business
On a recent LinkedIn post, I shared a silly AI rewrite of the introduction to Chaos-Proofing a Family Business: How some increase company value and protect family relationships…and others lose both (pending title). I asked Google Gemini to take the opening chapter and write it like Charles Dickens. Click here if you would like to see the result.
I wrote the post after finishing Chaos-Proofing’s epilogue, where I actually found a parallel between inner family business work and a Christmas Carol. For the first time anywhere, I would like to share a draft of the book’s epilogue; I hope you enjoy reading:
[From Chaos-Proofing a Family Business, publication pending]
I am writing this epilogue in late November. Fall is coming to a close. My older sons were jumping in a leaf pile last night. Their younger brother wrote his Christmas list over the weekend.
I first sketched 22 pages of Chaos-Proofing sixteen months ago. Since then, as I wrote, I also read more. As the temperature dropped, I felt my mind wander to the holidays, and Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol resonated with me in a new way.
While you rightfully note that Ebenezer Scrooge did not operate a family company, the story provides a powerful parallel to the chaos-proof journey you have been on in this book.
When the ghost of Jacob Marley, Scrooge’s deceased business partner, appears to him, he warns Scrooge of the need to reform. Marley provides Scrooge with a warning and a simple path forward. Three ghosts will visit Scrooge, they will show him the chaotic path he is on and give him an opportunity to change.
In reflecting on the story this year, I appreciated Scrooge more as its hero. Whether Marley gave him a general warning, as he did, or if he had brought a Christmas [Inner Family Business Alignment Check], ghostly [Family Exit Questions] and a slick chaos-proof/chaos zone line graph, it is our dear holiday curmudgeon who had to be brave, have trust, step out of his bed with the Ghost of Christmas Past and begin his journey.
When the first ghost arrived, Scrooge could have hesitated, snatched his curtains closed and demanded more answers before he would venture on. But that is not the nature of change or transformation—you cannot see the end before you start.
This book likewise cannot predict your future. That belongs to you and your family.
[End of excerpt]
I am excited to build toward this book’s release in late Q2/early Q3 next year. Watch for more updates next year.
2 — Acquired: a road trip podcast that covers some family companies
Acquired is a long form business podcast. A friend just introduced me to it and I feel late; it reached #1 on Apple Podcasts in Q2 2024.
If you are new to it too, the hosts tell stories (2-4 hours) about companies like Coca-Cola and Amazon. My friend sent an episode about Porsche, though, because it is a family company. The episode has fascinating family business nuggets, like Porsche kicking all the family members out of the business (a practice used by more family companies than you may expect). Click Here for the Episode
Then I found the episode about Mars, Inc., one of the world’s largest family companies. That episode has profound inner family business lessons. I wrote this one:
There may be a position you want in the company and a way you want to get it. But if getting what you want requires your father, mother and sibling to die first, perhaps there is a more chaos-proof way to get what you want.
I am currently listening to the Wal-Mart episode, where they share that Sam Walton set up an ownership structure to benefit the family and promised to haunt any next gens who messed with his arrangement!
Any time you get a rare look inside another family’s company, take it. I hope you enjoy the episodes above.
3 — One number that emphasizes the need for inner family business work
At the end of Q2 2025, the Fed estimated that US households had over $180 trillion dollars in assets.
Now focus on the $90 trillion held by the Silent and Earlier and the Baby Boomer generations. Over the next 20 years, these assets will transfer. And those transfers will go well, or not, especially where they rely on a family company.
Imagine how much of that wealth relies on family companies, like having shares in Wal-Mart, or IS a family’s company. You and I know that these generational family company transfers will directly affect wealth, either for the positive or negative.
I have met families who ignore their inner family business, watching value and relationships erode. I have seen families work hard as an owner/operator group and reap wonderful rewards.
As you plan for 2026, remember that the transfer is coming. Make time to lean into inner family business work and get ready.
Till next month
As my grandfather would have said, thank you so very, very much for reading.
Adam, for 21 Clear
I'm curious who else listens to Acquired. Let me know if there's a particular episode you like (there are 200+ of them!).