For the past 5 years or so I have been working alongside the brilliant Dr Jamie Weiner on a research project that has been asking members of the rising generation "what is it like to grow up in the Land of Giants?"
In this series we bring you the findings from the research project and share stories from those we spoke with during this ground-breaking research.
Jamie has written an amazing book called The Quest for Legitimacy: How Children of Prominent Families Discover Their Unique Place in the World which has brilliantly captured the unique challenges of growing up around significance.
You can order the book on Amazon here:
Support the Show
The podcast is entirely self-funded by me. I am not looking for sympathy as it is something that I love to do and I have a passion for providing great content for family businesses across the world. Some listeners have asked for ways in which they can support the show, be that through reviews, sharing with friends or a donation. As such I have set up a page that outlines all the ways that you can support what I am doing.
Work With Russ
If what I have spoken about in the show resonates and you want to discuss how I can help you and your family business drop me an email: russ@familybusinesspartnership.com or head over to www.familybusinesspartnership.com
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to this preview episode of the family business podcast.
Russ Haworth:I'm going to introduce you to what topic we're going to be covering
Russ Haworth:over the next few episodes.
Russ Haworth:And I'm really excited to be bringing you information.
Russ Haworth:On a project that I've been working on for a number of years.
Russ Haworth:And I'm.
Russ Haworth:I'm going to explain in this episode,
Russ Haworth:A little bit about how that came about.
Russ Haworth:Um, but the topic of this series of the podcast is going to
Russ Haworth:be the quest for legitimacy.
Russ Haworth:And that is the title of a book that has been written by
Russ Haworth:a fantastic colleague of mine.
Russ Haworth:Dr.
Russ Haworth:Jamie Weiner.
Russ Haworth:Jeremy.
Russ Haworth:And I have been working on this project for around about five years now.
Russ Haworth:And we came to be working together.
Russ Haworth:Through an introduction.
Russ Haworth:Bye.
Russ Haworth:, a mutual friend called Judy Green, who heads up the family firm Institute.
Russ Haworth:And the podcast itself has been going for around about five years.
Russ Haworth:And just after it started, , Jamie.
Russ Haworth:was looking to start a research project that required the.
Russ Haworth:Interviews to be recorded.
Russ Haworth:Utilizing software, which now looking back, when we look
Russ Haworth:at how much we use zoom and.
Russ Haworth:All that kind of stuff is pretty commonplace now, but back then
Russ Haworth:it was less so and so Judy.
Russ Haworth:Judy thought it might be useful.
Russ Haworth:For Jamie to be introduced to me.
Russ Haworth:Because, and we joke about this quite often.
Russ Haworth:Um, I had the, uh, skill of being able to press record.
Russ Haworth:Uh, which proved very handy.
Russ Haworth:Uh, in capturing some of the interviews.
Russ Haworth:So at that first.
Russ Haworth:Introduction with Jamie.
Russ Haworth:He explained.
Russ Haworth:That he wanted to interview a number of writing gen family members.
Russ Haworth:From all over the globe.
Russ Haworth:And ask them about their experience of growing up around
Russ Haworth:significance or prominence.
Russ Haworth:And he termed it and used a fantastic phrase, which your
Russ Haworth:hair throughout this series.
Russ Haworth:Called the land of giants.
Russ Haworth:Now, if you've grown up in a family enterprise around
Russ Haworth:achievement around success and perhaps around significant wealth.
Russ Haworth:You may feel as if you're growing up in the shadow of a giant.
Russ Haworth:It may be that you are a giant and you are concerned about
Russ Haworth:the generation following you.
Russ Haworth:, and how they are going to.
Russ Haworth:, react to, to growing up in that environment and the research
Russ Haworth:project that we undertook.
Russ Haworth:Here's the stories of people who have grown up around significant
Russ Haworth:achievement around significant wealth.
Russ Haworth:And through hearing their stories, we were able to spot patterns.
Russ Haworth:We I say we, I wasn't there.
Russ Haworth:Jamie went to a conference, I think in Miami.
Russ Haworth:He went into an elevator.
Russ Haworth:There was a chap in the elevator with him.
Russ Haworth:You said.
Russ Haworth:So, what do you do?
Russ Haworth:, and by the time they came out of the elevator, they had agreed to form.
Russ Haworth:, what became a,, Researcher practitioner team.
Russ Haworth:Um, and it allowed us to add some academic rigor to the data that we'd seen.
Russ Haworth:And allowed us to identify commonalities between those that we
Russ Haworth:had spoken to . Irrespective of the backgrounds that these people had.
Russ Haworth:So.
Russ Haworth:It was really exciting.
Russ Haworth:It's been such a fantastic seem to be involved in.
Russ Haworth:And now it is kind of becoming far more public with the publication
Russ Haworth:of Jamie's book, which is, as I say, the quest for legitimacy.
Russ Haworth:, how children of prominent families
Russ Haworth:Um, it's a fantastic book.
Russ Haworth:I highly recommend it.
Russ Haworth:You can order the book via the quest for legitimacy website.
Russ Haworth:Which is quest for legitimacy.com.
Russ Haworth:There is also a separate newsletter.
Russ Haworth:You can sign up to where we'll be sharing articles.
Russ Haworth:We are going to be doing a separate podcast on this topic and
Russ Haworth:do some really deep dive stuff.
Russ Haworth:Into the topic.
Russ Haworth:And so if you want to be kept in the loop on all of that, please do go
Russ Haworth:over and sign up for the newsletter.
Russ Haworth:So as a reminder, that's quest for legitimacy.
Russ Haworth:Dot com.
Russ Haworth:In this series, I'm going to be talking to Jamie a lot about what
Russ Haworth:we discovered through the research.
Russ Haworth:So the first episode.
Russ Haworth:Is us looking at sort of how it came about the story.
Russ Haworth:Of why it was started.
Russ Haworth:Some of Jamie's background, which is very relevant in terms of the topic
Russ Haworth:that we're covering in this series.
Russ Haworth:And then we give you, , a brief introduction to the
Russ Haworth:four phases of the quest.
Russ Haworth:In the second episode.
Russ Haworth:We're going to be talking much more about those four phases.
Russ Haworth:Of the quest.
Russ Haworth:, and exploring those and what they might look like and feel like.
Russ Haworth:And then in episode three, we're going to be looking at particular
Russ Haworth:elements of the research and things called breaking moments.
Russ Haworth:, which will be absolutely fascinating.
Russ Haworth:Don't miss that episode.
Russ Haworth:And then the fourth episode in this series will be how we use the
Russ Haworth:research, what we can take away from it and apply in either our own
Russ Haworth:lives or if you work with families.
Russ Haworth:, in the family enterprise, family business, family office space.
Russ Haworth:How you can apply the findings on the research.
Russ Haworth:To what it is that you're doing.
Russ Haworth:So, as I say, it's a really exciting.
Russ Haworth:Project we listened to the experiences of those that we are trying to help
Russ Haworth:with this research and through the academic weaker, we were able to pick up.
Russ Haworth:Consistencies and patterns and commonalities.
Russ Haworth:And then Jamie has translated those stories into a fantastic book.
Russ Haworth:Which captures everything.
Russ Haworth:So.
Russ Haworth:, I hope you enjoy this series.
Russ Haworth:, if you want to find out any more about it.
Russ Haworth:, Do feel free to get in touch.
Russ Haworth:, you can either do that in fire.
Russ Haworth:The quest for legitimacy website, which again is quest for legitimacy.com.
Russ Haworth:Or you can email hello@questforlegitimacy.com.
Russ Haworth:As always, if you're enjoying the show, please do leave a review on iTunes.
Russ Haworth:It really does help.
Russ Haworth:Other people discover the show.
Russ Haworth:It's also quite nice to read the reviews.
Russ Haworth:Uh, if you're looking at ways to support the show, there are
Russ Haworth:other ways that I've outlined.
Russ Haworth:A dedicated page on the podcast website, which is . Fam.
Russ Haworth:podcast.com forward slash support.
Russ Haworth:Mike that's enough for me on this preview episode.
Russ Haworth:Really excited about this series.
Russ Haworth:I got more planned coming for you later in the year, but this one is really the focus
Russ Haworth:of our attention for the next few weeks.
Russ Haworth:Uh, hope you enjoy it.
Russ Haworth:And yeah.