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Leading Through Loss: Navigating Grief While Leading a Family Business

March 18, 2025

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Grief and suddenly leading your family’s business often goes hand in hand. It’s natural during leadership succession to experience a mourning period, especially when the transfer is unexpected. Ideally, a business would have gone through business continuity planning to prepare for succession. But anything can happen at any time, catching the family unaware. After retirement, long term illness is the most common reason for a leadership transfer within a family business, continuity planning doesn’t always account for sudden deaths or emergencies. Whatever the cause leading to a handover within your family business, your experience and feelings surrounding it is valid. Events such as these can happen quickly without notice, leaving the family and business scrambling.

The emotional intensity that comes with such a loss will deeply impact how the business is navigates going forward. It’s important to hold space for emotions while also keeping the good of the company at the forefront of your mind. Everyone’s grief response is going to be different and may even lead to irrational behaviour at unexpected times. There’s no predicting how you might react and when, especially since the mourning journey is far from linear. If you can, remember to save any big decisions for a time when you have a clearer head, as emotionally driven choices tend to be impulsive and impractical, leading to a chain reaction of larger issues down the line. If it’s critical to make choices now, surround yourself and the business with trusted advisors who are not experiencing the intense grief that you and your family are.

Waiting to make big decisions will help determine the trajectory of your family business well beyond the next few months.

Unexpectedly leading a family business puts you in a difficult position in terms of what to do with the organization, one that comes with pressures from employees, shareholders, and family members alike. You may not want to disappoint them by making the wrong decision. Just remember that whatever decisions you do make should be based on what is not just best for the business and be respectful of your wellbeing at this time.

It’s incredibly difficult, balancing the emotional stress of losing a loved one with taking on the business, but there are ways to manage both simultaneously.

Grieving while leading –– Your family business doesn’t stop with the loss of its leader. Attending to the family business’s immediate demands is challenging when you’re in the midst of a grieving period. But maintaining stability in this trying time is not impossible. Acknowledge your feelings to keep them from building up and negatively impacting every other aspect of your life. Suppressing your grief can lead to burnout and sudden impulsive decisions you may regret later. You are allowed to feel the way you feel. Give yourself the time and space to experience that grief in whatever way you need to.

Carrying the emotional weight of the family legacy –– The natural impulse is to continue running the family business to honour your loved one and their wishes. The pressures of maintaining the family business can be immense. But continuing out of a sense of obligation is not going to be an authentic way forward. This mentality can eventually lead to resentment, burnout, and overall stress. Proving to yourself and others that you can do it at all costs may not be the healthiest choice for you.

You don’t need to sacrifice your career and goals in the name of the family business.

Take stock of your capacities and interest in taking on the business long term. You may find it does not align with what you envision for your own life. Considering other options for the business, such as selling or bringing on an outside leader isn’t a failure for your family if it’s the right choice in the long run. There are other ways to build upon the family’s legacy. Maybe you want to create something new for yourself. Maybe you want to pave the way for the next generation to be mentored in the business. Whatever you choose to do doesn’t automatically run counterpoint to the legacy you are part of. You’re just opening it up into exciting new directions.

Trusting in your support network –– There are plenty of people involved in the business who can help guide you through the complexities of the company. You don’t have to do it all alone. Lean on them to make the best decisions for right now and seek support from individuals you trust. Keep them close and absorb as much information from them as you can for the first few months while you acclimatize to your new role. They will become your support network who can help lighten your load, bringing stability to not just the family business, but to you. Speaking with the business’s lawyer, external accountant, or financial advisors, for instance, will give you much needed peace of mind. These individuals know what they’re doing and how the business works. They can walk you through it to make it all feel far less insurmountable to manage.

Suddenly leading a family business whilst grieving a loss is an overwhelming journey, but you don’t have to navigate it alone. Lean on your support network as you process your emotions. Take the time you need to make thoughtful decisions for both for yourself and the business. Whether you choose to lead, evolve, or step away from the business, know that honouring your family’s legacy doesn’t have to come at the expense of your own path. Seek guidance and trust yourself to move forward in an authentic way that aligns your passions and the business’ needs.