But are legacies always positive? The paradox is that legacy has been shown to lead to both positive and negative outcomes for organizations and individuals. Legacy is an asset to a family business when it serves as a source of identity, inspiration, and direction.suggests that it may be the only real source of sustainable competitive advantage for a family business.
For David Huntsman, experience with his father cannot be copied and is, for him, rare and valuable. He has learned from the experience that only he and his firm have had, and as a result, his father’s values and wisdom live within him and his firm. His father’s legacy has always been good for the company and the family, and maintaining that deeply-held legacy is rational.
The downside is that legacy can also be a liability — this is the inherent paradox of legacy. Firms can become so entrenched in tradition and “the way things have always been” that they constrain innovation, change, and organizational agility.
The challenge for family business leaders is to manage the legacy paradox. It is a conflict between the head and the heart. The head might determine that a change is needed based upon rational logic and analysis of the situation. The heart might have an emotional attachment to the past. The result is a conflict between the objective situational analysis and subjective gut beliefs.
In the end, it’s a matter of creating and molding a legacy that can evolve and become a part of the family business culture. A critical part of a successful family business legacy is being the best at what the business does, and having leaders who are consistently contributing the competencies and strategies needed to keep it that way. A successful legacy cannot be so rooted in the past that changes in the organization cannot be effectively addressed.