Have you ever thought about the generational transfer of wealth, tax responsibility and contribution? The generational wealth statistics that reach the third generation are dismal. Basically, the first generation busts ass and creates something great. The second generation takes advantage of the knowledge and experience and expands the company because they grew up seeing the work ethic and ingenuity exerted by the first generation. Now comes the third generation who basically hand over the keys without doing the work and the company dies. This is the fault of the second generation teachings and the third generation entitlement mentality.
Why is this important to me?
If you have a business and are building your net worth and want to transfer it, then this is of vital importance to you. Did you know that 90% of lottery winners are broke within 5 years and end up in worse shape than when they started? This is even worse for ex-athletes. Athletes are good at what they do and they just think they’re good at business because they have the money. Like athletics, wealth creation is a science that requires dedication and hard/smart work.
Anyone who says I’ll get into the business and be successful without the job is no different than saying I’ll start running back for the Dallas Cowboys next year. Both are highly unrealistic, but most people don’t see it that way for business. Education is critical along with hard/smart work.
Brower’s Quadrant is divided into three key parts. For the sake of time, I will define what the quadrant is and then I will mention how to start living it.
1. What is the Brower Quadrant? The Brower Quadrant consists of four components. The first component is the “CORE”. These are your special talents and what drives you as a person. If you are a musician, athlete, artist or entrepreneur, what is essential is what defines you. The “EXPERIENCE” quadrant is all the experiences that define you and your family. This is important and needs to be captured and put into story format. Example: My grandfather came to this country alone when he was 9 years old on a ship across the Atlantic Ocean. Put this in perspective as most 9 year olds today are not even allowed to be outside after 5:00 in a good neighborhood. Unfortunately, I was too young when he died to capture the entire story to share. The experiences that shape your personality and core must be captured and shared. They may seem trivial to you, but they are important because they define what you do and how you do it.
The “CONTRIBUTION” Quadrant is as follows. This is where you instill an attitude of gratitude and open your heart. I realize this is esoteric, but I can’t tell you how many books I’ve read that say the same thing. Basically, this is Emerson’s law of compensation: if you want more, give more.
The “FINANCIAL QUADRANT” is the money and wealth preservation quadrant. Most estate planning people will simply show you how to minimize tax liability and ask how you want to divide your assets once you take your nap. Lee takes a completely different approach, showing you how to continue to build his financial standing with Family Empowered Bank and pass it down from generation to generation. The Brower Quadrant is the solution to fleeting wealth between generations.
2. Why is the Brower Quadrant important? I mentioned this before, but it bears repeating. Each of the quadrants can be considered as active. Familiar knowledge and skill sets are often taken for granted and lost. Most hard working entrepreneurs lose their businesses to their heirs. This also creates family stress and broken relationships. I can personally attest to this. Our business consisted of an extended family and the right of one of the partners was absolutely despicable and it tore the family apart and ended up in court.
3. How does it work? Lee says it best in a chapter subtitle: “Family Leadership.” This is much more than estate planning. Leadership requires vision, clarity, action, communication, influence, and a whole host of other attributes. Implementation of the Brower Quadrant requires clarity in each quadrant with a set of action plans that are communicated and acted upon.
The Brower Quadrant is required reading for anyone interested in preserving and building wealth across generations. Lee does an excellent job of outlining what is needed and providing additional resources. I started implementing some of the things in the book and will continue to implement all of them as our family and company grow.
I hope you found this short overview video helpful. The key to any new idea is to work it into your daily routine until it becomes a habit. Habits are formed in as little as 21 days. One thing you can take away from this book is the difference between family leadership and estate planning. These two concepts are very different and Estate Planning is simply a very small subset of Family Leadership and the Brower Quadrant.