Legacy: Navigating Family Business

After a brief pause from the podcast, Anne returns with a deeply personal reflection on family, growth, leadership, and the transitions that shape us. As her family's only child graduates from high school and prepares to leave for college, Anne shares the bittersweet experience of moving through a major life transition as a parent. Drawing on lessons from motherhood, personal growth, and year...

Strong relationships – whether in friendships, families, or family businesses – don’t sustain themselves by accident. They require intention, structure, and the often-invisible effort of someone making connection happen. In this episode of Legacy: Navigating Family Business, Anne Bauer reflects on a 30-year friendship tradition that sparked a deeper conversation about the hidden labor behind gathe...

In this episode of Legacy: Navigating Family Business with Anne Bauer , Anne explores how personal life transitions mirror family business succession and leadership handoffs. Through a heartfelt story about preparing for an empty nest, she breaks down the common “spin-out” pattern that stalls family business transitions, why timelines trigger resistance, and how nervous system awareness, micro-ste...

As 2026 begins, Anne Bauer offers a permission-giving reflection for family business owners who aren’t feeling the “new year” momentum just yet. This short episode explores seasonal energy, the lunar and astrological new year, winter as a time for rest and shedding, and how to listen more deeply to what you and your business actually need right now—without forcing growth before it’s ready. How is...

In this warm and insightful episode, Anne explores how letting people evolve – instead of relating to them through old stories and patterns – can transform both our family relationships and our family businesses. Inspired by a moving interview between Glennon Doyle and Megan Falley (in the most recent episode of the We Can Do Hard Things podcast), she shares practical tools for staying present, na...

What happens when old family dynamics quietly shape your company culture? In this episode, Anne Bauer explores how unconscious family patterns can create toxic work environments – and how greater awareness can transform them into thriving, engaged workplaces. Perfect for family business owners, next-gen leaders, and anyone navigating leadership, legacy, and culture in a family enterprise.

When I stepped into leadership of my sixth-generation family business, I quickly realized I was carrying more than just a title. I was also mothering the next generation – and trying to do both roles exactly as I’d seen them modeled before. It was overwhelming, unsustainable, and deeply clarifying. In this mini-episode, I share the personal story behind the Legacy Women’s Retreat: why traditional...

Family businesses often focus on succession planning – but what about the transitions the business itself needs to grow and evolve? In this episode of Legacy: Navigating Family Business with Anne Bauer, sixth-generation family business leader, leadership coach, and energy practitioner Anne Bauer explores how businesses hold their own energetic path – separate from the people who steward them. Anne...

In this solo episode of Legacy: Navigating Family Business , Anne Bauer reflects on how travel – whether across the globe or just across town – has shaped her journey as a sixth-generation family business owner and leader. Anne opens up about the complex emotions and conflicting responsibilities that come with travel in a family business, especially for working parents and leaders. She shares how...

In this powerful episode of Legacy: Navigating Family Business , Anne Bauer sits down with sixth-generation family business owner Kevin Hancock, Chairman and Managing Owner of Hancock Lumber, one of the oldest family businesses in America. Together, they explore Kevin’s unexpected leadership journey, from aspiring college basketball coach to transformative business leader. Kevin opens up about the...

In this transformative episode of Legacy: Navigating Family Business with Anne Bauer , we explore a revolutionary concept for family business leaders, especially Rising Gen and Next Gen successors: your business has its own energetic identity – separate from yours. Anne Bauer, a 6th-generation family business owner, coach, and energy healer, introduces the idea of working with the energy of your b...

In this inspiring episode of Legacy: Navigating Family Business , Anne Bauer sits down with Briana Borten – founder of Dragontree Spas, co-author of The Well Life , and co-creator of the Dragontree Life Coaching Program. Briana shares the deeply personal and entrepreneurial journey she and her husband Peter have navigated in building a thriving, values-driven family business. From humble beginning...

In this foundational episode of Legacy: Navigating Family Business , Anne Bauer dives deep into the core of her transformative framework: the Three Pillars of Legacy.  Discover how clear communication, healthy boundaries, and energetic awareness work together – not as a checklist for perfection, but as an interconnected braid that supports the healing, growth, and evolution of family businesses. ...

In this episode of Legacy: Navigating Family Business , Anne Bauer talks with Melissa Hildebrand Reed, 4th-generation Operations Manager at Hildebrand Farms Dairy near Junction City, Kansas. Melissa shares her journey from college to the family dairy, where she now works alongside multiple relatives & a team of employees to bottle and distribute milk across the state. She opens up about the bl...

In today’s episode of Legacy: Navigating Family Business, we’re diving into a topic that’s close to my heart – and incredibly important for anyone navigating the unique world of family business: Healthy Boundaries. If you’ve been with us for a while, you know how much I believe in the power of boundaries. They’re one of the three pillars of creating a lasting legacy, alongside clear communication...

In today’s episode, we’re tackling one of the biggest challenges in multi-generational family businesses: how to start the conversation . Whether you’re part of the rising generation entering the family business or a seasoned family member, navigating sensitive topics can feel intimidating – especially when you’re unsure how to bring up ideas, challenges, or opportunities for change. We dive into...

In this episode of Legacy: Navigating Family Business , we chat with Dawn Kennedy, CEO of Convoy Road Coffee Roasters in Van Wert, Ohio, about how a Christmas gift turned into a thriving family business. What started as a hobby of roasting coffee at home with her husband, Mike, grew into a multi-generational venture, fueled by passion and family. This is a longer episode but if you're a fan o...

In this episode of Legacy: Navigating Family Business , we explore what success really means for family businesses. While many think success is just about making money, it’s much more subjective –  especially in family-run enterprises. As a sixth-generation CEO, I’ve learned that defining success for ourselves can be challenging but crucial for long-term growth. We’ll discuss common pitfalls famil...

Family businesses make up nearly 2/3rd of all businesses worldwide and despite that staggering number, the families who own & operate those family businesses can feel deeply lonely and unsupported as they navigate the intricacies & challenges of running a business with those closest to you. The Legacy: Navigating Family Business Podcast is here to change all that! Join me, Anne Bauer, as w...

It’s January – Let’s talk about PLANNING!! It’s one of my favorite subjects, my nerdiest super power, AND also one of the ways I’ve grown & evolved the most when it comes to the way I tend to my family business on a daily basis. Join me as I lay out my top tips for planning (logistically & energetically) in a healthy, balanced & sustainable way for the year ahead. Because overwhelm &am...

It’s our last episode of the year!! Can you believe it?!?!  Finding work-life balance during the holiday season can feel especially challenging for family business owners and I’m no exception! Join me this week as I share 3 things that can help us wrap up the year with intention, enjoy the holiday season fully, and set us up for success in 2025! What’s your big, bold vision for 2025 and what suppo...

This week’s episode may push your edges and pique your curiosity as I talk in more depth about the energetic support, guidance, and medicine available to us (and our family businesses) by connecting to our well & wise ancestors. In this episode we talk about: Leaning into your business’s history to gain perspective during difficult times How to start connecting with the energy of your ancestra...

Join me as I dive into another powerful piece of the work that we do here at Legacy. In this episode I answer questions like: What is ancestral healing? How does ancestral healing impact family businesses? What’s possible in family businesses through ancestral healing? And share a few examples from my experience leading my own family’s 6th generation family business. www.thelegacyevolution.com   A...

Join me as I try to put words to a generally wordless experience and dive into the how & why of energy work & family business coaching. In this episode we break down: 1)        Why being aware of our energy is important everywhere, but especially in family business 2)        How coaching paired with energy work works (& why it’s vastly more efficient & effective) 3)        What ene...

Finding yourself feeling burned out, resentful, uninspired, or strained in your family business relationships? It may be time to bring your work-life balance back into… well, balance. Join me this week as I outline the 3 most common challenges to creating better work-life balance and then dive into the steps we can start to take to restore balance, reciprocity, and satisfaction in your family busi...