Your Next Gen Friend: A Successor's Guide to Business Transition

There's a moment in every family business transition where you're going to look at someone you love and realize you want something different than what they want. Not in a small way. In a way that makes the whole deal feel like it might not work. That's what this episode is about. Andrea recorded this one solo after leading an Evolve Group Lab on the same topic that morning. She walks through what...

What happens when you grow up knowing your family is comfortable but nobody ever tells you what that actually means? And then one day in your thirties, you start learning about trusts and structures and tax implications that have been there the whole time? Celine Fitzgerald lived that. She's a G3 family member whose dad was CEO of their family's bank when a liquidity event happened in 1994. She wa...

Season 2 is here. Andrea kicks things off solo with a look at what she's been hearing from next gens over the past year, across dozens of calls and conversations. Three patterns keep showing up. The first is the entitlement myth. Parents and founders worry their kids will feel entitled to the business or the wealth. But when Andrea sits down with next gens, the feelings underneath are almost alway...

What happens when the family business you joined for the long haul loses a huge piece of its revenue, and you are the one who has to figure out what comes next? In this Season 2 premiere of Your Next Gen Friend, Andrea sits down with Josh Robinson, fourth-generation owner of Argonaut Liquor in Denver. Josh shares how he went from stocking shelves and choosing not to lead with his last name, to lea...

If you work in your family's business, there's something worth sitting with: one day, you won't. Whether you're the one leaving or watching someone else step away, a parent, a sibling, a cousin, it's going to happen. And the emotional weight of that exit is unlike anything you'll go through in any other job. In this Part 2 conversation, Andrea sits back down with Adam Hatcher, family business cons...

What if succession planning wasn’t something that happened to you—but something you helped design? In this solo episode, Andrea introduces Transition 3.0 , a modern approach to family business and wealth transitions that gives successors a real seat at the table. Instead of vague promises or plans revealed too late, Transition 3.0 focuses on clarity, collaboration, and honest conversation—before r...

What does it really mean to earn your seat in a family enterprise—especially when legacy, identity, and personal ambition are all intertwined? In this candid conversation, Andrea talks with Ashley Dimond about growing into leadership inside her family’s operating company, family office, and foundation. Ashley shares how business school helped her fight the “nepotism cloud,” why family meetings bec...

What if the hardest part of succession isn’t the business strategy—it’s the conversation ? In this episode, Andrea talks with Aviva Kosansky, a second-generation leader at ProfitPoint, about what it looks like to step toward ownership when you’re not even sure you want it yet. Aviva shares her early-career detour into fintech, the decision to build real credibility (including earning her Master’s...

The year has come to a close—and with it, a lot of reflection. In this short solo episode, Andrea shares what the past year revealed through her work with successors, the conversations that stayed with her, and the growth she’s witnessed both in others and in herself. From navigating responsibility and identity to realizing how much internal leadership work transitions require, this episode names...

What do you do when you’re grateful for your last name… but you don’t want it to be the first thing people see? In this episode, Andrea talks with Brecken Glenn, a next-gen leader at Affinity Partners in Northern Colorado, about the messy middle of stepping into a family business while trying to build your own credibility, confidence, and identity. Brecken shares the defining moment she chose alig...

What really happens when the business you’re buying belongs to your parents — and everyone has an opinion about what’s “fair”? Today’s episode dives into the emotional, operational, and relational reality of third-generation succession with Mitch Gambert, the new owner of Gambert Shirts, a legacy American shirtmaker in Newark, NJ. If you’re in the thick of a transition — managing expectations, nav...

Ever felt like you’re wearing someone else’s leadership suit? In family business, it’s easy to inherit roles, patterns, and assumptions that don’t fit. In this solo episode, Andrea breaks down the IMAP assessment—a practical framework to name your natural wiring so you can lead with clarity (not copycat energy). You’ll learn how motivated roles map to a project’s lifecycle (Idea → Prototype → Deve...

What does clarity really look like in a family business? In this episode, Andrea talks with third-generation leader Adam Hatcher , who shares how a simple letter from his father set the standard for joining the family firm—and why that decision changed everything. Together they unpack the complex mix of love, loyalty, and leadership that defines multi-generational companies and the systems that he...

What happens when successors finally have a system that helps them lead with clarity instead of chaos? Andrea sits down with Adam Hill and Jacqueline Jensen to explore how EOS (the Entrepreneurial Operating System) changed their leadership—and their companies. You’ll hear their origin stories in family business, what EOS made possible, and their favorite tools (V/TO, Issues Solving Track, Scorecar...

What does it mean to be Generation 1.5—old enough to remember the drywall dust, young enough to build the next playbook? At just 20 years old, JR runs leasing at Victory Real Estate Group, sits at city council meetings for development projects, and co-founded NextGenX—a peer group for successors who know legacy is about people, not just money. He also launched Retail Equity, introducing capital ra...

Ever felt like the transition timeline is moving impossibly slow—while your career clock is ticking fast? AJ Treleven (EVP, Sprague Pest Solutions) walks us through the governance backbone of a century-old family enterprise: outside directors to buffer family from operations, a two-meeting cadence that separates fiduciary work from family dynamics, and a long-view philosophy that treats roles as s...

This solo episode is a little different. Andrea shares her personal answers to the three reflective questions she now asks every guest on the podcast—designed to move us through past, present, and future. ✨ Questions explored in this episode: What have I chosen not to inherit? What’s a part of my story that I’m learning to honor right now? In one word, what am I the first of in my family? Andrea...

What if stepping into family business leadership meant putting on someone else’s suit every day—literally and figuratively? In this episode, Andrea sits down with sixth-generation CEO Anne Bauer, who shares how trying to lead like her dad left her feeling disconnected and creatively stuck. Anne opens up about the moment she realized she needed to stop copying and start leading authentically—and ho...

What if I told you that business transition isn't just about changing ownership—it's about six fundamental transformations that happen to both the successor and the current owner? In this solo episode, Andrea introduces the Six Metamorphoses of Business Transition, a framework that helps families and business teams understand the psychological and practical changes everyone experiences during lead...

What goes through your mind when someone asks you to be their successor? For Andrea, it wasn't immediate excitement—it was a flood of very real fears and questions. In this honest and relatable episode, Andrea takes you inside her thought process when Elizabeth first asked her to become the successor at The Transition Strategists. From meeting Elizabeth on what she thought was just a networking ca...

Andrea tackles one of the most loaded phrases in family business: "You're next." Whether it's taking over the family business, stepping into leadership alongside siblings, or inheriting family wealth responsibilities, being told you're next rarely comes with the clarity successors actually need. In this vulnerable and practical episode, Andrea shares her own experience of first hearing about her r...

In this candid conversation, Andrea and Suzy explore the complex emotions that come with inheriting family wealth. Suzy, a third-generation wealth inheritor, shares her journey from feeling shame about "unearned" money to becoming empowered to take control of her financial future. Key Topics: Wrestling with the psychology of inherited wealth and finding your authentic relationship with money How m...

After launching with a powerful three-part series on sibling dynamics, Andrea takes listeners behind the scenes of her own story in this deeply personal episode. Most importantly, Andrea explains why Your Next Gen Friend exists - to create community for successors who often feel isolated while navigating guilt, imposter syndrome, and the challenge of building their own legacy while honoring what c...

This is the first episode of a three-part series on sibling dynamics in family businesses, featuring three thoughtful leaders with vastly different experiences - from 12 siblings in a farming operation to passing a business to the next generation of siblings. Andrea Carpenter hosts an honest conversation about the good stuff, hard stuff, and unexpected challenges of growing, leading, and staying i...

This is the second episode of a three-part series on sibling dynamics in family businesses. The conversation dives deeper into the complexities of family roles, the importance of communication (even poor communication), and how vulnerability and empathy become essential leadership tools when working with siblings. The episode explores the tension between family relationships and business responsib...