No to family business, says son of China’s richest

Wang Sicong, 28, caused a stir in December when his father, Wang Jianlin, 62, revealed in a forum that his son declined to take over the family business.

The elder Wang, founder of conglomerate Wanda Group, happens to be China’s richest, worth more than 600 billion yuan (P4 trillion).

Sicong “doesn’t want to live a life like mine,” says the older Wang, who believes that succession is better given to professionals, who will compete against each other for the crown.

Touted as the country’s most eligible bachelor, Sicong is a director of the family business, with a 2-percent stake. But, with seed money from his father, he is better known for his entrepreneurial ventures, such as Prometheus Capital, which funds social media startups, and Invictus Gaming, which runs online sports gaming.

Sicong has been criticized for his lavish lifestyles, such as iPhones for his pet dog.

Succession problem

Sicong is not alone.

Jean-Lee of the Center for Family Heritage at China Europe International Business School in Shanghai reports that only about 40 percent of the second generation family members in their survey want to take over the family business.

Because most of the younger generation finished university in China and abroad (Wang Sicong studied philosophy at University College London), they have more career options, such as working in the finance industry or starting their own enterprises.

Almost 90 percent of China’s private businesses are family-run, so Beijing columnist Wu Xiabo estimates that three million business families will likely have difficulties grooming qualified and willing successors in the coming decade.

No to retirement

On a positive note, studies show that women in the US are having too much fun to retire. Today’s generation of women mostly work throughout their lives. Those who temporarily stopped to take care of kids are likely to return to the workplace.

Money is a concern, of course, but many women say they continue working because they love what they are doing.

According to Harvard economists Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz, nearly 30 percent of women aged 65 to 69 are working, up from 15 percent in the late 1980s—particularly those who started working early, creating a foundation for their careers, which they never left or which they returned to after raising kids.

The trend is also evident in women with higher education, who find fulfillment in their careers, which they view as a calling rather than a mere job.

The number of men working after age 60 also rose from 1994, though not as dramatically as the women. Sixty percent of men in the 60 to 64 age bracket work, compared to a over half for women.

Keeping resolutions

One way toward a win-win for both employee and business is for the former to share their goals with superiors. You don’t need to wait until planning time to ask employees to set realistic and measurable goals, such as sales targets or plans for self-improvement.

“An employee might express his hope of developing his self-confidence for leadership roles,” says writer Lee Maixian of Singapore’s The Straits Times. “He may suggest this can be developed through opportunities to chair a certain number of meetings that year.”

“Once the company signs off on his targets, it commits to helping him through these action steps. Throughout the year, they will also jointly refine the plan through regular reviews of his progress. This way, the individual’s personal career development goals find their place in the larger corporate goal of talent development and retention.”