Adii Pienaar - First Generation Wealth Creator & Living Life Profitably [The Business of Family]

02/08/21 • 56 min

Adii Pienaar is the founder of three technology companies, two of which he’s exited so far to create first generation wealth for his family. A prolific reader, writer and maker, Adii brings a refreshing perspective to the way he views family, business and wealth.

I was fortunate enough to preview his new book which was released last month, titled Life Profitability. In Life Profitability, Adii provides you with a new perspective for becoming self-aware, recognising your values, and understanding your impact. An enriched life and successful business are not mutually exclusive. In fact, this book will provide you with the first steps in building a business that is more sustainable with increased options for you, your employees, and your family.

Standout Quotes:

"The biggest burden I felt was that transition from wealth generation to wealth maintenance" - [Adii]
"I think in any kind of business partner relationships, as long as everyone is aligned towards the same goal, then everything is hunky-dory, and as soon as someone is not aligned with your process then everything is not hunky-dory" - [Adii]
"Whatever I do, it should be that truest expression of self" - [Adii]
"There are multiple things that pull us into different directions on a daily basis but having an awareness of when that happens... that's Mindfulness" - [Adii]
"I truly believe in transparency for the kids" - [Adii]
"The family office should serve as a leg up for the trustees and that's the kids, right? it's not a handout" - [Adii]
"Neither the family office or any of our individual lives should be so rigid like we're constantly trying to fit into a single recipe" - [Adii]
"The cost of anything we do in life is just Life" - [Adii]
"I don't care if they miss 99% of it, even if they become 1% of the context of this conversation" - [Adii]
"The way I think about legacy is, if I were to die tomorrow, the goal would be to have left my kids or anyone who cares enough breadcrumbs about who I really was" - [Adii]

Key Takeaways:

A major transition point for Adii was moving from wealth generation to wealth maintenance.
With little information on how to run a family office, he was able to get started by asking questions and got propelled into motion when the law firm got the right people around him to explain the process.
Adii describes his value system: How can I wake up every single morning and spend my time manifesting the truest expression and version of myself in anything that I do?
An ideal day for Adii is "being present".
Adii explains that the main reason he went back into entrepreneurship was he wanted to create again, he was enthusiastic about building a team, and those are his higher values for now.
While admitting that his kids have a great life especially from the financial perspective, he is concerned not to bring up spoilt kids who can't be individuals with their purpose.
Adii describes the strategies he uses to help build his kids to become individuals with a backbone: Transparency, which involves letting the kids be fully aware and involved with the ongoings in the family office, as well as the concept of Gratitude.
The family office should always prioritize business ideas from the trustees.
Expounding on the concept of 'Paying a Life Dividend': A business that's not just financially profitable but profits your whole life. Adi discusses the relevance of having assets that mean more than their financial value to the family, which is selected by stress testing, effective communication, and evolution.
It is important to sequence things, rather than doing two things at once and have none getting your full attention.
Every single minute of our day, we only have finite attention, time, and energy to do anything, so the decision to anything is costing us life.
Unfortunately, mainstream media has created a narrow definition of success that serves barely 0.1% of the world, but there is a much wider and diverse definition of success for the rest of us, and it is our responsibility to define it.
To Adii's Children: Do the work, continue learning towards discovering who you are, and figure out how to manifest that in most of the things you do in life.

Episode Timeline:

[00:49] About today's guest, Adii Pienaar, describing his origin story and path to First-generation wealth.
[08:26] What does a family office mean to you, and how did you know what to do when you set out to do this for the first time?
[11:19] How have you and your understanding of value syste...

Standout Quotes:

"The biggest burden I felt was that transition from wealth generation to wealth maintenance" - [Adii]
"I think in any kind of business partner relationships, as long as everyone is aligned towards the same goal, then everything is hunky-dory, and as soon as someone is not aligned with your process then everything is not hunky-dory" - [Adii]
"Whatever I do, it should be that truest expression of self" - [Adii]
"There are multiple things that pull us into different directions on a daily basis but having an awareness of when that happens... that's Mindfulness" - [Adii]
"I truly believe in transparency for the kids" - [Adii]
"The family office should serve as a leg up for the trustees and that's the kids, right? it's not a handout" - [Adii]
"Neither the family office or any of our individual lives should be so rigid like we're constantly trying to fit into a single recipe" - [Adii]
"The cost of anything we do in life is just Life" - [Adii]
"I don't care if they miss 99% of it, even if they become 1% of the context of this conversation" - [Adii]
"The way I think about legacy is, if I were to die tomorrow, the goal would be to have left my kids or anyone who cares enough breadcrumbs about who I really was" - [Adii]

Key Takeaways:

A major transition point for Adii was moving from wealth generation to wealth maintenance.
With little information on how to run a family office, he was able to get started by asking questions and got propelled into motion when the law firm got the right people around him to explain the process.
Adii describes his value system: How can I wake up every single morning and spend my time manifesting the truest expression and version of myself in anything that I do?
An ideal day for Adii is "being present".
Adii explains that the main reason he went back into entrepreneurship was he wanted to create again, he was enthusiastic about building a team, and those are his higher values for now.
While admitting that his kids have a great life especially from the financial perspective, he is concerned not to bring up spoilt kids who can't be individuals with their purpose.
Adii describes the strategies he uses to help build his kids to become individuals with a backbone: Transparency, which involves letting the kids be fully aware and involved with the ongoings in the family office, as well as the concept of Gratitude.
The family office should always prioritize business ideas from the trustees.
Expounding on the concept of 'Paying a Life Dividend': A business that's not just financially profitable but profits your whole life. Adi discusses the relevance of having assets that mean more than their financial value to the family, which is selected by stress testing, effective communication, and evolution.
It is important to sequence things, rather than doing two things at once and have none getting your full attention.
Every single minute of our day, we only have finite attention, time, and energy to do anything, so the decision to anything is costing us life.
Unfortunately, mainstream media has created a narrow definition of success that serves barely 0.1% of the world, but there is a much wider and diverse definition of success for the rest of us, and it is our responsibility to define it.
To Adii's Children: Do the work, continue learning towards discovering who you are, and figure out how to manifest that in most of the things you do in life.

Episode Timeline:

[00:49] About today's guest, Adii Pienaar, describing his origin story and path to First-generation wealth.
[08:26] What does a family office mean to you, and how did you know what to do when you set out to do this for the first time?
[11:19] How have you and your understanding of value syste...

Previous Episode

Mitzi Perdue - Matriarch of the Sheraton Hotels and Perdue Chicken Families [The Business of Family]

Mitzi Perdue is the daughter of one family business titan (her father founded the Sheraton Hotel Chain) and the widow of another, (her late husband was the family business poultry magnate, Frank Perdue), and she is also a businesswoman in her own right. She started the family wine grape business, now one of the larger suppliers of wine grapes in California.

Mitzi likes nothing better than to share insider tips for successful family businesses. Her family of origin (the one that started the Sheraton Hotels) began with the family business, Henderson Estate Company, in 1840, and her Perdue family started in 1920 in the poultry business. These two families have a combined tradition of 276 years of staying together as a family.

Standout Quotes:

"The odds of a family business lasting 100 years are 1 in 1000" - [Mitzi]
"The families who put a lot of effort into designing their cultures are the ones that survive, the ones that let things happen as they may, that rarely supports keeping the family business together over the generations" - [Mitzi]
"70% of family businesses won't make it to the next generation, so if you want your family to last, put a lot of intentionality into letting the family members know from the youngest age that they're part of something bigger than themselves" - [Mitzi]
"The biggest reason families don't last is family quarrels" - [Mitzi]
"So a big piece of advice I'd have for every family is, deal with the problems, get them out, come to a resolution but don't go the press, don't go to adversarial lawyers" - [Mitzi]
"We're measured by what you can give, not what you can get" - [Mitzi]
"I don't think you can be happy if you're not part of something bigger than yourself...
If you want to be happy, think what you can do for somebody else, if you really want to be miserable, think what's owed to you" - [Mitzi]
"In general, your family will be better functioning the more it knows its stories" - [Mitzi]
"If your children turn out right, nothing else matters, if your children turn out wrong, nothing else matters" - [Mitzi]

Key Takeaways:

Mitzi is a part of two multi-generational business families, each of which has lasted for over 100years and over 5 generations.
Mitzi explains that a lot of conscious effort was put into strengthening the families over the years, noting in particular one of the strategies being the "Service to the Family" award.
Every single family that exists has a culture, but is it a culture that came about by accident or by design?
It is critical to be intentional about designing and maintaining family culture as it plays a major role in the success of a family business over generations, rather than just allowing things to happen as they may.
People need a lot of guidance to be steered away from selfishness, and that takes intentionality.
Separating Ownership and Control helps create a perspective of the family as an entity bigger than any one person, and consequently gives a better understanding of the role of stewardship.
Mitzi explains her innovative idea to inculcate the family values in family members, right from childhood.
Noting the importance of knowing how to handle family quarrels, Mitzi strongly emphasizes avoiding the press or lawyers but rather encourages outspokenness within the family.
Three ways that a family can intentionally stay together: Family Newsletters, Family Reunions, and Philanthropy.
Mitzi highlights the positive effects of connecting with both present and past members of the family on the well-being, physically and mentally, of the family.
As a personal preference, Mitzi would rather use books as a means to archive family history compared to other forms of technology, as it may be difficult to access the archive in the future if the technology used to archive it is outdated by that time.
Mitzi recommends entering a new family with humility, observing them, noting what gains you points and what doesn't, also pointing out that while the two families had very different values, the values were very compatible.
Mitzi's letter to her kids: Be generous, be kind, be honest, work hard but be a good steward.

Episode Timeline:

[00:49] Introducing Mitzi Perdue, to discuss actionable advice on how her family has maintained their businesses and family dynamics for generations.
[02:28] Mitzi shares the origin stories of both business families she is a part of.
[04:46] What generation are you in eac...

Next Episode

Aaron Chin - My Ceiling is Your Floor - 2nd Gen Leader of Canadian Health Business [The Business of Family]

Aaron Chin is a second-generation business leader and CEO of Organika, a family-led Canadian company dedicated to providing innovative, premium health products to help inspire people to live healthier lives.

Growing up in the business motivated Aaron to build on what his father started 30 years ago. Since assuming leadership of Organika, in partnership with his brother Jordan, they have increased business seven-fold and have grown the company into an award-winning, globally recognized brand, focusing on innovation and a vibrant company culture.

Standout Quotes:

"You start with the mission of the company and that'll help drive your decisions after". - [Aaron]
"If you can tweak one little thing in your process that could save you 30minutes...do it". - [Aaron]
"You are going to determine yourself, how well you do". - [Aaron]
"I really do believe there's nothing like good old hard work". - [Aaron]
"My relationship with my brother is bigger than the business... I think I can pass that down to my kids" - [Aaron]

Key Takeaways:

Aaron's dad had the dream when he moved from Malaysia to Canada to give his kids a chance to get ice cream whenever they wanted.
Following the treatment of his kidney stones using natural products, he started the business with a vision to make healthcare accessible for all.
Despite the rejection, his father persistently put himself and his products out there, till the business took off.
Aaron shares he always had an interest in the family business although his father never tried to impose any expectations to join.
Aaron narrates a simple experience where he noticed the boss employed by his father to manage the business got to the office one morning, and deleted all his office voicemails without listening to any one, inciting Aaron's suspicion of the poor management inherent in the business.
Realizing the diet differences between the newer and older generation, the company pivoted from mostly vitamin pills to be more involved in superfoods, powders, drink mixes.
The surprising eventuality of Aaron becoming CEO in an Asian family where he is the younger brother and always at odds with his older brother, was partly made possible by the family dynamic which started to work out following certain events that strengthened the bond between them.
Aaron shares his vision for the company: I want to see us in every single home in Canada.
Explaining that his dad wasn't overprotective but rather allowed them to make mistakes, and these mistakes helped them learn how to make fast and efficient decisions.
The question: What are you doing about it?
If you teach children what wealth means, it's rather thoughtful to leave wealth for them, but if not then it's just an expectation, and things could go wrong.
To Aaron's kids: Know the importance of Family because it is more important than even the business

Episode Timeline:

[00:49] Meet today's guest "Aaron Chin".
[01:25] Where did the family business begin, and how do you become involved in this story?
[07:40] About Aaron's entry into the business: Was it always an expectation or some other circumstance?
[16:09] Describing the business today.
[19:55] How did the leadership transition come about?
[24:40] Being the younger brother in an Asian family, how did you arrive at the CEO role?
[27:15] What sort of investment process did you go through, and how did you formalize the business?
[33:33] Would you say the company culture remains unchanged or has it morphed as a result of the impact of Private Equity coming in?
[37:45] Aaron shares major lessons learned by trying things and making mistakes at the beginning
[38:50] Is there a multi-generational plan to continue the legacy that your father started?
[41:03] How do you feel about children inheriting wealth?
[42:39] Aaron's letter to his kids.

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Special Guest: Aaron Chin.