In this transmission weintroduce you to the succession problem; we connect it to permaculture and sustainable agriculture; and then we overview some solutions to the succession problem in families.
The Succession Problem
Steve Jobs dies. Who takes over as the next CEO? Do they share his vision? Do they have his capability?
A farmer is getting old. Are any of his kids interested in taking over the farm? Are they capable of it? Does he have any kids?
Those are both examples of succession problems.
Attempts at solving the succession problem can and should define every human institution. Henry VIII founded a new church trying to get an heir. Tens of thousands died to find out that Augustus would succeed to Caesar.
You can conceive of an institution that is not meant to last more than a generation. This is the Thomas Jefferson solution—this is what he was talking about when he said the tree of liberty should be watered from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. He was essentially calling for a new founding in every generation. The problem is this never seems to happen. Even totally temporary organizations linger on in some kind of organizational twilight. For real human institutions the options are to successfully manage the succession or to stagnate. The worst is when organizations don’t even appear to realize that they need to plan for succession, as is so common today.
Succession problems aren’t just for polities and corporations and other formal organizations. Religions often have a succession problem (read your Book of Acts, or run up your papal flag and see who salutes). Generations can have a succession problem. Things are going to be different when the Boomers are gone, for good or for bad. Families definitely have a succession problem. Nature has a succession problem.
The Succession Problem in the Field
When an animal population booms and then crashes, that’s a succession problem. The first generation wasn’t living in a way that the next generation could succeed to.
When people think of permaculture they sometimes think of interactions and trophic cascades, how the presence of multiple plant varieties and animal varieties can form a system where the parts reinforce each other. In other words, permaculture vs. monocropping.
But another permanent part of permaculture is the perma part. The sustainable part. At root permaculture wisdom is just the recognition that growing food has a succession problem. After this generation of growth, after this season, what comes next? Looting the fertility of the soil for a great crop this year makes no sense once you realize you want to grow next year too. This crop needs to be succeeded.
Family Succession
The family is where the succession problem is most obvious. Replication is almost the essence of what the family is. Will our children grow into successful adults? Will they be able to marry and have children of their own? Will they pass on the family culture and patrimony or reject their upbringing? These are fundamental questions going back into myth and prehistory as far as human memory runs, ever since “Cain slew righteous Abel.” It is so sad to see some happy, capable parents make a good home but fail to transmit it to their children.
The Boomer approach of kicking the kids out when they turn 18 and good luck to them is not viable and probably never was. Succession problems need solutions.
The ongoing steader posts on family identity are a set of solutions to the succession problem. For the next generation to succeed, there has to be something to succeed to. The family as a multigenerational institution must have an identity. Expect to see more on family identity from time to time.
There are also practical approaches that we hope to explore in future transmissions. There are possibilities for resurrecting for our era something like the old stem- or trustee-model of family (as described by people like Frederic Le Play, Carle Zimmerman, etc.) using LLC, trust agreements, multisigs/DAOs, or other structures. DAO-as-family-trust has real potential.
There will also be a review and discussion of the Family Credit Union Concept, found in a very interesting little book that we’ve run across. Here’s a summary to whet your appetite.
Parents and kids each put a fixed amount in an account each month, parents match kids. So if there are 4 kids and each puts in $25, the parents put in $100, for a total of $200/month. Then as savings increase use “safe” investments to have some growth. Once there’s enough available “loans” can be drawn by the family at a fair interest rate and paid back to the account effectively creating a credit union for the family. Key points: all decisions are unanimous only and if there are issues they are handled similar to a bank (repo, etc.) although he says if everyone is contributing and everything is unanimous that helps eliminate many potential issues. The author of the book talks about his own family’s (ongoing) experience and how they’ve used it to provide downpayments for homes. This should be of particular interest because getting a house is a huge factor in the next generation being able to start having kids. Jointly controlled family wealth provides a material basis for ongoing family identity.
We may also have a review of a book on 529s. Do they have potential?