Transcript:

Michael (00:00.468)
Welcome everybody to the Family Biz Show. I'm your host Michael Palumbas with Family Wealth and Legacy in Rochester, New York. Today we are joined by Mike Young from Wegis & Young. Mike is the author of The Farmer's Code, How Legacies Are Built that came out in January. So welcome Mike.

Mike:
Well, thank you, Michael. It's nice to be with you. Enjoy the podcast.

Michael:
Great, I appreciate when somebody that is a guest on the show has listened to it previously. So then you probably know that we have kind of a history of, know, tell us your history. How did you end up working in the family business? What was your, you know, life pre-family business and to today the abbreviated version?

Mike:
Yeah, thank you. So I run a fourth generation family business where our roots are in agriculture, but we're more set up as a family office these days as we had an exit about four years ago. I'm fourth generation. My great grandfather immigrated from the Swiss German border in a town called Vegas, hence the name Wegis.

His last name wasn't that, when he came here, he talked so much about his hometown that people just called him Wiggis. So he changed his last name to Wegis. He was actually, he, he, the family came in, they didn't come in the conventional way into the United States through Ellis Island. They actually came through San Francisco. So they had quite the boat trip.

Mike (01:40.59)
And they moved their way down California and ended up stopping in an area that was very much like their, he felt like was the hometown he came from. Always wanted to be a farmer, but never was. And right around 1900, he was able to purchase a plot of land and started farming. And then my grandfather ended up taking it over and he was really the impetus to the growth of the family. He was probably one of the most forward thinking human beings I've ever known. And really in the ag industry, he's the one that brought surface water to the Central Valley of California, which where we are is essentially an irrigated desert. And he helped turn this area into some of the most productive farmland in the world.

Then next generation, my dad and my uncle, so my dad was the outlaw that actually came into the family business and he partnered with my uncle and they continued to grow the business. The fourth generation, my generation, there's four of us in this generation and we were kind of handed the keys and told that if you like the lifestyle that we live, you're gonna need to figure out a way to grow this thing. So, you know, we were lucky that we had mentors and coaches in our life and via my dad and my uncle and a checkbook that gave us the opportunity to do things outside of agriculture that might have an opportunity to grow our business. Myself, I never wanted to come into the... into the farm. I was the first generation, I was the first born in the next generation, didn't like to get dirty. My mom used to, my mom still teases me to this day, seriously, you're the you're the first born, the one that's supposed to carry the torch for a farming empire, and you don't like to get dirty. In college, I fell in love with politics. And I was actually ready to go to Washington, DC. And a month before I graduated college, my grandfather had

Mike (04:00.536)
Gotten pancreatic cancer. And he asked me to come back and work with my dad and my uncle. And he told me I needed to marry the girl that I was dating who is now my wife. So that's how I ended up in the business.

Michael:
Got it. How old were you when I mean?

Mike:
Yeah, I was just 23 at the time.

Michael: 
Yeah. And tell me about your journey inside the company. Where did you, where did you start? You know, and where are you today? How do you know, what does that look like?

Mike:
Yeah, so I, you know, since I was the first born in the next generation to actually come back, and I don't think my dad and uncle were really prepared for me to come back. When I did, they're like, well, we don't know what we're gonna do with you, so you're gonna run the composting operation. I...

Mike (04:57.998)
I had chicken manure was I learned a lot about chicken manure and I ran. I drove the spreading truck. I composted the manure. I ran the loader. I learned all about that side of the business. And then, you know, I kind of just kind of progressed from from doing all the jobs until we got to a point where it was like, all right, what else can we do to continue to grow this thing? And because I had a lot of ideas and a lot of energy. And and that's when they decided, All right, let's let some of this energy run.

Michael:
Perfect. So when we look at, you know, through the generations, talk to me about like, you know, during different periods of time, what was the business doing to make money at the, know, during the, during each generation versus what does it look like today and how, you know, the business makes money. I understand that you went through the exit. and, but I'm just curious, you know, what that evolution looked like.

Mike:
Yeah. So I mean, first generation was, was a struggle to, to start a farm and really money was made. the farm was kind of a side hustle. the real job was in, was in the, was in the railroads and he was working in the railroads when he would come home from his job in the railroads is when he would farm. so he was just trying to, trying to create something really.

 Remember what he farmed?

Mike (06:29.912)
yeah. So he took, he took, he took desert, literal desert. And, at the time there was no water, wasn't captured. There was no dams on our current river. And so it used to flood portions of the valley and what we, what we call a slew, the Jerry slew, and he was on the Jerry slew and he would capture the water and trap it and was growing, growing rice at the time.

Michael:
Okay.

Mike:
So rice and sugar beets. My grandfather, when he took over, he was the one that really loved to farm. And he was the one that really turned the ground that we had and really a lot of the ground in the southern central valley into some of the most productive farmland in the world. And he expanded the crop base from just rice to growing things like alfalfa and cotton. and sugar beets, but was really more of like, what can we do to continue this into future generations? And so he thought about lot about water and how water was going to be regulated and water policy, which is a huge thing in the state of California. And he was at the forefront of that. Then the third generation, my dad and my uncle, when they took it over,

They were the ones that really expanded the farming operation from just the cotton, we're no longer growing rice, but from just cotton and alfalfa to things that were a little bit more risky to grow but had a higher return. So a lot of fruits and vegetables, planting a lot of permanent crops like almonds, pistachios and table grapes. And they're the ones that really expanded us into that.

Mike (08:19.722)
And then the fourth generation with myself and my brother and my cousin and my cousin-in-law, that was where it was like, okay, we've got this great farming base, but what can we do to grow it and can we get vertically integrated? So at that time we were growing a lot of alfalfa and the first thing I got to do was build an alfalfa cuber where we were manufacturing cubes to sell into the equine industry. Built that.

Timeline, when is this about? When you started to branch out?

Yeah, so this was, I just graduated from college in 1994. And so in 1996, in like two years, go right in. And so we, you know, we did that and then we built that and then quit growing a lot of alfalfa and realized it was time to sell that business. So I got to build that business and exit it. At about the same time, we were growing a lot of tomatoes for tomato paste production.

Don't write in!

Mike (09:23.33)
So we built a tomato paste plant, same thing where we were growing it. We were basically vertically integrating our farming operation, built that business and then ended up exiting it as well because tomatoes were no longer a crop that we grew a lot of. And then had the opportunity to develop some... service businesses that service the ag and the oil sector, which are two of our largest industries here in the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley. And got to build those associated with water and then built a technology business as well, which we've all exited in the last two to three years. yeah, in the last 30 years, we've had the opportunity to take the base that we had in land and in agriculture and expand on it to build various different businesses that either serviced it or vertically helped it grow.

I have to ask, farming to technology, what was the technology business that they focused on?

Yeah, was a business that focused on basically water infrastructure. So we were able to pack to monitor the health of irrigation wells, monitor where how much water was coming out of the ground and how much water was actually being used by the various different crops.

Michael (11:03.734)
I love it. Have you ever heard of an author, Thales Thixaria?

No. 

So he wrote a book called Unlocking the Customer Value Chain. And you guys, one, that's exactly what you've been doing, is looking at, okay, we're growing alfalfa, where else is alfalfa on the customer value chain? Ooh, we get a higher value for this alfalfa if we turn it into cubes and sell it to the equine industry. And oh, wait a minute, we're making the tomatoes for the tomato paste. If we have a production plant that goes along with that, and you can put yourself into that arena of the value chain, nicely done. It's classic, classic. And in a lot of people, what you said resonates really, really well. I'm hoping that lot of family businesses caught this. What fed two households ain't gonna feed four households. And so if you guys wanna continue this lifestyle, you're gonna have to figure out how to grow.

And at the end of the day, when we're talking, things are either growing or they're dying. There is no, hey, let's just maintain because inflation will just crush you if you're just maintaining. $10 million of revenue today is not $10 million in 10 years. So nicely done. I give you a lot of credit for several things. One, unlocking the value chain along the lines. Two,

Michael (12:39.158)
making that career shift for the family. And at the end of the day, it sounds like that was what you were supposed to do anyways. It sounds like it was just natural. And though there was a draw to, you know, to Washington and do those things. My gut says that you might be somebody who might be involved in local politics at some level, shape or form. Is there any truth to that? Yeah. So what do you tell us about that side of your life?

Very much so.

yeah. mean, since the since I graduated and got involved, mean, politics, especially in agriculture and in California, it's very highly regulated. And you've got to be you've got to be involved. You've got to know who your who your you know, your your local representatives are as well as your state federal representatives.

And yeah, that's just an important piece to the puzzle to make sure that we could stay successful and stay ahead of the game. And I'll be honest with you, one of the water service company that we built was built on the back of government regulation that was being started at the time, where we had a lot of diesel engines that were pumping irrigation water that were old and polluting.

The state government and state air board came out with a program to help farmers replace those engines with cleaner, efficient diesel, natural gas, electric. so we got into the engine retail business and because of that regulation, but that was because we had our hand in the middle of what was going on at the political level.

Michael (14:25.1)
I love it. Yeah. I just brilliant, brilliant thinking about what else can we do? Where do we go with this? I also love the, you did something else. We took it to a level that we can take it to and we, we, we watch, you know, there's the, there are business cycles in everything and you were unafraid. It wasn't about the legacy of the family. and, we've always done this. So we need to keep this. you could, you know, we're, could look at the opportunities and take advantage of them. Good for you guys.

Yeah, you know, that was one of about four years ago, we ended up exiting about 85 % of our farmland, the land that had been in the family for four generations, because we got to a point where regulation was so tough, the water situation was tough, and we saw it getting harder. And we had to make a decision, was this something, you know, that's going to benefit not just us, but the next generation, but

not G5, but G6 as well. How can we make sure that this nest egg is protected? And that honestly was one of the toughest decisions we ever made as a family was that transition from owning the farm to, we still farm all that ground and manage it, but now we're just managers or essentially money managers. but so there's that transition that, you know, that quite a bit of the family really struggled with, but realize what would be beneficial to G5 and G6.

Michael (16:02.946)
I love it, I love it. you know, there's another author, Tom Deans wrote a book, Every Family Business, or Every Family's Business. And Tom and I had talked about the fact that, you know, the business should always be for sale. And it should be a conversation within every family that it's always for sale. If there's an offer, if there's something that makes sense, that we're growing this. for future generations and to your point, let's protect that nest egg because what if we go past the prime and we've seen it before, where we're trying to hold on to a legacy business for too long and you're past the prime and now it could have been here that we optimize value for the entire family and now we're 80 % of that. So good for you. I love it. Let's talk about

You know, you got four generations of history. I'd love to dive a little bit into that. I've got to believe that, you know, before I do that, just curve ball, before I do that, let's talk about the book a little bit. Tell us about, you know, what's in the book, what's it about? And, you know, what are the two or three main points that you just love passionately talking about that are inside of that book?

Yeah. So the book started, I started thinking about this book four years ago, my grandmother, who's 101, gonna be 102 in about four months. As she was approaching 99, I really just started thinking about the legacy that she and my grandfather created. And I wanted to write something to honor her legacy.

And as I started to conceptualize the book, I realized, you know, this this book's a lot bigger and a lot more than just her legacy because, we, she is helped create this thing that's been amazing. And so for, for our family, for four generations, everyone that's been born into the family has worked in the family business. And we've got, you know, three outlaws that actually work in the family business as well. So,

Mike (18:18.862)
And not only do we work together, but we play together and we love each other and I've For a number and I've had another conversations with people that say, know How do you work with your dad and your uncle and your brother and your cousin and your cousin-in-law and and how do you like him?

And I'm like, I don't know any different, to be honest with you. It's just, it's been part of our DNA. We love each other and we love to play with one another. And so it works. And someone said, you need to write a book about that. And that's where I started thinking about, maybe this book, I need to write a book. And then I'm chairman of a nonprofit foundation called the California Ag Leadership Foundation.

And three years ago, I challenged them. like, I want everyone on this board to come up with a generational goal, a goal that creates generational impact. Something that you can look back on in 2021 and you can say, man, that goal that I made that year and I accomplished, really changed, it changed my life and it changed the direction of my life. And so...

Since I challenged my board, I'm like, I probably need to come up with something big. So I decided I was going to write this book. And as I dove into the book, it was much more than just the legacy of the family. It was more about how anyone can really step into their world and create a legacy. the thesis of it was legacies aren't something that we leave for people. They're something that we leave in people.

And it's about those relationships, know, about those, know, like, faith guides my steps. So it's about those Christ-like relationships. And so the book is broken down into four sections. The first is me. First, we need to learn how to lead ourselves before we can lead others. And if we can't lead ourselves, we're never gonna leave a legacy. Well, I take that back. Everyone is gonna leave a legacy.

Mike (20:28.398)
It doesn't matter. just is it going to be a positive legacy or is it going to be a negative legacy? And you know, the hope is that everyone reads this book and wants to leave a positive legacy. So we work on ourselves and then.

I just jump in for a second? Because you just said something really, really powerful. And you're talking to somebody who didn't do the self work until I was in my 40s. I was a dad. And so, you know, that's not always perfect mix. And so I want people to hear this and listen to what Mike is saying. You're dead nuts on. I've been preaching this.

myself and encouraging people that, you know, to really look inside yourself and figure out what makes you tick. Why do I do what I do? Why do I think the way I think? Why do I feel the way I feel? Because, you know, thinking, feeling, you know, is not you. It's just things that are output from us. Right. And so if we understand,

This bothers me and it bothers me because of something itty bitty small. Like we all have money conversations and the money conversations that we all have came from our parents and our grandparents, our aunts and uncles and all the things that we heard from them. you go back to, you you talked about being faith driven. You know, it's easier for a rich man or it's easier for, it's.

It's harder for a rich man to get to heaven than it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, right? And so if that's what you grew up with, then you might not want to be rich. You might be avoiding that, you know, and realistically, is not what that is, that saying is all about, number one, but two, you know, if you have some thought processes, some limiting beliefs, you've got to work on those limiting beliefs so that you can become all that you can be.

Michael:
Right. I really appreciate you saying that it resonated. That's why I had to take a break there and it resonated strongly. I highly recommend and and whether you're 20 years old, 40 years old, or you're 70 years old, you can choose whether you want to be an elder or an older.

Exactly. love that. Yep.

Yeah, so thank you. Well, so when you move from there, what's the second, you know, part of the book broken into? Yes.

And then, you know, once we understand who we are, what our motivations are, and, you know, what causes us to do what we do, then we can start working on what I call them now. And that's your immediate circle. That's your family. That might be your extended family. It might be a few extended friends, but those are the ones that you're going to have the most influence and the most power on.

the most influence over for generations to come. when I think of my grandmother and my grandfather and my mom and dad and aunt and uncle, I was them now at one time. so once I can be healthy with myself, then I can be a healthy example to my immediate circle.

Mike (23:51.75)
And so, and then the circle stretches out to them to come. And that is, you know, that's who I wrote the book for. That was for, you know, my kids and really for my grandkids and my great grandkids. One day, hopefully they can look back and go, this is how my family is influenced and how my family has loved over many generations.

So, yeah.

I love how you broke that down. What's really nice is they always say there's no original ideas, there's just your original idea put together. And Mike, that is such an original idea, come full circle. We grew up in, there was people here before us, before we got to this land and started utilizing it.

in my area, it was the Iroquois Indians, and they have this thing called seven generation thinking. And it's, know, what can I do? And this is, it just fits. What can I do to honor those that were seven generations before me? And how do I make sure that the decisions that we're making today honor those that are coming seven generations from me? you just nailed it. We need to hear those things, those ideas, they get lost and they need to be heard 

in a different way all the time. So I'm really thankful. I'm gonna pick up the book and make sure that it's on our reading list for family businesses to take a peek at. In this world of, we're in a microwave society, I can order something and it's there in a day. There is no investing time and money.

Michael (25:50.412)
Yeah, everybody wants it now. I want to be an influencer online. want to, I want to get my dopamine fixed by just getting how many likes I can get on my picture. And, and we need that thinking that you brought to the table in, you know, the farmer's code. I really appreciate that. Yeah. Through the generations, I want to talk about some of the stories that have been passed on because I'm positive.

Thank you.

Michael (26:19.244)
that your family has shared stories, what worked, what didn't work, when did we struggle, why did we struggle, and what did we learn from it to make us who we are today. Do you mind sharing some of those times when you, know, some of the struggles that have happened historically, one or two of them, and just talk about, you know, how that was passed to you and how it affected your thinking today based on the stories that were shared from the past.

Yeah, you know, understanding the past is super important because it usually always circles back. And it usually always circles back, I've learned, at least once a generation. It's all going to circle back. know, agriculture is very cyclical. mean, it is up and down and all of our wealth we ever build is in the land.

It's not cash wealth. so there's many times in life that things get super tight. Back in the 80s, when they had high interest rates, we think today's interest rates are high, but it's nothing like it was in the 80s. You know, when the dollar got

We're very, very export driven in a lot of the commodities that we grow. so I've always been taught that macroeconomics is just as important as microeconomics. Macroeconomics is just as important as understanding how to grow a crop, how to plant a seed, how to fertilize it, and how to harvest it.

Because if we don't understand what's going on in the world around us and how government regulation and how the consumer is reacting to the product that we're grown, that we're never gonna be successful and we've gotta learn to pivot. That's when I talk about my grandfather being, he was always forward thinking, he was always looking at that. And I mean, he passed that down to my dad and my uncle and they've passed that down to my generation.

Mike (28:35.09)
And it's that forward thinking that I think has kept us alive and healthy for four generations.

Great. When you look at the transitions through the years, how did your family typically handle transition from one generation to the next?

I think very healthy and I think this is the one thing that makes our our our family successful is that the older generation when we first came on they were my dad and my uncle they were coaches and mentors they were they allowed us to go out and do something and fall on our face and then pick us up and say okay what could we have done different there

were how could we have learned from that mistake? I mean, they coached us. And then as we grew, they recognized that, okay, it's time to turn it over to the next generation for us to be healthy. We need people that have got the energy and that are healthy minded and healthy in body. they turned it over and let us run.

Now they're still partners and they still guide us in what we do and every day. But I saw that with my grandfather. didn't know it until probably the last 20 years, but I recognize it now. I saw it from my grandfather to my dad and my uncle. I saw it from my dad and my uncle to my generation. And we don't have the next generation back in the business yet, but I'm certain that

Mike (30:23.854)
that will do the same.

I love it. Realistically, I think it goes back to the family's foundation of, you know, work hard together and play hard together. And the only way that that happens really well is, you know, the communication and the trust.

communication, trust, we're set up, you don't want to create jealousies. Yeah, we've had some hard conversations in boardrooms, but those hard conversations, feel like sometimes are the best conversations that we ever have. And we're set up where everyone is equal, we all get paid the same. And so I think that regardless of what your role is,

you know, we try to keep everything as equal as possible. I think that's another thing that's really made us successful is we've been able to operate that way.

And if you talk to, you know, if you talk to five different business coaches that have been working with family businesses for years, very rare, I think, will they say that you should be paying each other equally. You pay by the job is what's typically heard out. Yeah, you pay, and so that's interesting. You can have equal ownership, but the pay should be based on, you know, if I'm managing the...

Michael (31:52.342)
you know, the sewage treatment plant and you're the CEO of the company, it should be paid based on the job so that when you have non-family members looking in, that's different. You guys chose to take a different approach to that. And I just, you know, I think it's just as important for people to say, what works for you doesn't have to work for everybody else. 

No, and it might not work for, and I'll be honest, it might not work for the next generation. But it's what's worked for us for the last four generations. You gotta be nimble.

Yeah.

Yeah, and communicating about it and talking about it. And like you said, you know, so let's talk about that for a second. When we look at the family governance setup, you know, how many different owners might there have been at any one time, even though they might may or may not have had work, you know, working in the business. How did you make this? How do you make decisions together? You know, what does that look like? Is there a family board of directors? Is there?

you know, an outside board to talk about that so I can just kind of get an idea of the structure of how you.

Mike (33:01.836)
Yeah, there's a family board of directors. Right now we've got six family trusts that own interest in our holding company, which owns pretty much all of our assets. And each one of those members have a seat on the board. And since we've got six, we've got to come to a consensus because it's not an odd number. But I...

I've never seen a time in our family operation that we've never come to consensus. We can always talk our way through something. We also have a family council set up that meets maybe once a year where family members that aren't on the board, and we've included the next generation as part of that to just kind of learn more about what the family's doing.

And basically they come to the family, they do a lot of the philanthropic guidance of the family office. And so they'll come and say, you know, we want to support XYZ charity this year. These are the reasons why, or, you know, I think as we move down a couple of generations, the family, you know, the family council will be something that can maybe even guide distribution policy a little bit more.

someone might be having a wedding coming up or a child going to college and just so the board knows that, hey, we might want distributions to change a little bit, know, something like that. we've got, so we do have a family council set up as well as the governing board.

Got it. you mind sharing, I don't need names or anything like that, but do you get outside advice or have you done all of this mostly internally yourselves to be able to come up with where you're at today? Where did the idea for a family board, the idea for a family council come from for you. 

Mike (34:59.246)
Yeah, no, so the board has been something that's been around since I remember as a kid. The family council came about, about six years ago, I had a consultant come in and just look at the health of our family business. he's, I'm not patting myself on the back, but he's like, I don't know, you guys don't need me. You're some of the healthiest family I've ever seen.

You know, but he said if you were gonna do something, you might wanna structure a family council. I think you guys already communicate well, but it might be nice to have something in place for generations to come.

Yeah, so a lot of times, you know, family business coaches, family wealth coaches, share the proverb or parable of the shirt sleeves, the shirt sleeves in three generations. Have you ever heard that one before? Yeah, okay, so, and it's, you know, there is some truth to it, but at the same time, you guys have, you know, beat...

yeah. Yep.

Michael (36:06.08)
all of those odds and put the, you're going into the fourth generation, talking about the next generation, having a family business coach say, you guys, you don't need me, you're doing the right things. But I want to go back and make sure that we understand why. And give your family a lot of credit. When you look at what causes those breakdowns, number one is lack of trust and lack of communication, which you guys knock it out of the park. Number two is preparing the errors

is a, you know, and that accounts for like 75 % or, you know, whatever the, you know, 85 % of all of the wealth transfer issues is because of those things. And the family council and the family board is already talking about, you know, preparing the heirs and putting those pieces together. So hats off to your great grandfather and great grandmother for thinking about, they had to have done the work on themselves first.

They had to have done the work on themselves and then they had to follow all of the little patterns, know, that little, all of the patterns that are in your book that you talk about. They did that. I would have to guarantee that, you know? That's pretty amazing. How many years have you been in, you know, four generations? When did they start? How long ago?

1896

Yeah, so I mean, think about that. Today, an S &P 500 firm barely makes it 15 years on average. It's like 15 or 18 years. So hats off to you guys and for doing the right things without being coached through the generations and pulling all these people in and just focusing in on what

Michael (37:56.322)
the families needs were and the individuals, and how do we get the individuals to flourish in what they're doing? I love it. I'll share this with you. Have you heard of the Grandparent Grandchild Philanthropy Project?

No.

Okay, so you're talking about philanthropy and whatnot. I will be sure to send you a link to an interview I did with one of the families that I taught the Grandparent-Grandchild Philanthropy Project came from. The author of a book, Family Wealth Keeping Into the Family is James E. Hughes Jr. And Jay is what he goes by in his website was talking about that grandparents and grandchildren

The common enemy, the Chinese proverb says the common enemy is the parents. The grandparent just wants time with the kid, the grandchildren want time with the grandparent. So how do we do that in such a way that we can help grow them? so philanthropy, we start philanthropy at the age of six. And I just interviewed one of my clients who did this with her six year old, an eight year old grandchildren, she had two sets both the same ages and it was awesome. So I'll send you a link to that, feel free to utilize that and I'll send you a link to the PDF that Jay talks about, you know, his idea of the Grandparent Grandchild Philanthropy Project. It's amazing that, you know, the six-year-old said to me,

Michael (39:40.972)
well, he's not six now, he's now nine, but three years of doing this. And I said, you what are some of the things that you've gotten out of this? He's like, well, we're not afraid to raise our hand in class because we had to talk in front of the whole family for so many times. This was easy. And which was exactly the reason why I like to use philanthropy as the sandbox because

It's not really, it's not your money. You can't get anything from this. You're only helping other people. So you learn gratitude, you learn leadership, you learn working together. And so all the things that your family's doing, probably you don't even need this. But I just thought that you would get a kick out of it. I'll make sure to send you a copy of it.

Yeah, no, I'd love it. Yeah. mean, I honestly, those are the kinds of things I'm looking for because in the next generation, you know, I've got 11 kids in the next generation and I don't know if any of them, my, my two oldest are the oldest in the next generation and they're already not coming back to the family business. So like to, to structure things like that, the grandparent, grandchild, philanthropy project sounds amazing. Perfect.

Yeah, I'll share those things with you. But that's the kind of thinking and forward thinking that you, like you said, what can I do? What legacy can I provide to the future generations? How do I live my legacy, not just leave one? I love that. Talk about today. As we sit here today, what are, you know,

One, I like to do, what is your top priority as a family right now? What is the number one priority that the family has? And then what are some of the challenges that you're facing today as you're going through these conversations?

Mike (41:33.036)
Yeah. Yeah. The top priority right now is, you know, since we went through this transition of selling quite a lot of our farmland and diversifying our asset base into different asset classes is not getting lackadaisical, not just setting on our laurels, making sure that we're continuing to be forward thinking. How can we develop

you know, what new business do we want to get into? What are some asset classes we want to expand into? And how can we do that in a manner that's where we can bring our generational thinking to, to, make that business asset, you know, better. And so that's, you know, that's, that's always at the top of mind for, for us outside of, know, making sure the nest egg is being operated correctly is how can we continue?

How can we continue to grow it so we don't get lazy?

But and in terms of what are you looking at challenges wise as a family? would you?

Yeah, mean, challenge challenges definitely are, you know, how is the next generation? How are How are you? How are how is the next generation going to operate? How can we keep the next generation cohesive and loving when they aren't working together on a day to day basis like we've done for four generations? How can they how can those relationships stay healthy? And and how can they the ones that aren't

Mike (43:13.42)
you know, working in the business, you know, how can they, at some point, how can they become good board members? Or good stewards of what they have.

That is my favorite word. I teach the next generation the rising generation all the time, you know, it's not your money Yeah, it was created by your great-grandparents your great-great-grandparents with seeded this and they planted tree, know planted the seeds to grow the trees that are harvested today and So, you know and at the end of the day you're not taking it with you

Nobody buries the money in their cough then. We don't have the great pyramids and put all of our wealth inside the pyramid. And you can't spend it in the afterlife anyways. So you might as well just be a good steward of it and figure out what does that mean and how can I leave what was shared with me? How can I steward it so that it helps unlock the potential and helps the next generation thrive and flourish?

Yeah. And more importantly for us is create impact, you know, in community and the world around us.

Thank you for thanks for hitting that as well because I would agree a thousand percent. Yeah There was something that popped into Challenges priorities Do you as a family do you have you know a long-term Vision a long-term goal that you've already talked about

Mike (44:57.262)
I guess the long-term goal is just to make sure that the family continues to operate in a manner as the next generation marries and they have their own kids. As generations expand, it's hard. That cohesive unit is harder and harder and harder to keep together. so just honestly trying to figure out how we can navigate that.

That's a top priority for me while making sure that the business side, you know, continues to stay healthy and is, and is stewarded in the right manner. 

What in the next generation what's the the age range?

The oldest in the next generation is 24 and the youngest is 12.

Love it, love it. Yeah, you're gonna grasp on to what I'm about to send you. And this is, in my opinion, without knowing your family, this is the secret sauce that's gonna do exactly what you want it to do. And the idea of the 24-year-old and the 12-year-old working together is beautiful. It's a perfect mix. And it can be done with, you

Michael (46:19.63)
30 year olds and six year olds still the same because at the end of the day they all share common grandparents and And so, you know, doesn't matter that the love for the grant, you know grandparents you're you know and The love of the family can pull all that together So yeah, I'll definitely send that over to you if there's any ever any questions or whatnot You want to run anything past me? I know that wasn't what the purpose of this call was but you know in this interview, but feel free we can

Yeah.

Michael (46:48.034)
we can chat offline about it.

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for that.

Books that you've read in the past, know, if you're looking at things that help you grow, help you be who you are, both on the business world and the personal world, is there any books that you'd share?

Yeah. I mean, I, I write, think as you said, you know, there, there's really not an original thought. It's how you can reinvent it. So I cite a lot of my favorite books and, the farmer's code. Um, but the book that really had probably the most profound impact on me, um, early in, in my, you know, my self discovery was, it was a book called leadership and self deception by the Arbinger Institute. Yep. You know, and it sounds like you've read it, you know,

Yeah, but just learning, you know, constantly reminding yourself, are you living in the box and, and, and how do you get, get outside of the box? Both, you know, both from a personal level. I mean, cause I look at it and always I'm like, am I in the box personally? yeah. Absolutely. In the box in that situation or even business wise, are we so insulated that we can't see what's going on around us? You know, the threats that are actually coming in. that book, that book is.

Mike (48:08.866)
was probably it's probably it's not probably it is the most it affected me more profoundly than any any other book that I've ever read.

Love it, thank you for sharing. So yeah, the Arbinger Group, didn't even put an author on it because they wanted to be a project, but it's a leadership and self-deception, and then the partner book too, that is The Anatomy of Peace. Absolutely, my wife and I have both read both, and I share them with people on a regular basis, because we all get in the box. We all get we all get stinking thinking, and you need to be able to recognize that, and that will help do some self work.

Both wonderful books. 

Michael (48:48.75)
I'll share one with you that I just finished reading that I was like, wow, I really love this book. I'm reading it a second time. It's the Wealth Money Can't Buy by Robin Sharma. And this is my first time reading a Robin Sharma book, not knowing who he was. I just found it fabulous. And his first form of wealth that he talks about is right up your alley.

And the first form of wealth is growth. What am I doing to grow myself and what am I reading and what am I, what am I, you who am I surrounding myself and what am I doing to stretch myself? And to, know, what I said earlier, are you an older or an elder and older gets stuck in their ways and you can't teach an old dog new tricks. And an elder is constantly reinventing themselves and constantly learning and constantly understanding that, you know, the world around them is changing even that they don't want it to. Yep. And the family.

is changing and you like you guys allowing outlaws, you know, those are the in-laws that have married into the family and you're not many families call them the outlaws. One of my families during the family meeting, there was cowboy music that started and you know, with the whistle and they all come out in black cowboy hats and chaps and they gave a presentation of what it was like to be an outlaw in the family during the family meeting. How classic is that?

I love that. And then they have a 10 gallon hat, black hat, that when somebody new gets married into the family, they get new hat and they get chaps so that they can be part of the outlaws.

That's great. I love that. I might steal that one.

Michael (50:30.53)
That's perfectly okay. That's perfectly okay. So yeah, I really, really appreciate your time. And this was just a fabulous, fabulous, packed full of information conversation. If you were standing in front of, you know, a group of multi-generation family businesses, and, you know, just said, you know, one thing.

What is your, you know, what's your one thing that you'd want to make sure that they walked away with?

Yeah, I mean, it was the was the thesis that I wrote on the towards the farmer's code. It's it's legacies aren't about what you leave for someone there. They're about what you leave in someone and those relationships and those people you touch in your immediate family is going to it's going to create huge impact, not just within your family, but within your community.

within your customer base, within your vendors, within your employees. And that's ultimately what is going to make you successful for many, many generations.

Mike Young from Wegis and Young. Thank you, thank you, thank you for imparting your wisdom with us today. Really, really appreciate it. The Farmer's Code, How Legacies Are Built, I'm sure it's available on Amazon and Barnes and Nobles and all of the main places. Go ahead and grab a copy of Mike's book and put the Farmer's Code in action in your life. Thanks for joining us, everybody. My name is Michael Palumbos with Family Wealth and Legacy.

Michael (52:16.43)
in Rochester, New York, and we look forward to sharing with you on the next episode of the Family Biz Show. Have a great day, everybody.