Sometimes the family assumes they are less interested somehow. Sometimes old habits carry forward without being questioned. And sometimes daughters themselves wait to be invited, not wanting to disrupt the existing pattern. The irony is that when they do step in, the quality of conversation changes… immediately.

The family accountant knows every dividend ever declared. The lawyer remembers the first trust deed. There is loyalty here, and gratitude. But there is also a feeling that the conversations have stopped evolving. For the next generation, this is a hard truth to sit with. Firing a parent's professional adviserfeels personal, almost disrespectful.

Most people assume it’s about the market, the right buyer at the right time and the right price. You might imagine there will be a moment when all the stars align, when the perfect economic and business cycles match your own life. But those stars rarely line up. If you wait for perfect certainty, you may end up waiting forever.

Walk down the main street of any Australian town and you’ll find them. The bakery that’s been in the same family for three generations. The transport company still run from a fibro office out the back of the depot. The vineyard where the children grew up running between the rows, now bringing in their own ideas about climate and technology. Family enterprises don’t just make up part of our economy, they carry the character of our communities.